The ninth annual Big O Birding Festival was held in Clewiston on March 23-26 and I was able to attend 2 days. This festival has been attracting more than 100 people and to me, is the right size for intimacy, birding opportunities, and absorbing the genuine local flavor(s).

Tours and events included the famous STA-5 tours lead by the Hendry-Glades Audubon Chapter (see their web site for festival checklists, photo blogs, and other information) a dinner of local foods at Gatorama, tours of regional wildlife management areas, photo sessions lead by John Lopinot, and much more.

On Friday, I lead a tour to the Harney Pond Canal on Lake O and the Fort Center ancient Indian Mounds in the Fish-eating Creek Wildlife Management Area. This trip gets one of the longest species lists of the festival due to hitting a variety of habitats and we logged 62 species (see Hendry-Glades page for the lists).

Water levels at Harney Pond were just right for water birds and people willing to get their feet wet got very close looks at birds. Others opted for the viewing platforms and got good views as well. Fort Center had usual woodland birds and the Indian mound complex is always impressive.

Saturday’s tour mostly followed Bill Pranty’s “Lake Placid-Venus” bird loop (see a Birders Guide to Florida from the American Birding Association) with the addition of Detjens Dairy Road (SR 17), and netted 48 species. The Red-headed Woodpeckers at the Venus Flatwoods Preserve were a big hit, as was the cricket posted on the fence by a shrike. Rainy Slough held about 10 species of water birds as well as a nice alligator.

The festival banquet on Saturday featured Dr. Ken Meyer who is a leading expert on Swallow-tailed Kites. Ken talked of their migration, including the massive pre-migratory roost in Fisheating Creek and the many challenges these birds face from their breeding grounds in the southeast, to their migrations to South America and back. And I got to help judge the photo contest with John Lopinot.

Tour goers, including myself, were surprised and amused when our bus showed up and was armored. The bus attracted much attention including a Glades County deputy who followed us into the Harney Pond area to check us out. Although fairly comfortable, the windows had screens in them that hampered viewing and I’ll try to make sure next year’s bus has better visibility.