New Year's Nature Hike

Englewood, Florida: We decided to break in the new year by taking a nature hike and enjoying the great outdoors. January in Florida is some of the best weather, its cooler with bright blue skies, great weather for getting outdoors. We decided to head back to Cedar Point Environmental Park for two reasons, to see the eagle nest and to hike a few other trails.

We were greeted with wildlife as soon as we entered the park. A gopher tortoise was waking down the park road, seems he too wanted to take a hike in the great weather.

Once we parked the truck, we tried to hike the Fern Trail. That hike didn’t last long, as we passed the first turn of the trail we came across the trail closure sign. The trail was closed to limit access to the nesting bald eagles. So we doubled back and headed to the Jeep Trail to take a look at the eagles.

The eagle nest is located about a quarter mile down the trail and is still open to visitors. On the trail, you will come across a memorial bench, just to the south of the bench is the nest. Today both eagles were in the nesting tree. One was in the nest and the other on the branch near the nest. When we were here on Sunday, one was in the nest and the other was in a tree adjacent to the trail making for up close photos. They were also very vocal on Sunday, communicating back and forth

We watched the eagles with a few other visitors but they remained still. So we decided to explore more of the park. We headed back to the Oyster Creek Trail.

The Oyster Creek Trail leads to Oyster Creek along the southern end of the park. It was very quiet along this trail and quite a bit of poison ivy alongside the trail. The Oyster Creek Trail leads to the Mangrove Trail which passes under the highway and onto the east side of the road.

There seemed to be ample fishing opportunities along the Mangrove Trail. I will definitely come back here and try some fishing. While we were passing along the boardwalk of the trail, we saw numerous fish in the water as well as an Osprey perched on a dead tree along the water.

The Mangrove Trail was the end of the trails at Cedar Point but it terminated at the parking lot of Ann Dever Memorial Regional Park. The park is a large park and more widely known for its soccer, pool, dog park, bike park and other amenities located along the San Casa side of the park. However between the amenities of San Casa and the Placida entrance by Lemon Bay High School is a series of nature trails, a hidden gem. The Red Trail begins at the parking lot of the Placida entrance to the park, near Lemon Bay High School.

As we started the trail, we encountered an abundance of small birds throughout the trees. They were moving too fast to photograph or identify, but there was great potential for someone with much more experience in birding. One that I was able to photograph was a woodpecker I have never seen before, a Hairy Woodpecker.

We continued through the Red Trail until we reached the boardwalk crossing a portion of Oyster Creek. With dinner fast approaching and plenty of trail ahead of us, we decided to call it a day and head back to the truck. We did not encounter and more wildlife until reaching the start of the trail where we walked through the same cluster of birds in the trees.

The hikes were a great way to start off the new year. I am anxious to follow the nesting eagles, so you can count on more photos in the weeks to come.