Lakes Regional Park, Fort Myers, 10 Nov 2025 (Google Map Link)
Lakes Park is located at 7330 Gladiolus Drive in Fort Myers. Veer right (E) as you enter the park off Gladiolus and drive to Lot 3, where we'll meet at the Community Garden/Botanic Garden area at the far end of the lot. Parking is $1/hr or $5/day unless you have a Lee County Parks and Recreation annual parking pass ($60 - https://www.leegov.com/parks/resources/parking(https://www.leegov.com/parks/resources/parking) - links here are often problematic). Restrooms and picnic tables for our lunch wrap-up and list tabulation (BYOL) are available. The 279-acre park, a former limestone quarry, opened in 1984. The lakes are from stone extraction. The park has wetlands, a belt of slash pines, and some scrub-like areas. It's easy to put in a two-mile roundtrip walk if the far spatterdock lakes are visited. There are extensive native plant restoration projects along the trails. Unfortunately, non-native, invasive vegetation is also abundant, as are bicyclists without bells.
Users of eBird have reported a total of 231 species from the park. Vince personally has reported 154 bird species from the park, topping the current leading eBirder [He didn't write or edit this sentence!]. November is one of the best months to visit, as migrants are often abundant. Waders are the birding highlights, including: Virginia Rails, Soras, Limpkins, Wilson's Snipes, Purple Gallinules, and Least Bitterns. There are at least 15 species of hawks, ducks, and 26 different warblers known from the park. Seasonally, perhaps the best heron and egret rookeries in any Lee County park are found here. Perhaps the oddest rarity was a Scarlet Ibis spotted in 1993, thought to be an escapee from the Tampa Zoo! Currently, José leads a field trip at Lakes Park on the first Saturday of every month.
Unlike many of our other field trips, because of location and traffic, this is the only place we will bird.
Eagle Lakes Community Park, Naples, 17 Nov 2025 (Google Map Link)
Eagle Lakes Park is located at 11565 Tamiami Trail E in Naples, about 45 miles S of the intersection of I-75 and Colonial Blvd in Fort Myers. This 143-acre Collier County park was opened in 2015, and five years later named for the long-serving County Commissioner who advocated for its establishment. Eagle Lakes has human-created storm drain lakes and restored wetlands that filter water. The park has many recreational amenities, most importantly for us--bathroom facilities and picnic tables for our after-birding list tabulation and lunch (BYOL). After entering the driveway off Tamiami Trail, veer right in the roundabout to the parking lot. Parking is free. The paved trail around the lakes is to the east. This is where we will bird.
Users of eBird have reported 254 bird species from the park. In 2023, a Large-billed Tern from South America was seen by many birders, including those on our CBC field trip!
Sometimes, depending on the local knowledge of our trip leader, our group will caravan to a second location in the Naples area to see an interesting or rare bird, etc.
Bailey Tract, Sanibel Island, 24 Nov 2025 (Google Map Link)
The Bailey Tract comprises about 100 acres of the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge. Frank P. Bailey and family settled on Sanibel in the 1880s and members of the family eventually owned a general store and citrus packinghouse on the site. The land was sold to the federal government in the 1950s. The Bailey Tract includes a main 1.1-mile loop unpaved walking trail through brackish and freshwater wetlands, and freshwater ponds made when fill was extracted from the site. Parking is free at the trailhead, which is located on Tarpon Bay Rd. There are no restrooms or picnic tables on the Bailey Tract.
Once you reach the first major island intersection from the causeway, take a right turn (W) on Periwinkle and follow it to its end at a 'T' intersection. Turn left (S) on Tarpon Bay Rd, basically at Doc Ford's Rum Bar & Grille (2500 Island Inn Rd, a side street). The Bailey Tract trailhead is several hundred yards S of Doc Ford's, on the right side of the road.
Users of eBird have reported 246 bird species from the Bailey Tract. There is a wide variety of ducks and waders in the area. According to eBird users, November sightings of ducks include: Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, Mallard, Mottled Duck, Green-winged Teal, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Hooded Merganser, and Red-breasted Merganser. Likewise, November wader sightings include: Clapper Rail, Sora, Common Gallinule, American Coot, Limpkin, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Black-bellied Plover, Killdeer, Short-billed Dowitcher, Wilson's Snipe, Spotted Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Willet, Greater Yellowlegs, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Least Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, and Western Sandpiper, and the typical egrets and herons that one would expect. November eBird user warbler sightings include: Ovenbird, Black-and-white Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Parula, Palm Warbler, Pine Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, and Black-throated Green Warbler.
After birding at the Bailey Tract, we will enjoy our BYOL lunches and tabulate our bird list at a place with suitable facilities. Often our group will go to the NWR Visitor Center (1 Wildlife Drive, Sanibel) for its restrooms and picnic tables. We also might head to the far E end of the island to visit the lighthouse area, where parking isn't free and often is difficult to find.