Wild Things #2

Our site became our late afternoon rest spot.  After a morning and early afternoon adventure, we would sit in our chairs having a snack and enjoying what was around us. We would draw and write and simply enjoy the sounds and sights of the Everglades.  Here are some of our closes neighbors...

Lots of Mockingbirds

Red-Shouldered Hawk from the back, but a strong presence and a real pest to the Pileated... 

Pileated Woodpecker

Eastern Towhee - male.  (Female is an orange tan where male is black.)

We also enjoyed watching Northern Cardinals, Pine Yellow-Rumped and Palm Warblers, Catbirds, hooting Barred Owls, and Red-bellied and Downy Woodpeckers.  Although it was a rustic site for dry camping, you can see we had lots of entertainment! 

We also met up with our friends Wayne and Ginny from BPKFL. They joined us for dinner at our site

As I said, each day we would go for an adventure and see what we could find. One day, we visited the Pinelands Boardwalk. We were visiting a tree island in the "sea of grass" known as the Everglades that had enough elevation (maybe 4-6 feet above sea level) and the right soil for pine trees and some hardwood to grow. Our search was for the Florida Tree Snail, a fairly rare creature. Their beauty made their shells sought after by collectors. They are hard to find but we're very successful.

On this same trail we found what are called "solution holes". These are formed by acidic fluid from decaying soil eroding the limestone creating holes. These holes fill will water and become the lifeblood of the Everglades during the dry season.  Small animals and fish reside here, the birds may nest in the area, and if the hole is big enough it becomes a gator hole. Here the gator will live during the dry season, and have plenty to eat for its one-meal-every-couple-of-week dinner!

We visited another boardwalk to see Mahogany Hammock. This is another raised area of a few feet that supports some of the largest Mahogany trees in the Everglades.  We try to be good stewards of the land, and on this trail did some clean up work. We carry our "picker-upper" with us for such occasions!

Another Boardwalk, called Pa-Hay-Okee took us into to find a pair of Barred Owls resting in the Mangroves...

                                       

And into another area called Paurotis Pond, we found one of the treasures of the Everglades, nesting Roseate Spoonbills....

Here we also saw Scissor-tailed Kites in abundance, Glossy Ibis, Great Egrets, Tricolored Herons, and Wood Storks. We visited this spot quite a few times and had some lovely chats with other birders and travelers.  Not far from here, we traveled to Nine-Mile Pond in search of the rare 

White-Crowned Pigeon.  And we found one!

A final spot on this road is another camping area that sits on the edge of Florida Bay.  A visitor Center is here and some other unique creatures.  We saw plenty of Manatees, and this big Crocodile.  We were told that this spot is the only place where alligators and crocodiles live in the same environs.

The Ospreys nest very successfully here.  I think these two are kissing!

On a sand bar, we saw some Pelicans, both White and Brown, and these Black Skimmers. The Black Skimmer is the only bird with the lower mandible longer than the top one.

Along the ride back to our site, we saw many Great Egrets but I loved this picture of a Great Blue on top of a Dwarf Bald Cypress...

Still more to come.  I will post this and add one more smaller post to wrap up the 

Wonderful 

Wild

Weeks