Daggerwing Nature Center

Daggerwing Nature Center is back in business. Their grand opening was officially on Earth Day. I haven't really explored this Palm Beach County park until last week. Formerly they had a very small center with only a few displays and now they are twice as big and have state of the art interpretive displays throughout. My top three favorite parts of this place are as follows: Number One, their Eastern Screech Owl. I'm a sucker for these little birds.

Number Two, they have a mini-bee movie theater. I don't really know what to call this thing but it's a large bee and you sit inside of it. Not only do I love bees but I always love giant animal displays, be they a roadside attraction or some large insect in a nature center.

Number Three is a tie between their boardwalk outside and their education animals. The general public wouldn't have access to their education room unless you're signed up for a program but of course being a County employee I get the behind-the-scenes tour. I think that their skunk is an intriguing education animal. This is due mostly to the fact that I have never used any sort of live mammal while teaching. At Green Cay we have just built an outside animal enclosure to hold just something of the sort but I am having hesitations about it. But of course my favorite ed. animal at Daggerwing was a snake. This was my first time holding a Blotched Kingsnake, Lampropeltis getulus goini. It was quite friendly despite having a reputation of being skittish.

If you live in the southern part of Palm Beach County I highly recommend a trip out to Daggerwing. They are located in the County's South Regional Park. The boardwalk is short but I saw plenty of birds the other day including Spot-breasted Oriole, Least Tern, and a few warblers. Least Bitterns are supposed to be common there as well.