Peace River Wildlife Center, Punta Gorda, Florida

We visited the Peace River Wildlife Center and I would recommend this as an family friendly excursion if nearby. It is located at at 3400 Ponce de Leon Parkway in Punta Gorda Florida. However you need to use their GPS address of 3400 W. Marion Ave to easily locate it.

This wildlife center is a non profit wildlife rehabilitation center dedicated to preserving and protecting native species of Florida wildlife. They treat and rehabilitate orphaned or injured animals in the hopes to have them return to the wild. Those animals that can not return to the wild are given a permanent home here at the wildlife center. Admission is by donation.

The center is not huge but it is home to many many animals.

There were mainly birds here but there were also turtles and rabbits and other small animals but I didn't get photos. My favourite of course was a horned owl that was visiting. His handler was from New York I believe and every winter they visit the area and this Horned Owl has become a real "snowbird". He was a rescue bird. I do not remember the back story but I do recall the handler saying that he obtained papers to become this birds handler just days before the owl was destined to be destroyed.

The center had a small gift shop with a couple little displays which I thought were quite interesting.

Outside the wildlife center was Ponce de Leon Park.

It had a picnic are with covered tables and a beautiful view as well as a small playground.

There were fishing piers and a boat launch. 

As well as life jackets to borrow if anyone needed one.

There was a short walking trail which had little plaques along the way to inform you about some of the wildlife you were seeing along the trail.

As we were leaving we noticed a Great Blue Herons nest with a baby up above the wildlife center.

What a cutie!!

Next time we are in the area we will bring a picnic lunch and plan on staying for the day.

Sanibel Island, Florida: Lighthouse Beach and Fishing Pier

Today we headed to Sanibel Island.

We picked up a friend Sierra met in Feb at the Fulltime families rally and off we went.

We had such a fantastic day visiting many places on Sanibel Island. I'm going to break this next few posts up into individual sections for each beach we were at or else this post would be way too long.

As soon as we crossed onto Sanibel via a $6 toll causeway, we stopped at the visitors centre to figure out where we were going. It's a cute little building from the outside and we picked up a free shell guide so we could identify some of the shells we found. Love the sign...for all us snowbirds!

The first beach we headed to was the Lighthouse Beach and Fishing Pier. To get here turn left on Periwinkle Way from Causeway Road.Go to the end of the road to the light house fishing pier and a boardwalk nature trail thru the wetlands. We headed straight to the beach.

When you think you scored a beautiful shell, make sure you take a close look inside to ensure it doesn't have a live snail inside. It is illegal to remove anything alive from the beach. You are allowed to take shells but only if the creatures are no longer using it.

Sierra and Scout found a dead horseshoe crab.

There were many sea stars and other creatures found as well.

 

Everyone walked ahead to the pier but I stopped to watch the dolphins for a while.

By the time I got to the pier everyone was on their way back.

There was an Osprey nest close to the pier with a baby in the nest.

We walked back along part of the nature trail and found a snake and a tortoise.

We loved our time here at Lighthouse beach. The shells and wildlife were amazing! We hate to leave but there is so much more to see here on Sanibel Island.