Carolina Wild Photo (the blog)

The fabled “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge was in my sights as we left Titusville, Florida on the morning of Day Six of our 9-day photographic expedition across Florida in March, 2019. Having spent a day and a half at Merritt Island NWR with some modicum of success, I was excited to be on my way to what it seemed was the Mecca of bird photography in Florida, if I was to believe everything I’d read about Ding Darling NWR.

Soon though, the tedious stop and go of continual toll booths around Orlando began to wear on the upbeat spirit I’d started the day with. Eventually that passed, as did Tampa, and we reached Fort Myers about 3:00 pm. With daylight to spare, we skipped checking into the motel and headed straight for Sanibel and the refuge. We paid the $6 toll to get onto the island at Sanibel, and arrived at the wildlife drive at 4:00 pm. With my national parks lifetime pass in hand I skipped the modest fee at the entrance booth and drove along the smoothly paved, two lane wide, one-way drive with plenty of time and daylight left to scout out this bird world wonder. After creeping along for the first 2 miles of the 4-mile long drive we had yet to find a single bird….. clearly not a good sign.
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My previous post chronicled Day Two of my 9-day photo expedition to Florida, the bird rookery at St. Augustine Alligator Farm. Today, Day Three, we headed to Big Talbot and Little Talbot State Park areas just south of Amelia Island, outside Jacksonville.

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If you read my previous post, “The Florida Bird Haven Myth”, you already know how disappointed I was with the lack of quantity and diversity of birds on my 9-day adventure across Florida. The full day spent at the bird rookery at St. Augustine’s Alligator Farm hardly lived up to my expectations, based on the reports and stories I read in preparation for the trip.

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