This morning, we returned to Celery Fields in Sarasota, Florida. A natural landscape utilized for storm water control, the lakes, marshes, canals and sloughs attract a wide variety of water birds and other wildlife. Among the species encountered today were American purple gallinules (photo by Darcy Folzenlogen); anhingas, glossy ibis and palm warblers were especially abundant. I also saw my first gray-headed swamp hens, natives of Southeast Asia that were introduced to South Florida in the mid 1990's and are now threatening the welfare of local wetland ecosystems.
My post from December, 2013, offers a more complete description of this fascinating preserve.
