Everglades and Sugarloaf Key in Florida - January-February 2012

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We began with a morning kayak trip along the Turner River in Big Cypress National Preserve.
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We were pleased to see a pair of white ibises.
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There's a life bird hiding in there...a limpkin.


Later we got a much better view.
IMG_3243 limpkin
Spanish moss hangs from the trees.IMG_3234
Alligators are everywhere.
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IMG_3260 baby alligators
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IMG_3314great egret
 
Here's a great egret.


A bittern tries to hide in the grass.
                                              IMG_3273bittern and lily
Water lilies are in bloom.IMG_3250waterlily
 


This night heron hides too.

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IMG_3303pileated woodpecker
A pileated woodpecker works on a dead tree.


A bald eagle supervises.
                     IMG_3323bald eagle (2)
Roseate spoonbills work the grasses
 

roseate spoonbill
IMG_3329spoonbills
with a little blue heron and some ibises.
IMG_3354heron and ibis
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Later we looked out on the Everglades "river of grass."


The next day we explored the cypress swamp further.
cypress swamp     
                               
IMG_3400florida red-shouldered hawks (2)
 
We saw a pair of Florida red-shouldered hawks


and a great blue heron eating a catfish.IMG_3418heron and fish
 
IMG_3452littlebluescratching
 
A little blue heron scratches his head.


This common butterfly is a gulf fritillary.
IMG_3411gulf fritillary
 
There are double-crested cormorants in the trees


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and anhingas everwhere.
IMG_3487   IMG_3463anhinga  
Anhingas have blue eyes!
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swamp lily
 
This beautiful flower is a swamp lily.
 


Woodstorks work alone or in groups.
IMG_3468woodstorks IMG_3599woodstork (2)
 
    
 
At Shark Valley the wildlife are so accustomed to people you can get really close - if you want to.
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Here are both juvenile and adult white ibises and a tricolored heron.
IMG_3555ibis young and old and tricolored heron (2)    IMG_3747whiteibis  
An alligator pants in the afternoon sun.
                                        IMG_3565alligator panting 
IMG_3608american bittern
 
This American bittern was much easier to see.


A black vulture let me come close enough to admire his interesting face.
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IMG_3631tricolored heron flying
A tricolored heron flies away.


And in the scrub, a red-winged blackbird sings.
IMG_3633redwsing blackbird sings  
A green heron watches patiently and then stre-e-etches for his fish.
IMG_3675 IMG_3665green heron dives
 
IMG_3690heronruffled
A great blue heron adjusts his feathers.


Another bird we didn't remember having seen before was a purple gallinule.
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We drove down to Flamingo on the southern tip to see crocodiles. We saw a manatee and her calf, too, but they don't photograph well.
IMG_3769crocodile
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At Mahogany Hammock we saw the largest living mahogany tree, gumbo-limbo trees, and lots of air plants.
 
IMG_3648bromeliad
This bromeliad is blooming.


Here is a zebra butterfly.
IMG_3793zebrabutterfly
 
The Florida Keys are another world, with mangrove trees growing right out into the water.
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This mangrove swamp is full of dowitchers probing the mud.
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And here's another life bird - a reddish egret.

IMG_3857reddishegret
The reddish egret does a peculiar dance as it feeds. The white morph is actually more common in Florida.
IMG_3845 (2)dancingreddishegret     IMG_3885 (2)whitemorphreddishegret  
On the ocean side of Sugarloaf Key there was a lovely stretch of shoreline with tide pools.
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Our hosts had a nice pool, too.


This iguana came to visit them.
IMG_3817iguana