Wildlife
Wildlife Viewing Blind at Sunset Ranch Prairie Lakes
Unit
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The expansive prairie combined with the diversity of other natural communities
supply ample opportunities for wildlife viewing. You are likely to see
bald eagles at any time of day year-round. Crested caracaras, sandhill
cranes, red-shouldered hawks, northern bobwhites, and eastern meadowlarks
are often heard or spotted. The federally endangered red-cockaded woodpecker
is most likely seen at dawn and dusk when it is most active and the
federally endangered Florida grasshopper sparrow can be heard on spring mornings
in the dry prairie. White-tailed deer, gray squirrels,
Sherman's fox squirrel, gopher tortoise, wild turkey, armadillos, raccoons, and feral hogs are common.
Three Lakes is an excellent site for birders with many common species
as well as many rare species. In mid-August birders are drawn to the
area as the fall migration of warblers begins.
Three Lakes is part of the highest concentration of bald eagle nests
in the contiguous United States. More than 150 active nesting territories
are found around the inland lakes of Osceola and Polk counties. On the
Prairie Lakes Unit of Three Lakes is a portion of the Great
Florida Birding Trail. A driving loop takes you 10 miles through flatwoods,
hammocks, and prairie. Songbirds are abundant in the oaks and pine, and
red-cockaded woodpecker cavities are found in trees near the Canoe Creek
Road exit. These trees are marked with white paint.
