It was a nice brisk November morning and we were on our way to Venice to meet the group of Venice Area Birding Association birders. It was the day after election, and I had been up half the night watching returns. We met our happy eager group of 12 and got our carpools organized and headed to the Celery Fields.

Gayle and Tom Duch were leading this trip, and Tom had planned that we stop at Ackerman Lake first. This stop was a good thing, as we were there for quite some time observing the ducks and wading birds. One of the group even found a night heron well-camouflaged in the tangle of brush across the lake. We spotted an immature bald eagle on top of a pole, which suddenly took off to delight us with a direct flyover. A ring-necked duck casually swam by us close to the shore. A flock of hundreds of glossy ibis flew across the lake. We were there for a long time watching the waders and ducks and hearing the chippy calls of the palm warblers as they flitted in and out of the brush.