Bok Tower

Bok Tower
Description

Bok Tower Gardens is a beautiful garden in Lake Wales, Florida, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. The gardens surround the historic Bok Tower, whose carillon bells ring out through the gardens on a daily basis.

I love to visit Bok Tower for flower photography, as well as during bird migration. It’s a good place for small birds like Eastern Towhees, Tufted Titmice, and Brown Thrashers. It’s also a reliable location in Central Florida for Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds.

Photography Advice

I usually take my long lens for bird photography, and a second body with a macro lens for flower photos.

When to GoYear round
Species Photographed (23)Black-and-white Warbler, Blue Jay, Carolina Wren, Eastern Towhee, Gray Catbird, Great Crested Flycatcher, Mute Swan, Northern Cardinal, Northern Mockingbird, Ovenbird, Painted Bunting, Palm Warbler, Pine Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Red-Headed Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, Rufous Hummingbird, Tufted Titmouse, White-Eyed Vireo, White-Winged Dove, Wood Duck, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Websitehttp://boktowergardens.org/
eBirdhttps://ebird.org/hotspot/L269400
Google MapClick here to view Google Map
Trail MapNone
Lily Bloom

Bok Tower in Bloom

September 23, 2013 - A few weeks ago I spent a Saturday morning at Bok Tower, a wonderful garden in Lake Wales, Florida.  It was architected by Frederick Law Olmstead and  dedicated by President Coolidge in 1929.  The tower itself is fun to photograph, but what attracted me was the possibility of migrant warblers.  I seem to find a […]

Did I Finally Make a Pleasing Blur?

December 20, 2012 - Some really good photographers obsess over making “pleasing blurs,” and I must admit, when I look at their images, I see glimpses of my own bad shots that I deleted because the bird wouldn’t sit still! But sometimes when I’m out shooting and the action isn’t all that exciting, I’ll take my second body and […]

Foggy Morning

November 4, 2012 - My alarm clock played tricks on me this morning.  Not only did it put the clock back an hour for Standard Time, but it also put my wake-up time back an additional hour…so I woke up really early.  Not nice.  Then I saw that the weather forecast was for mostly cloudy and  100% humidity at […]

For My Mom

October 10, 2012 - Happy B-Day to my mom! Here are the hummer pictures I promised you from Bok. As you can see, our juvie Rufous is turning into a little boy. Look at the red under his throat! He continues to guard the firebushes from the other hummingbirds. I took a little video of him on one of […]

Gray Cat Meets Gray Catbird

October 9, 2012 - I saw my first-of-fall Gray Catbird on Sunday at Bok Tower. Then we had one in our backyard tonight, along with a male Painted Bunting. Squirt was very happy to finally meet his namesake gray catbird. Now Whiskey wants to know when he’ll get to see a Black-and-White Warbler!

Defending His Turf

Interesting Branch-Mates

September 24, 2012 - Yesterday I wrote about seeing my first Rufous Hummingbird and how the bird was very territorial. Well, she had competition from this mockingbird. Mockingbirds are the most territorial birds in my backyard, especially during nesting season. Yesterday this mocker had laid claim to the same firebush as the hummingbird. They ended up defending the same […]

My First Rufous Hummingbird

September 23, 2012 - This morning I headed to Bok Tower to search for hummingbirds and migrants. The gardens staff have worked hard to attract hummingbirds to the area, and they have certainly succeeded. I’ve never seen so many hummers there before. Clumps of hummingbird friendly plants are tucked all throughout the gardens, especially red salvias and firebush. I […]

Anniversary at Bok Tower Gardens

June 5, 2011 - It’s hard to believe that Rich and I have been married for seven years.  We were married at Bok Tower Gardens, so we decided to go back there today in honor of our anniversary.  Rich didn’t mind that I brought The Beast along.  We saw lots of great baby birds. Since it’s our anniversary, I’ll […]

Sunset and Symphony Concert at Bok Tower Gardens

November 6, 2010 - Rich and I went to the Sunset and Symphony concert at Bok Tower Gardens tonight. The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra played a bunch of fun music, including “Harry’s Wondrous World” from Harry Potter, “The Sound of Music”, and a medley from “Fiddler on the Roof.” It was really cold out (for Florida) and we were happy […]

Peaceful Morning at Bok Tower

October 9, 2010 - Rich and I decided to go birding at Bok Tower this morning. It’s been a while since we’ve gone there, and Rich says it’s starting to be cool enough to go birding with me again. :) There were tons of birds! We couldn’t turn around without turning into a Gray Catbird. “Maaaw! Maaa! Go home […]

Songbirds at Bok Tower Gardens

May 9, 2010 - A rose-breasted grosbeak was recently seen at Bok Tower Gardens, so this morning Rich and I went to bird-watch at Bok.  We didn’t see a grosbeak, but we did see some fun songbirds. The first bird we saw this morning was a male Eastern Towhee.  He was on the ground, rooting through the grass, digging […]

Springtime at Bok Tower

April 2, 2010 - Last year Rich and I went to Bok Tower a few weeks after the azaleas bloomed, and I was mad to have missed the blooms.  So this year we went while the azaleas were in bloom.  They were pretty, but not as dramatic as what we expect to see at Callaway Gardens in a few […]

Bird-watching at Bok Tower

September 6, 2009 - Rich and I went to Bok Tower this morning to do some bird-watching. The swans were posing in the pond around the tower, and I found that my new warming filter made for some wonderful pictures. I played with my filters as I took pictures of the tower.  I found that I was able to […]

A winter ramble around Bok Tower Gardens

January 10, 2009 - Bok Tower is one of my favorite places to go. The gardens are beautiful, the wildlife is fun to watch, and the trip is a nice escape from the real world. Today we saw hummingbirds! They are wintering at Bok Tower! The swans were posing, and I had fun playing with my new diffuser filter. […]

Hummers wintering at Bok Tower

January 2, 2009 - Rich and I went to Bok Tower this morning. The swans swam right up to us and let me take some cool pictures, but we didn’t really see too many other birds. We heard some exciting sounds though – there are definitely some hummingbirds wintering at Bok Tower, even if we didn’t see them!

Bok Tower hummingbirds photographed in better light

October 19, 2008 - After seeing hummingbirds at Bok Tower last week, but not getting any really good pictures because of the cloudy day, we resolved to go back today when it was sunny and try again. The hummingbirds that we’re seeing at Bok are all males, which complements my set of females from Callaway Gardens nicely. Rich patiently […]

Hummingbirds at Bok Tower!

October 11, 2008 - Today was a great day for migrating birds at Bok Tower. We were walking around by Exedra when we heard the unmistakable sound of hummingbirds. We’d not seen hummers in Florida, so we were very excited. We looked around and found several hummers nectaring on salvia and hummingbird bush. Cool! Now we don’t have to […]

Hangin’ out with Dyeyo at Bok Tower Gardens

August 8, 2008 - Dyeyo met me at Bok Tower this morning for some bird-watching. We had a great time roaming around in the beautiful gardens. I lent him my Canon Digital Rebel while I used my awesome new Canon 40D. He took some good pictures, too! This cardinal met us in the pine trees right behind the visitor […]