So it took us seven weeks to drive from Pennsylvania to Ft. Myers, the motor home doesn’t go that fast. The last piece of this long journey, from Sebring to Heritage Cove, was uneventful except showers. The rain was welcome here where the last year has been a dry one. The current weather results from a storm forming along the cold front that swept across the peninsula the day before yesterday. It reached down to the Florida Keys and there stalled. Cold fronts seldom cross the Florida Straights in late March! This is a sign that spring has not only arrived but is actually developing. We enjoyed our last day based in Sebring with a trip to the Kissimmee Prairie. Not as large and famous as the Everglades, the Kissimmee River Valley is still a grand place. It is much worse for wear, but remains unique and scenic. We left camp early so as to be there at first light. Chuck wanted to park at an abandoned barn that was rumored to house three species of owls, but have you ever tried to find an abandoned barn in the dark? It didn’t help that the barn was not along the highway as reported but back a little ways on a side road. Unable to find it we went on and first light found us at the entrance to the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve. Here we looked for sparrows and white-tailed kites. Two special sparrows breed on the prairie. One is a large rusty flat-headed and long-tailed species with a lovely song. It gives a long sweet whistle followed by one or more musical trills on different pitches. It used to be called the pine woods sparrow, but its modern and much less descriptive name is Bachman’s sparrow. The second sparrow is the Florida grasshopper sparrow. This is a smaller bird with a stubby tail that cocks its head back and goes click-t-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d. Its not called a grasshopper sparrow for nothing. Both birds effectively vanish in the palmetto and grass of pinewoods and prairies. It is almost impossible to see them except in the spring when that primal urge pushes the males up slender stalks of grass or naked twigs of bushes to give their song. Only then for a few weeks can they be properly observed. We arrived at the Kissimmee at the right time of day in the right season and were blessed to hear their cries. We set up the spotting scope and watched them perch and sing. Priceless. A young park naturalist, Paul, gave us another pleasure. We asked where we might find a black-shouldered (or white-tailed) kite. Like the wonderful swallow-tailed kite that we had been seeing around Sebring, the black-shouldered kite is a lovely-patterned bird and a graceful flier. It is found primarily in the West, and we have previously seen it only as far east as Corpus Christi, Texas. Records of its nesting in Florida have been infrequent, but we had heard recent reports of several pairs nesting at the Kissimmee Preserve. “There is a pair nesting near the campground,” he remarked. We walked out of the oak hammock that sheltered the campers and wandered down a trail listening to meadowlarks and mockingbirds. We stopped frequently to scan the prairie horizon. Anne spotted the first kite flying from an oak tree. As Chuck set up the scope it landed on a snag above the grass. A second bird was already perched there. We scoped them from two hundred yards as they behaved more like doves than hawks. We were hopping for some “x-rated birding,” but were treated only to affectionate head-bobbing and caressing. Still, we had great views of a fine bird that we had little hope of seeing anywhere else this year. Paul told us that four or five pairs are nesting in the park. That is probably half the number of this species nesting in Florida. We could have searched the marshes for additional species, but it was already the afternoon and warm. We went home to pack for our travel today glad in the knowledge that at least a little of the Kissimmee Prairie remains protected and supporting Florida wildlife.