Around the Bend Nature Tours

The First Audubon Adventure

11/9/2019

By: Ann Cuikshank | Nature Guide

We had an amazing morning at Felts Audubon Preserve during our first Audubon Adventure of the year. Our Audubon Adventurers collected, observed and used dichotomous keys to identify creatures found in a pond. The Adventurers learned how to use binoculars and how to identify birds by looking at a beautiful Red shouldered hawk that sat on a wire. They then hiked to the bird blind where they were delighted to see a variety of birds including a Ovenbird and a female Painted Bunting.

Our next Audubon Adventure will be on December 14th at the Celery Fields. Audubon Adventures are free, family-friendly adventures on the 2nd Saturday's of the month. Learn more and sign up: https://www.aroundbend.com/audubon-adventures.html

Thank you Manatee County Audubon Society for sponsoring this wonderful event.

4 Comments

Dip Net Experience at Emerson Point Preserve

10/22/2019

2 Comments

By: Annie Cederberg | Interpretive Naturalist | Nature Guide

What a beautiful day for a dip net program with Around the Bend Nature and Discovery Tours! We were at Emerson Point on the Manatee River. When we arrived to set up for the field trip, we spent a few moments at the river’s edge. We saw a juvenile bald eagle fly nearby, and join a sky full of birds like turkey and black vultures, osprey and even a quartet of brown pelicans. And that was just the beginning of our wildlife adventures for the day as we soon spotted two dolphin in the middle of the river. And when the kids arrived, the fun really started.

The wildlife in the sea grass beds was so abundant today! Almost every time a child scooped up a net full from the bottom, it had shrimp in it. We saw three different types of shrimp today—arrow, snapping and grass… We saw arrow crabs and blue crabs, a file fish, an unknown fish, the biggest pipefish I had ever seen at about 6 inches long, seahorses that were tiny, a lizard fish, flounder and more. It was so abundant.

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5th Grade Dip Net Experience

10/22/2019

2 Comments

By: Annie Cederberg | Interpretive Naturalist | Nature Guide

This morning was beautiful. As we prepared to lead a dip net field trip program at Bay Preserve, we enjoyed the cool air and blue skies. A resident pair of bald eagles called and glided overhead, giving us a thrill. Cardinals seemed to be everywhere, and so did a variety of woodpeckers. There were warblers flitting from branch to branch, iflashing feathered shades of green and yellow. A special treat was the large flock of 20 or so White Pelicans flying in loose formation. They have migrated here from places far north such as Montana, Wyoming and the Great Lakes. Their arrival is a sign of fall and approaching winter season! All of this AND a variety of crabs, shrimp and other marine animals from the "nursery" of the Bay. Nature's variety was dazzling today!

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The First Audubon Adventure

Dip Net Experience at Emerson Point Preserve

5th Grade Dip Net Experience

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