2/13/23 Big Cypress National Preserve

 We drove out the Tamiami Trail this morning to see Big Cypress.  There was a slough (water ditch) all along the road.  Dave saw many anhingas and egrets, a few blue herons and even some night herons.  I was driving so could only spot the anhingas which were perched on the tops of trees and the egrets whose whiteness caught my eye.  We stopped at a few boardwalk paths along the way.  At the Oasis Visitor Center we saw about a dozen gators sunning themselves and lots of gar in the water.  We then went to Kirby Starter Roadside park which had a mile long boardwalk that meandered through the cypress trees.  Many of the trees were covered in air plants.  These trees were much larger than ones we have seen before and so we got to see a number of cypress knees.  The boardwalk ended at a water hole where we saw an American egret and a Great Blue heron.  We then stopped at Williams Roadside park where there were many gators. The coolest things were a black rat snake molting in a bush right below the boardwalk and a nest of baby anhingas across the water. They were so fuzzy and cute!  We drove to Everglades City to have lunch.  We ended up at City Seafood where we had shrimp baskets.  Normally I don't care for fried food, but the shrimp were very lightly battered and very fresh.  We ate out at a picnic table and watched airboats going by across the water.  Two brown pelicans landed on the end of a dock near us.  The railing was full of great-tailed grackles that watched our every bite.  As we were leaving a gull also landed on the dock.  I assume he is immature as he has a gray head.  As we drove back to Florida City, we saw two unusual things.  A sign that said Panther Crossing had a blinking light on top.  According to our guide at Shark Valley that means that there is a tagged Florida panther nearby that is triggering the light.  The other thing is that as we got closer to making our turn toward home the sky was filled with smoke.  I thought it might be a grass fire, but we just turned on the news to discover that there was a fire in an energy facility that was causing the smoke.