Everglades Visit - Day One

Thank you to all of you who visited the Bald Eagle post recently. It reminds me that this blog is an easier method of sharing my pictures - so I'm going to do just that over the next few days. I have planned to post one blog a day for the next few days to highlight an Everglades visit with my Dad and then a greatest hits post. The greatest hits will have a purpose other than patting myself on the back - I've been asked to post specific pictures for uses by certain people/organizations. Instead of emailing them directly I'll use this platform to share with all of you who are interested.

Thank you again for your interest in the beauty of these treasured creatures.

Everglades - Day One

As mentioned in the previous post - Holly and I flew to Florida to visit with her folks in Apopka before I met with my Dad in Sebring. My Dad has always wanted to visit the Everglades to photograph the feathered inhabitants. Since this was his bucket list item I prioritized my visit; enjoy the time with my Dad, make sure he had the chance to get photos and lastly for me to try to get good photos. With that in mind I'll share my pictures but know that my Dad got some great photos too - many better than mine - and I am thrilled to say that. When his final images arrive I will ask if he'll let me post a blog that compares images to illustrate that two people can be side by side and yet see things differently.

My Dad, Andy, shooting in Everglades National Park

 

Our first day together started with a drive down the center of the state along state highway 29, our first stop was at Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve. The Preserve is very large yet we only saw a small section by driving on a dirt road into a remote area. Hidden among the trees was this Great Egret - a common sight usually seen in a more open environment.

 

Although my Dad had little interest in photographing alligators - I couldn't resist talking one of this gator sunning himself on a log.  

We did see this tri-colored heron wading through the high water. Turns out that the 90 inches of rain in two months made this the wettest March in 10 years. The high water meant many species could not build their nests on the ground and therefore we saw fewer birds than usual. I never got a definitive answer to my question - will they wait for the water to recede then build nests or will they just not produce off spring this year before they migrate north?   

After driving on the dusty road for a while, and not seeing many birds, we retraced our path to visit the Preserve's boardwalk.The boardwalk was very nicely built though we only glimpsed a few birds and animals. From the boardwalk we spotted this bald eagle nest that was rumored to have been in use for decades which measures 10 feet across and reportedly weighed 9 TONS. I have no way to verify that report but it came from one of the experts at a nearby bird sanctuary.
 

We ended up not spending too much time on the boardwalk before driving to Naples to check into our hotel.  I say "check in" but we were in such a hurry to catch the sunset that we got the room keys and returned to the minivan for the drive to the Marsh Bird Sanctuary.

An amazing sight greeted us as we walked a few hundreds of yards into the sanctuary - the arrival and gathering of hundreds of white ibises, young and old. The diminishing light, fast flight and limited sight-lines resulted in sub par photos but the gathering of loud squawking ibises roosting in the trees by the hundreds certainly was a memorable event. The fading light may not have yielded great bird photos but it did create a nice sunset over one of the sanctuary ponds.

A long day of traveling, walking and photographing came to a conclusion at the Cracker Barrel beside our hotel. Dad was smiling in this picture because we had a good day and he speculated that tomorrow's photo ops would be better - and he was right.

 

 I will post those photos from Everglades Day Two tomorrow.