Nature in Southwest Florida This Week: White Pelicans Arriving, Fall Migration, and the Panther Festival

November 3 through 9 is the week winter officially begins for wildlife in Southwest Florida. American white pelicans are arriving on the bays, painted buntings have settled in for the season, fall migration is still moving birds through the region, and the bald cypress is starting to turn. This guide covers what is happening in nature this week and where to see it best, with locations, hours, and links to official sources. Every event and place below is one I can verify from current reporting or the managing agency's own pages.

Fall migration is still active this week

Fall migration on the Atlantic Flyway runs from August through mid-November, and we are still inside that window. BirdCast, the Cornell Lab's live migration radar, showed an estimated 371,200 birds crossing Florida on the night of November 1-2, 2026, with about 939,100 birds aloft at once around 2:10 AM, moving to the south-southwest. November is when waterfowl movement peaks and the last raptors and winter sparrows arrive, so the birds overhead now are different from the songbird waves of September and October, but they are still moving.

BirdCast keeps its fall tools active through November 15, and it recommends lights-out nights for migrating birds through the same period. Early morning is still the best time to look, when the night's arrivals drop in to feed. The BirdCast Florida dashboard shows the previous night's counts for the whole state.

American white pelicans are arriving for the winter

The signature arrival of early November is the American white pelican. These are among the largest birds in North America, with a wingspan around nine feet, and they come to Florida from October through early November, with numbers building to a peak from December through February. Unlike the brown pelicans that dive for fish along the coast, white pelicans feed by swimming in coordinated groups and scooping fish from the surface, so they are easy to tell apart and a striking sight on open water.

Closer to home, white pelicans also turn up on Estero Bay, along the Ten Thousand Islands south of Marco Island, and on the open flats of Bunche Beach in Fort Myers as the season builds. Low tide, when the fish are concentrated in the shallows, is the best time to look, and the birds are easiest to spot from a kayak or a quiet shoreline.

Painted buntings have settled in for the winter

Painted buntings reached the peak of their arrival in late October, and by early November the eastern population is settling into its wintering grounds across Collier, Lee, and Hendry counties, where most birds stay until March or April. They are now regular visitors to feeders and native gardens, and the males' blue, green, and red plumage makes them the easiest winter bird to spot in many yards.

The best way to find them is early in the morning around dense undergrowth, native gardens, and feeders stocked with white proso millet. The swamps, dunes, and coastal gardens listed below all turn them up week to week, and the Audubon Everglades painted bunting flyer has the details on what they eat and where they winter.

Corkscrew's guided programs this week

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is running two guided programs on Tuesday, November 3, and each one is a different way into the same forest:

• Early Birding Tour, Tuesday, November 3, 8 to 11 AM. A naturalist-guided sunrise walk on the boardwalk, timed for the morning's first birds, including the painted buntings and wintering songbirds now settling in.
• Pine Flatwoods and Wildflower Walk, Tuesday, November 3, 9 to 11 AM. A guided look at the sanctuary's pine flatwoods and the late-season wildflowers still blooming there.

Naples Botanical Garden: Tuesday birding and a family program

Naples Botanical Garden runs its weekly "Birding in the Garden" walk on Tuesday, November 3, from 8 to 10 AM, included with admission and free for members. The walk explores the garden's restored wetlands and native plantings, which are full of songbirds now that the wintering birds have arrived.

For families, the garden's W.O.N.D.E.R. program runs Friday through Monday, November 6 through 9, from 10 AM to noon, with Walk, Observe, Navigate, Draw, Explore, and Read activities for children ages 4 to 11, included with admission. The Ánima Botánica exhibition of botanical art is also on view in the Fogg Café through July 2028. The garden is at 4820 Bayshore Drive in Naples; the Naples Botanical Garden events page lists current walk dates, programs, and admission.

Rookery Bay: Birding with Biologists and Science Saturdays

Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center, on the edge of the Ten Thousand Islands, is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 AM to 4 PM, with admission of $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 4 to 12. Three things are worth planning around this week:

• Birding with Biologists, Friday, November 6, 8 to 11 AM, $30 per person. A beginner-oriented session on identifying birds by plumage, shape, behavior, and habitat, led by the center's biologists.
• Science Saturdays, Saturday, November 7, 9 AM to 4 PM. Hands-on nature and wildlife activities for kids and adults, free with admission.
• Forest Bathing Wellness Walk, Saturday, November 7, 9:30 AM. A slow, guided walk through the coastal habitat, focused on noticing the natural world.

The Florida Panther Festival at the Naples Zoo

If you want to learn about the region's most iconic wild animal, the Florida Panther Festival runs Saturday, November 7, from 9 AM to 1 PM at the Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens, 1590 Goodlette-Frank Road in Naples. The festival features panther biologist presentations, a Living with Wildlife pavilion, interactive exhibits, guided nature walks, and wildlife shows, all about Florida's state animal. The festival itself is free, and it lands on the zoo's monthly Free Saturday for Collier County residents, so residents get into the zoo at no cost that day with proof of residency; everyone else can enjoy the festival with standard zoo admission. The Florida Panther Festival page and the Naples Zoo site have the details. Our community events roundup for November 2 through 8 has the full festival schedule.

Manatees begin gathering at warm water

Florida's manatee season officially runs from November 15 through March 31, when cooler Gulf waters drive manatees into warm-water refuges. Manatees need water above about 68 degrees, and the big gatherings come in winter once the water cools. The Gulf is still in the low 80s right now, so most manatees are still spread across the bays and rivers, but the first cold front of the season can bring early arrivals to the warm-water spots.

If you are out on the water, manatees can also show up in the Caloosahatchee River, along the Naples coast, and near Lovers Key State Park as the season progresses. Boaters are reminded to go slow in manatee zones and give them space.

The bald cypress is beginning its fall color

Southwest Florida's version of fall foliage comes from the bald cypress. Unlike most conifers, bald cypress is deciduous, and in November its feathery needles begin turning from green to rusty copper and orange before dropping for winter. The color change starts this month and holds for about a month, with the peak in the Fort Myers area typically falling in mid-to-late November, so right now you are seeing the first tones of the season.

The other great place for the cypress color is Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, whose old-growth forest turns a deeper rust than the younger trees at the slough. And along the coast, seaside goldenrod is still flowering on the dunes and salt-marsh edges, one of the last nectar sources for the monarchs still drifting through Florida.

Sea turtle season has closed for the year

Florida's sea turtle nesting season ran from May 1 through October 31 and has now closed. Nesting and hatchling emergence are done for the year, so the beaches are quiet on that front until next spring. The beach habits that protect turtles are still good practice year-round: give wildlife space, never use lights or flash on the beach at night, and fill in holes and flatten sandcastles before you leave. Our water activities guide for this week lists each area beach with current hours, parking, and water-quality status.

"The Birds of Southwest Florida" continues at Edison & Ford

Fort Myers has a good birding stop that keeps running through the fall. Edison & Ford Winter Estates is showing "The Birds of Southwest Florida," an exhibit honoring Mina Edison's bird-watching, in the Edison Caretaker's House on the historic river estate. It runs through December 6, 2026, open daily from 9 AM to 5:30 PM, with Audubon illustrations and Mina Edison's antique spy glasses, bird books, and other belongings. The estate also offers its guided "Breakfast with the Birds" morning walk in partnership with Audubon of Southwest Florida, bookable through the estate's online store.

How to check conditions before you go

Nature changes week to week, and the agencies update their pages continuously. These are the official pages worth a check before you head out:

• FWC red tide status: current Karenia brevis concentrations, updated weekly. FWC's October 30, 2026 update reported no red tide observed in Southwest Florida, with no fish kills or respiratory irritation off Lee or Collier; the next status report is scheduled for Friday, November 6.
• DOH Healthy Beaches, Collier County: weekly bacteria sampling for Naples, Bonita Springs, and Marco Island beaches.
• DOH Healthy Beaches, Lee County: weekly bacteria sampling for Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel-area beaches.
• BirdCast Florida dashboard: the previous night's migration counts, active through November 15.
• Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary: current program dates, hours, tickets, and the latest bird and bloom sightings.
• NWS beach forecast for Florida: daily surf zone conditions and rip current risk for Collier and Lee beaches.

If you are planning a beach day, our water activities guide for this week has current water quality and beach details. And if you missed it, last week's nature guide covered painted buntings arriving, the final week of sea turtle nesting, and the fall programs at Corkscrew, Naples Botanical Garden, and Rookery Bay.

Frequently Asked Questions

A note on fair housing: every home and community in Southwest Florida is open to all qualified buyers and renters, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin. The beaches, trails, and parks here are shared public places, welcome to everyone, and the viewing rules are the same for all visitors.

A note from the author: I'm Catalina Quintero, a bilingual REALTOR with The Miranda Group at Premiere Plus Realty, Co., serving Naples, Bonita Springs, Estero, Fort Myers, and Marco Island. Every week I put this nature guide together from current, published reporting and the official pages of the agencies that manage these places, so things can shift and it always pays to confirm before you head out. If you're exploring Southwest Florida with a move in mind, email or text me any time.