December 5, 2021

CIRCLE B BAR RESERVE

4399 Winter Lake Rd, Lakeland, FL 33803

“The Circle B Bar Reserve is an area of protected lands in Polk County, Florida. Comprising 1,267 acres at 4399 Winter Lake Road near Lakeland, it is managed by the Polk County Board of County Commissioners, which co-owns it with the Southwest Florida Water Management District.” Wikipedia

I visited the Circle B Bar Reserve only after it was recommended by a couple different friends.  I had some idea of what I was going to see there, but the visit far exceeded my expectations.

I arrived at the reserve in the late morning.  The mission was to shoot some wildlife, with my camera, of course.  I attached my 100-400mm lens to my camera, which for those of you not familiar with photography is a high-powered, expensive, telephoto lens.  It’s the lens I always wanted and love that I now have it.  But, to my surprise, as I started walking the Lake Trek Trail, I started seeing a few people with more powerful lenses.  It was the first time since purchasing my 100-400 that I was jealous of another photographer.  However, I’m guessing a couple of those lenses cost upwards of $10,000, so I will be happy with the lens I currently have, which as you will see, did fine.

About a half-mile into the trail, I started being in awe of all the wild birds.  The trail met and started following the shore of Lake Hancock.  The birds were everywhere, wading in the lake, perched in the trees, and flying over the water.  And not just one or two species, there were herons, egrets, anhingas, osprey, and more.  I would walk, see another bird, stop to take a picture, and then proceed.  And then I saw an alligator swimming in the lake, and then another.  I never felt like this was not a safe area as there were many, many other people also enjoying the trail.  As I continued on the trail the lake was on my left and a swampy area was on my right.  The swamp provided opportunities to see more animals, like turtles, swamphens, and soon I spotted another alligator almost camouflaged in the swamp.   Soon an Osprey was perched high in a tree searching for prey.  I truly was in heaven. 

As I was moving forward, I started hearing people talk about a huge alligator blocking the trail ahead, and sure enough I soon saw it for myself.  The alligator was lying on the trail, with people stopped on both sides of it, admiring its size, pondering what it was thinking, and determining their course of action to continue on the trail.  I took a couple of pictures, keeping a safe distance from the alligator.  By safe distance I meant there were always one or two people closer to it than I was, remembering the old adage, I don’t have to outrun the alligator, I just have to outrun one of the other people.  At this point I had walked about 1.7 miles and had only about .75 miles to complete the loop trail.  While I didn’t see anyone trying to go by the alligator, some people were saying they had seen a couple people do it.  I opted to turn around and walk the 1.7 miles back to the trail head.  There were plenty more photographs to take on the walk back, including capturing some butterflies.

In the end, I walked about 5.8 miles, saw awesome wildlife, and took around 300 pictures.  It was a great day.  If I lived in the Lakeland area I would return often, possibly even with a more powerful lens.