8 birders joined in  a beautiful morning of birding. Weather was perfect. One of the most interesting and not a bird were the 3 Sherman Fox Squirrels that gave us plenty of photo ops. It just seemed strange to find them in the openness of the wetlands. One was quite acrobatic with a frolocking , tumbling and jumping up and down display that kept us all mesmerized for several minutes. 

The surprise was being photo-bombed by the Canada Goose on the right of the group photo. Here's a close -up. We tallied 38 species for sure, but Merlin picked up Painted Bunting, and several others we could not verify.
The eBird list is here at this link. .
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S131689146
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​Fred Hileman
​Photos by Fred Hileman

9 birders trekked some of the trails at Circle B. Tim and I arrived about 7:15 and by the time the rest of the group had arrived; we had already tallied 21 species.  It is a good lesson for being there at or near dawn. I saw my first of the season Great Crested Flycatcher. That is always a thrill. There were several Great Blue nests that were active. 
The tally for the the morning was 51 species.
https://ebird.org/checklist/S130978913 Here is the ebird link.

A four-car caravan set off with walkie talkies on February 17th, opening day of the wildlife drive this year.  As with our previous outing at Lake Apopka, we lucked out with a warm breezy day that preceded a showery cold front overnight.
 We parked the cars and went for a couple of short walks on mowed trails.  A highlight was two kingfishers chattering and interacting in the air for several seconds near us.  Later, at the first of several ponds, Bob Ross took this long-range photo of a Snail Kite.  Note the orange feet. 
 At the main pond, many Ring-necked Ducks and hundreds of coots entertained us.  As we left for lunch, three American White Pelicans flew over.  We enjoyed a waterfront window lunch at Ski Beach Bar and Grill in Leesburg.  Here are eight of the nine participants.  Your reporter is the photographer.

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4 members who could not go on the event day, went the following week. We tallied 53 species. They were similar but not the same species. The striking difference was the 53 Ring-necked ducks the first week and our tally of 300+ .