1/12 Everglades - Shark Valley Tram Tour

I got out and drove to Shark Valley today for a tram tour.  Not much of a visitor center, but I did buy one book and signed up for a tram tour along the 15 miles paved trail.  The "river of grass" looks like this, and there is indeed a very slow current with only about 6-12" of water in this dry season.  Water levels are a bit low because winter is the dry season, but that also means it is not as hot here as it would be in summer, nor is it as buggy.

 

And here is a bald cypress hammock:

About halfway down, there is a tower you cal walk up to view the entire area.  From it, I took some photos of the path full of people on this Saturday walking and biking on this gorgeous day with temps around 80 and clouds occasionally breaking up the sun.

We saw quite a few alligators on the trail.  The first is an 8" baby, and the rest are adults about 6-7' long.

And here is what I think is a common cooter turtle (box turtle family) sunning himself.

We saw a wood stork using his large beak to find food in the soft mud. Here he is with his beak in the mud and then after pulling it out.  I did not see if he found anything to eat.  Normally, these guys stand in clearer water, snapping their beaks shut when a fish comes along.

 Right next to the visitor center was a small heron that the ranger identified as a juvenile green heron.  He definitely had some green on his wing feathers, although it was more muted that it would be if he had been an adult.  This is the first green heron I have seen.

Here also is a little blue heron  staring at the water.  I think he had something in sight, but was interrupted by a loud splash nearby where I think an alligator had lunged at something. Whatever happened, there was a LOT of squawking by birds in the area.  Little blue herons are taller then green herons but much smaller than the great blue herons. They also have a more uniformly dark blue-grey color than great blue herons.

There were a lot of wildflowers, but the tram driver and guide were apparently only interested in animals, so it did not stop or even slow down.  I have been seeing this glades morning glory in several places and finally got this good photo of one.

It was a beautiful day for being out, and I even managed to get my motor home back into the narrow spot I am camped in without an incident.  This is an older campground built for much smaller trailers and tents, so spots are really a stretch for big rigs.  They need to remove some of the trees and cabbage palms that make it difficult to back in.  I had to get in between a tree and two palms, and then back farther in so my slides would have enough room.  Next campsite in the everglades will be more open and easier to park in.

Many older parks are rebuilding sites and/or removing some of the camping spots.  Noise levels are sometimes high when campers are so close together, and it becomes difficult for rangers, plus it can make for an unpleasant camping experience, even when you are in something with hard sides as I am.   

In fact, last week I got a survey from the Michigan DNR asking for recommendations on the reconstruction of Wilderness State Park Lakeside Campground.  That one was so cramped, I had to have help getting in and getting out.  Luckily, there were some volunteers who "spotted" for me.  In that campground, spots were so small trailer owners had parked a lot of their pickup trucks along the road, making it difficult to turn.  There were also so many campfires when I was there last June that I had to keep my windows closed and the AC on to control my asthma. 

1/10 Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

This is one of my favorite spots anywhere. It is a 13,000 acre wildlife sanctuary owned by the Audabon Society. I have been there several times over the past 30 years.  Sometimes it has a lot of water in it and sometimes less.  This time it was fairly dry, so there were not as many birds fishing.  Plus the warm weather meant that alligators were not sunning themselves to get warm. 

Here are a few birds we did see.  The first are a pair of white ibis perched on the boardwalk handrail.

And one of a pair of golden-crowned night herons perched in a tree.

A very pretty little blue heron walking around looking for a snack.

And a red-shouldered hawk on the top of a tree.

Here is a little green tree frog.  He looks big, but he was less than an inch long!

I found some flowers also.  The first are swamp lilies, the second are lance-leaf arrowheads.

I think the next ones are some sort of arrowheads and the last yellow flowers are primroses, possibly evening primroses.

Finally, there were two ferns, neither of which I was able to identify.  The first one was large and had leathery looking leaves.  The second was much smaller and more delicate looking.

This last fern may have been a resurrection fern, but I am not sure.  There were very small and delicate.

There were a lot of air plants in the swamp, but this is the only good picture I took of one.  Not sure what it is called.

 

1/6 & 1/7 Lover's Key State Park & More Ding Darling Refuge

I started out with a long drive up Ft Myers Beach, stopping at Lover's Key State Park to investigate the beach here.  There is a tram that takes you over a couple of bridges, or you can walk.  The beach is really nice.  Best part is that it is more isolated and much less busy than the beaches farther down near the big hotels and the commercial area of Ft Myers Beach.

Later that day, I took a boat ride in the evening out into the bay belonging to the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge.  Saw an osprey on a post and this osprey nesting on a house. 

As it was getting late in the day, there were a lot of birds claiming roosting spots on the small islands of mangroves in the bay.  Pretty crowded. 

 The next day, I tried riding my bike in Ding Darling, but it was really hot with high humidity, so I gave up after four miles.  It was a very strenuous four miles!  Here is what the path looked like.

I did not see many birds on the bike path because of the heat and because it was mid-day, but I did see some really big fish swimming in a very small canal.  They were at least 20" long, so I can see why the birds come here to fish.

The water looks dirty, but it is really just stained from all the leaves that fall here. 

1/5 Sanibel Island

Spent the day today with an old friend showing me around the island.  It was a beautiful, hot sunny day--perfect Florida!  I had not been there for a very long time, and even then only very briefly.  The best part was driving out to the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge and making a couple circles on their one-way road through the park.  There were slightly different birds each time.  As I did out west, I am tryiing to learn the names of everything I see.  There were quite a few herons on this sandbar, white and great blue.

There are a lot of birdwatchers here.  Some birdwatchers watch and birds, and some birds watch the birdwatchers.

Here are some roseate spoonbills hiding under some mangroves. Aren't they gorgeous?  Would match the towels in my bathroom nicely!

And some white ibis probing the mud.

These next two took some research.  I knew the first one was an adult yellow-crowned night heron, but it took some help from one of the bird experts in the visitor center to identify the second as a juvenile yellow-crowned night heron.  It was made harder by the fact that the photos were washed out because of the angle of the sun.

And finally, an anhinga drying his wings after diving for fish.  He can't fly again until his wings are completely dry, so he hangs them out in the sun. 

It was a fun day of watching birds.  We continues driving through Captiva Island, turned around, and finally headed back home.  Here is a photo of the road along the island and of a wildflower I saw. At first I thought it was a black-eyed susan, but those grow to 3' tall, and this one was only about a foot tall.  Turned out to be an East Coast dune sunflower!  Now I will know what it is when I see it again.

1/2 Lake Kissimmee State Park

I've had a restful three days here, after I got back from my visit to my Ohio family.  I had chosen this park about a month ago after realizing I needed a place to stay for four days before my next reservation farther south.  Unfortunately, there weren't many choices of state parks because this is a very busy tourist time of year. 

Positives:  Spots are large and separated by lots of greenery, so there is a lot of privacy.  There is fishing and a boat launch along the river nearby. 

Negatives:  No access to the lake unless you ride your bike or walk a couple of miles. Also, while you cannot see the lake, you know it is there because you can hear the roar of airboats 20 hours a day.  Not much to so other than bike riding and fishing.  Also, just discovered (after I put clothes and money in) that the washing machine uses only cold water, even though it gives you the usual selection of hot, warm, and cold.  They really should have a sign warning about this because I do not like to wash clothes in cold water only.

 

The land here is a bit higher than Myakka--more pines and fewer Live Oaks.

 



Here is the river boat launch and the shut-down for construction observation tower:

And somewhere, WAY in the distance is supposed to be the lake.  I had already ridden my bike 8 miles to the entrance and back, so after reaching the out-of-commission tower, I decided to skip riding a mile or so farther to get a peek of the lake. 

Another positive was these guys stopping by my campsite for a visit.

I had a relaxing time here, but I probably will not come back.  There are a lot of other state parks which I have yet to discover, which is what makes my trip an adventure, not just a vacation!