Winter Birding on Sanibel

As most visitors know, winter season, aka, high season, is prime time on Sanibel.It is when we have the most guests on Island, when condo and house rentals hold their highest value and when restaurants need reservations to serve you best.



And like the human snow birds who flee the colder climes north and west, our island winged birds gather in numbers and species over these months of February and March. They, like our winter two legged visitors, are migratory souls searching for warmer weather where life will be easier.



Those humans who visit in winter to watch birds should plan their bird watching walks and drives on days when low tide is fairly early in the morning. When the tide is low, fish concentrate in shallow pools, making it easy for wading birds to capture prey and create perfect conditions for bird watching.

Birding tip: During the fall, winter and spring, serious Sanibel birders know to visit Lighthouse point in the early morning, when large numbers of migrating birds can be found resting in the trees.

Sanibel is a birder’s paradise at any time of year. Our beaches attract snowbirds of the avian species, pausing on their seasonal migrations; mangrove islands on the island’s bay side serve as rookeries. The wetlands found at the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF) Nature Center and Center Tract Preserve, in the Sanibel Gardens Preserve, and in the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge provide abundant opportunities for bird-watching.

Most of the species of “long-legged waders” are found in Southwest Florida, where they are numerous, year-round residents. There is no better place to observe and study these birds than Sanibel and surrounding waters, where most of them feed regularly in such areas as the “Ding” Darling Refuge and nest in big mixed colonies on mangrove islands in adjacent Pine Island Sound. Principally because of a sub-tropical climate, one can expect to find birds nesting in our area in every month of the year with the possible exception of October.

Wherever you encounter birds on the islands, please remember that these islands are their home. Give them some space and disturb them as little as possible. Remember that Sanibel prohibits hand-feeding of any wild birds, including gulls.