SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — At Celery Fields, a man-made wetland east of I-75 in Sarasota County, the early bird doesn’t get the worm.
The early bird gets the bird or, to be more precise, a photo of one.
“It's a lot of fun,” said Linda Elenbaas, as she stared through her camera’s viewfinder down the barrel of a massive, camouflage-wrapped lens. “You meet very nice people.”
Elenbaas is one of those early birds. Each morning, birders and wildlife photographers like Elenbaas arrive the park before dawn and train their cameras and binoculars toward a variety of species: birds of prey, wading birds, and songbirds.
“We see pretty much everything here,” she said.
That almost unmatched variety of bird species is why she makes the drive to Celery Fields from Ellenton multiple times a week. Another perk of the site is that bird and wildlife viewing is easily accessible to visitors of all ages and abilities.
Each morning, there’s also a better than good chance of seeing something memorable.
Last January, Elenbaas captured the moment a northern harrier — a majestic bird of prey that meticulously scans the wetlands for food — plucked a rabbit with its razor-sharp talons.
“That was probably my best experience out here,” she said. “You don’t see that too often.”
The man-made, county-owned wetland attracts more than just birds. Humans flock to the site too.
According to Sara Reisinger, the President of the Sarasota Audubon Society, Celery Fields is the third most popular birding site in Florida on eBird, a website birders use to log their sightings.
“All 50 states last year, so we even had Alaska. Hawaii,” she said. “You name it, they have come here.”
Right now, however, Reisinger is worried for both the park’s human and avian visitors.
America’s largest home-builder, D.R. Horton, is moving forward with a plan to build homes just across Raymond Road from Celery Fields.
“It’s been a farm for generations, and they’re planning to make it 170 homes,” she said.
In a May meeting, the development team said protecting Celery Fields is a big priority.
Many trees, including a grand oak, will be preserved. Street lights will meet DarkSky standards.
Additionally, the whole site will be buffered from its neighbors, including a 60-foot setback of trees and a man-made water feature between the site and Celery Fields.
“It’s not just any old buffering, it’s native plants,” a project representative explained. “And it’s not just the planting of the vegetation in those setbacks, but it’s also the design and other features over there, because we’re mindful the Celery Fields are north of us — north of Raymond Road — across the road from us, but mindful that that attracts wading birds. We have also placed within our 60 foot setback along Raymond Road water features that have vegetative buffers that would accommodate wading birds.”
The Audubon Society isn’t convinced.
“It’s just not compatible with what’s going on here,” Reisinger said. “The whole point of the Audubon is to connect people with birds, and if there’s no birds to connect them to, it’s a real problem.”
Reisinger and others are currently gearing up to fight the plan at a Planning Commission meeting at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 21 at the Robert L. Anderson Administration Center (4000 S. Tamiami Trail) in Venice.
The development proposal will go before the Planning Commission for its recommendation before the Sarasota County Commission makes a decision on the plan at a later date.
Birdwatchers like Linda fear the park might lose its birds if commissioners greenlight the project.
“I know Florida’s really building, but it would be sad to see this one go,” she said.
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