Southwest Florida bird photography (page 9)
Big Cypress Preserve Turner River road loop off highway 41

At the southern end of the somewhat vast Big Cypress National Preserve, Turner River road goes out 10 miles to the north from highway 41 before looping back via Wagon Wheel and Birdon road back to the highway.  It is a dirt road and follows along the edge of a slough all the way out, while the return path is less interesting. 

There is a viewing platform at the beginning of the road with a parking lot and outhouse. There you may find some wading birds or anhinga's in the trees. Along Turner river road we found it really starts getting interesting a couple of miles in with a number of birds in very photogenic settings, but somewhat elusive in their behavior. Birds included common moorhens and purple gallinules, all types of herons, glossy and white ibis, egrets, red shouldered hawks, belted kingfishers, many anhingas and double-crested cormorants.  The number of alligators here is also seemed very high, having encountered about 50 or so in the water or on the shoreline when coming back on a second trip in the afternoon.  As a result you really have to be careful when venturing close to the waterline.

The first time we hit this was in the morning at early light while there was still some mist rising from the water.  That worked out well to capture some more moody images. The challenge was being able to approach birds close enough for a descent photograph.  We seemed to have better luck getting out of the car ahead of a target area and approaching on foot or in a few cases shooting from the car without getting out. But the latter was more difficult due to the amount of brush. 

Given the water is on the east side of the road, we decided to shoot it again in the evening light on a subsequent day when returning from the Everglades area.  The upside was better lighting, but the number of birds was less on the afternoon shoot, and perhaps it was also due to more visitors present at that time versus early morning.  Overall I believe morning provided the better photo-ops, but requiring more careful attention to keeping shutter speed fast enough under the lower lighting situation given much of the area is in shadow.

Also, along highway 41 between the junction with highway 29 and Turner River road there are some nice open ponds immediately to the south.  In the morning at sunrise we found some photogenic opportunities from the roadside while there was some mist rising from the waters with a number of wading birds about.  So keep your eye out if you happen to be here at such a time.  The birds also tend to be skittish in this area (local's hunting grounds?), so keep your distance and approach gingerly. .