2/21/23. Anhinga Trail

Note from yesterday: The key lime pie I bought yesterday was certainly better than the first one, but cannot compare to daughter Laura's recipe that we use at Thanksgiving!!

After our day in the car for many hours yesterday and because of the heat expected this afternoon, we decided to go early to Anhinga Trail.  There is always something new to see and this trip did not disappoint.  When we got to the parking lot, there were only a few cars so we practically had the place to ourselves.  It was actually quite beautiful.  The water was clear as glass and the park was very quiet. Because of a heavy dew set, I was able to take a few very nice spider web pics.  I chose my favorite to start today's blog.  We also saw many American egrets, Great Blue herons, cormorants, anhingas, purple gallinules, yellow-bellied sliders, lilies in the sawgrass and gators.  The new thing that we saw were two soft-shelled turtles.  Unfortunately, light was not conducive to taking any photos of them.

We came back go the "digs" about 10:30 and went to read by the pool until the room was cleaned.  We had lunch and read/napped until a little while ago.  We haven't decided what we are doing for dinner tonight.  I think tomorrow we will head out early to Shark Valley to walk part of the loop road to make up for our dud day.  

2/20/23. Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

 We got up early this morning for our 2.5 hour trek to Corkscrew.  It was a lovely morning - 71 degrees and sunny - a perfect day for birding.  On the way we stopped in Big Cypress for a break and looked around the boardwalk.  The baby anhingas were still there and we also saw a green heron.  We continued on and when we got to Hwy. 29 going north, we saw 3 panther warning signs lit up.  Unfortunately we didn't see one.  When we got onto the back roads we passed a pond where there were about 100 American egrets either perched in trees or wading in the pond.  Unfortunately there was no place to safely pull over to take a picture, but it was a sight to see!  We got to Corkscrew in time for our tickets and started out on the boardwalk.  The main walk is 2.5 miles, but I figure we did 3+ as we took most of the spur walks as we came to them.  Dave spotted a caracara, but was not able to get a pic of it.  We also saw three downy woodpeckers who were also camera-shy.  I did take a pic of an unknown heron.  I thought it was a night heron, but when I looked at it on the computer, I was not so sure.  I did catch a pic of a little blue heron and a green anole (native) and a brown anole (an import from the Caribbean).  There is also a picture of a red-bellied woodpecker and a lovely white swamp flower.  At the farthest part of the boardwalk we saw a white ibis and two juveniles - one in the water and the other perched in a tree.  There is also a pic of an unknown little brown bird - some type of wren?

I also took a pic of a small butterfly on the flower of a pickerel weed, an American egret, a black vulture, a gator, an anhinga drying his wings and finally a cardinal silhouetted in the sun near the visitor center.

As we were nearing the end of our walk we ran into a volunteer ranger who told us that when he was out earlier in the morning, he came upon a 10 foot gator trying to eat a rather large turtle.  He had in in his jaws and bit down and the ranger heard the shell crack.  He worked it a while, but finally let the turtle go as it was too big to eat.  Lucky turtle!  We were quite hot as we finished our walk.  When we got to the car we saw that the temperature had risen to 87.  Thankfully we had our water bottles with us.  We headed back and had a late lunch at our favorite restaurant in Everglades City.  We both had the shrimp again and it was just as good as it was the last time.  I bought a piece of key lime pie for takeout. I will try it tonight.  Hopefully it will be better than the last one I tried.   All in all, we had a wonderful day.   Dave got a snooze on the way home.  We stopped at our favorite gas station a mile up the road ($3.17 a gallon) so we will be ready for drives the rest of this week.  We will have lunch for dinner tonight as we are still stuffed.

2/19/23. Dud Day

Sorry, no pics today.  We followed directions to Sparrow Fields Trail north of us, but when we got there, there was no trail.  We stopped on the side of the road and chatted with 3 bicyclists and told them we were looking for birds.  They suggested a place they knew called the loop road.  Lots of birds and gators they said.  When we followed their directions we soon realized they were sending us to Shark Valley.  We laughed and thought that was okay because we had seen lots of activity there and would walk the right side of the loop toward the observation tower until we got tired and then would turn back.  We didn't even get that far.  There was a long line trying to get into the park.  Apparently they were only letting cars in one at a time as a car left.  We waited about 20 minutes with no cars leaving the park so we turned around and headed back.  We had a lovely car ride, but no walking or birding.  We stopped for gas and then went back for lunch.  I sat by the pool for a bit until it got unbearably hot.  I made a reservation at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary for tomorrow.  It is a long drive (2.5 hours), but we are guaranteed some good walking on the boardwalk and some bird sightings.  We will eat in again tonight and hope for a better day tomorrow. 

2/18/23. Back to the Everglades

It was very cloudy and humid this morning so we went back to the glades where the weather is usually a bit better.  And it was - the sun popped through the clouds around 10 and warmed everything up.  We did the Anhinga Trail again as that seems to have the most birds.  The first thing we spotted was a boat-tailed grackle and then a juvenile ibis. This was all before we got on the trail itself.  The gators were just coming out to warm up on the shore and as we turned the corner we saw two Great Blue herons. There were plenty of cormorants drying their plumage on the railings and several of them were at the top of a small tree to do the same.  There were plenty of gallinules around.  One of them was munching on a water lily and another was perched in a tree as there was a gator directly below him.  He stayed there a long time as we took that loop twice and he only took off when we came around the second time.  We spotted a strange round flower that I had to take a picture of and an American egret.  We saw several yellow-bellied sliders - one had a shell that was at least a foot in diameter.  We caught an anhinga fluffing his feathers in the sun.  He was funny as he looked like he had a mohawk!  The last pic is of an unknown songbird perched in the top of a tree.  We stopped for the last time for supplies at Publix then came back to make lunch.  We are eating in tonight.  Starting tomorrow, the temps are supposed to be in the mid eighties so we should have a good last week.

2/17/23. Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park

 After breakfast this morning we headed out to Cape Florida State Park.  The park is located south of Miami, but unfortunately, I missed the exit and we ended up in downtown Miami during rush hour!!!  Horrors!  The good news is that we finally made it to the park and were even in time for the ranger led lighthouse talk and tour.  The original lighthouse was built in 1925 with many restorations due to hurricanes, attacks by Seminole native Americans, and even an explosion due to lantern oil and gunpowder.  It is 95 feel tall (109 steps to the top) with views of lovely beaches, downtown Miami and other vistas.  There were 6 stilt buildings still in existence off the coast.  There were originally 26, but because this is all part of the park system, if any of the structures has more than 50% damage, it must be removed and not renovated.  Nearby to the lighthouse is the two-story keeper's cottage with a separate kitchen building.  The most interesting thing that I learned is that this site is part of the Underground Railroad system.  Many slaves seeking freedom were able to catch ships here to Andros Island (Bahamas), Cuba, and Haiti.  Despite this park being touted as a great birding spot, we did not see a single bird.  We stopped for lunch at the Boater's Grill.  The view was lovely - right on the water - and the food was good, but the service was very slow and the waitress did not get the order right.  We headed back to Florida City and passed through some sharp showers on the way.  It doesn't seem to have rained here, but the air is very humid for the first time on this trip.  We will have leftovers tonight.