The Daily Bucket is a place where we post and exchange our observations about what is happening in the natural world in our neighborhood. Bugs, buds, birds - each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
Everglades National Park
Royal Palm Visitor Center & Flamingo
February 2012
"Everglades National Park, the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, boasts rare and endangered species. It has been designated a World Heritage Site, International Biosphere Reserve, and Wetland of International Importance, significant to all people of the world." The Everglades is much more than the old TV show from the 60s or Gentle Ben where airboats ripped across the river of grass. If you go expecting to ride an airboat, well they are around outside the park but one ranger cautioned us that they are really just thrill rides and you will not see much. Today we are stopping on the north part of the park to see alligators and birds.
Here's a map from the NPS to get us situated - photos are below.
We spent the night in Florida City just south of Homestead (Ramada Inn at US 1 and SR 9336 aka Palm Dr aka SW 344th St that leads to the park). During the busy winter season reservations are almost mandatory and visitors are arriving from all over the world. In fact many of the tourists we saw at breakfast, we saw again during the day. So we all got into our cars and headed out to the park. Our first stop was the main visitor center for brochures, gift shop and a stroll around the exhibits. My advice - if you see a tour bus, skip it.
After this center there is the main entrance where you pay the 10 bucks good for 7 days throughout the park. We had already paid at Shark Valley so we flashed the receipt and continued on the 35 mile road to Flamingo. Royal Palm Visitor Center and Anhinga Trail was the first stop. Pay attention to the warning sign about these Black Vultures.
These vultures will attack the black rubber and wiper blades on your vehicle. We took advantage of the free tarps to cover up my truck cab but I saw where they still landed on bed cover and scraped at it. The first 100' of this trail is beset with these birds. Here's a stately pair.
Seeing as this is called Anhinga Trail, we have Anhingas. Here is one air-drying in the warm breeze.
Then another all pretty and posing for us. Note the sharp bill, white on wings and white-edged tail feathers.
And one on its nest feeding a chick.
Here's my friend taking a photo of a cormorant. Obviously most these birds are used to us tourists.
Close view of the friendly cormorant showing hooked bill
White Ibis - I was so excited by the first I saw up close but by the end of a few days in the Keys, stopping on side roads in neighborhoods to let them move off, I was calling them Key chickens.
The lighting in this photo of a Tricolored Heron makes it appear like a watercolor. Note how it almost blends in with water.
Another view - amazing how that neck can scrunch up.
I'm going to guess this is a Common Gallinule and not the Purple Gallinule given the white strip on flank
Great Blue Heron chasing off a Wood Stork
Great Blue Heron looking victorious; the Wood Stork didn't care.
Great Blue Heron looking quite silly in frontal view.
Wood Stork - to me it looks like the bird stuck its head in the mud and it never washed off.
And here it is sticking its bill in the mud swishing around for food. Supposedly it has a extremely fast reaction to snap shut when sensing prey.
Green Heron about ready to dive in for a fish.
From the boardwalk we looked down on this pool of alligators.
Closeup of gator, hard to believe it can outrun a man
View of glades from boardwalk. The hammock to the left once had a hotel of sorts but I believe it burned during a prolonged drought long ago.
There was a lot of wild-pine blooming. Given the many common names for these and other "air plants", better to refer to as tilllandsia fasciculata. Myself, I'm stuck between inaccurate common names and unpronounceable scientific names I can't remember.
Heading off on another trail into the hammock, we saw Gumbo Limbo
and Strangler Fig - named for the way it "strangles" other trees as it sends branches around the host.
Leaving Royal Palm and moving down the road to Flamingo, we stopped at Eco Pond to look at the Roseate Spoonbills.
I can make out Wood Storks and Great Egrets also roosting.
Finally the sad part at the boat basin at Flamingo - typical damage to a young manatee from a boat propeller. That's my shadow in bottom corner for perspective.
A ranger came up and took pictures but I didn't get over quick enough to ask questions - like is it dying or will it be rescued?
That concludes our trip thru the Everglades as we travelled down Florida towards the Keys. Quite the experience for my Yankee friend. So what's going on in your neck of the woods? Deep into spring here in Tallahassee with a rainy rainy day - anyone still in the throes of winter?