Bowman Beach, Sanibel Island

   

We spent a morning at Bowman Beach on Sanibel Island. Bowman Beach is one of the most famous beaches in the world for collecting shells. Laurie and I met my friend Sue Palmer at low tide in the hopes of finding some cool shells. The plan was to be at the beach for a couple of hours then go to Ding Darling birding for another couple of hours. Since both shelling and birding at Ding are both best at low tide, time was a consideration for how long we stayed at Bowman Beach. It costs five dollars an hour to park at Bowman Beach.

   Shelling is best after a storm. However, no major storms had hit the west coast of Florida for a while, so honestly, I had no idea what to expect. It turned out the beach was pretty awesome. There were a ton of shells lined up along the high tide line. The majority of shells were different colored scallops. The sand was covered in them. There were so many that the shells were the ground. We did find a few snail shells also. If we had time to walk in the water who knows what we could have found.

Dolphins swimming past the beach

   We all walked half a mile up the beach at our own pace and picked up shells that interested us. This may have been Laurie's most relaxing part of the trip. She was really looking forward to shelling and it did not disappoint. She picked up a small bag of shells. There is no question that if we ever go back to Florida again, we will spend an entire tide looking for shells both in and out of the water. 

   Besides looking for shells we came away with other awesome memories. Brown Pelicans, terns and gulls were flying over the ocean. But what really got our attention were the Bottle Nosed Dolphins pods that swam by us. As you can imagine, we all stopped looking at the sand and admired the dolphins. 

Red Knot in winter plumage

   At our turn around point half a mile up the beach we came across a flock of twenty Red Knots. Knots are among my favorite birds, so it was a treat to watch them. However, time was ticking so after five minutes we turned to the parking lot.

   As we were about to leave, terns started landing on the beach. They were coming in by the ones and twos. Sue and I were pretty excited to be so close to Royal and Sandwich Terns. I've seen both species in Florida but not so close I could pet them. Royal Tern is my Rhode Island nemesis bird. I miss them every time they are here! So it is tongue in cheek bittersweet to see them so close and so willing to be photographed in sunny Florida.

The top two terns are Sandwich Terns. Notice the yellow at the end of the bill. The bottom three are Royal Terns. Both species look like balding old men at this time of year.

Everglades!

 

Gator at the Anhinga Trail

  We spent a couple of days in the Everglades on our trip. In two days we saw all sorts of things. As I start this, I'm  sure it is going to be a long post. I'll try to cover as much as I can for anyone wanting to go there. If you like wildlife, you should put the 'glades on your bucket list. 

   The Everglades is huge. There are three entrances to the park. None of them are connected. You can't drive across the park from one entrance to the other. To get to one entrance of the park to another, you have to leave the park and drive at least an hour to the next entrance. One entrance is on the west coast at Everglades City. I have never been there. Another entrance is off of the Tamiami Trail (Route 41), this entrance is called Shark Valley. There is a 15 mile loop paved path that goes into the Everglades. You can walk, bike or take a tram around the loop. Cars are not allowed. We did this loop in 2019. We saw tons of gators and birds riding bikes that we rented. If you want to read about it you can read my post here

https://southernnewenglandoutdoors.blogspot.com/2019/11/shark-valley-everglades-national-park.html 

   This trip we went in by the Coe Visitor Center. The cost to go the national park is $30. The pass is good for one week.  From this entrance there is a 38 mile road that cuts through the Everglades to the visitor hub in Flamingo. Along the way there are places to get out and hike. Most of the hikes are in hammocks. These are areas just a few inches above the surrounding sawgraass that are just high enough and dry enough to support trees. There are two campgrounds along the road. Not far from the entrance is Long Key Campground. The other is in Flamingo. The one at Long Key is wooded and sites are pretty much private. The Flamingo Campground is pretty much an open field, but the sites are far apart. I believe both campgrounds are $26/night

Purple Galinule and the two photos below

   Not far from the entrance is the trailhead for the Anhinga Trail. There is a large parking lot. The "trail" is handicap accessible. Much of it is a boardwalk. Though this trail is very touristy, it is loaded with wildlife. We went there three different times and always saw something new. Every time we went there we saw a couple of alligators. There are a few Purple Galinule that live there. We saw a variety of fish looking into the water. There was a huge turtle and a smaller Red Bellied Slider. Three of the fish we saw were lifers. There were Peacock Bass and Mayan Cichlids, and Florida Gar in the water along with the more common Largemouth Bass.  For birds, besides the Galinule, we saw a Yellow Billed Cuckoo and a Wood Stork.

   Further down the road are the Mahogany Hammock, Pinelands, and Pahayokee Trails. These are all short walks that you can do in less than a half hour each. All were fun. We saw a sleeping Barred Owl and a Florida Gar on these trails. 

At the end of the road is Flamingo. There is a campground, marina, and general store there. You can rent canoes and kayaks at the marina. There is a very popular boat ramp. I could easily write an entire post about Flamingo with a hundred photos of wildlife. 

   We stayed at the campground in Flamingo for a night. At the campground we saw over one hundred White Ibis, Black Bellied Plovers, Yellow Crowned Night Heron, Black Vultures, and Dunlin. This was just driving to and from our sites. We weren't even looking for wildlife. However, the most memorable wildlife were mosquitoes. The mosquitoes were borderline unbearable. We ate our supper quickly at dusk and jumped in the tent. Any time we opened the tent to get in or out required five minutes of turning on our headlamps and smashing the mosquitoes that came in. This year was very wet and the mosquitoes are still around later than normal.

Black Vulture in the Campground

Juvenile Yellow Crowned Night Heron in 
Flamingo Campground

Adult Yellow Crowned Night Heron in 
Flamingo Campground

   The marina in Flamingo is the place to be! We went over to look around. I had heard an American Crocodile (endangered and rare to see) was hanging around the marina. Not only did we see one, there were four swimming. There were at least three manatees hanging around the marina. We also saw Tarpon, Snook, Needlefish, Tricolored Heron, Cattle Egret, Black Crowned Night Heron, Red Tailed Hawk, and an Osprey that made a nest on a pole next to the parking lot. We went there one afternoon and stayed for two hours watching all of these animals. 

The first American Crocodile we saw

Croc swimming at the Flamingo Marina

   The following day on our way back to Flamingo from a trip up to the Anhinga Trail we stopped again. One of the Crocodiles was sunning itself near the freshwater boat ramp. As you can imagine, I watched it for over half an hour taking a ton of photos and admiring it. 

American Crocodile sunning at the boat ramp

   After we packed our tent we drove up to Long Key Campground to set up for the night. We stopped at a roadside lake called Nine Mile Pond. Not twenty feet from the parking space was a HUGE crocodile about fifteen feet long. The park rangers named her Croczilla. She was an absolute giant. Easily twice as long and wide as the one at the boat ramp. To be considered "safe" from a gator or croc the park says you need to be at least fifteen feet away. Fifteen feet is nothing and I was surprised you are allowed so close. Being that close with my 600 mm lens meant I could do some damage. With my lens completely zoomed I get get full photos of just the teeth.

Croczilla was huge. I had to stand fifty feet back to get 
the entire croc in the photo

  Before setting up our camp at Long Key Campground, Laurie an d I ate lunch at a picnic area. After lunch we walked the trail across the street. The trail was narrow and it was impossible not to brush up against vegetation. This meant that I could not see where I was putting my foot as I stepped. Not an ideal situation in snake country. Hell yes I jumped back when I almost stepped on two snakes as they slithered  off the trail. I got a quick look at them and they were gray. Best guess they were Florida Red-Bellied Snakes.  

   After setting up our tent and sitting in the dark I saw a Cottonmouth

Manatees at Flamingo Marina

in our campground. If you read my post on Cottonmouths, you already read it, so I won't write the story again here. 

  All in all, I loved our trip to the Everglades. The thirty eight mile road is awesome and, at least in November, very lightly travelled. All the people seem to be on the Anhinga Trail and in Flamingo. We saw almost no one at the hammocks and ponds we stopped at. The wildlife was amazing. There are a bunch of pictures below. If you have any questions about the glades or the wildlife please ask. I tried to fill this post with as much useful info as I could but I will be happy to answer any specific questions in the comments.

  

Barred Owl sleeping right next to the trail

I walked within five feet of this well hidden six foot gator before I saw it

Vesper Sparrow

This huge alligator was seen roadside on the way to Flamingo.
Too bad it was facing the wrong way

Red Shouldered Hawk greeting us at the entrance to Flamingo Campground

Anhinga drying off at the Anhinga Trail

Yellow Billed Cuckoo @ the Anhinga Trail.

Since I was looking into the water for manatees, tarpon, and crocodiles, I walked within ten feet of this osprey sitting on a post before seeing it. It didn't mind. I took five photos and kept walking. It was still there until a Red Tailed Hawk scarred it off.

Things I am thankful for

We interrupt our regularly scheduled posts about Florida to bring you a post about things I am thankful for.  Regularly scheduled posts about Florida will resume tomorrow.

   Every year I do a post where I write what I am thankful for in the outdoors. I do a list of between ten and twenty things I am thankful for. Some of the things are on the list every year such as New Hampshire, Stripers, Dave and Laurie.  However, this year because of rescheduling things that were planned from last year and because I needed breaks from my stressful job, I did a lot of fun things. To list them off as things I am "thankful for" would just be self serving. So I am not going to do that, besides, I do an end of the year review anyway, so I'll write them there. 

  During the last two weeks I have dealt with death and life. Because of this, my post about being thankful has a different perspective from other years. Since I was vaccinated in May, I have been living as though the pandemic is over. I trust the science. I trust that if I were to catch Covid, the vaccination will keep me out of the hospital. I do not fear being out in the public, working, and obviously I don't fear travel. This feeling is not being cocky or arrogant. Like I said, I trust the science.

   However, Covid is very much real. Over the last two weeks, I lost my cousin, Mark. I was closer to him than any other relative. After a long fight he passed away last week. He lived in Maine and I visited him there a couple of times. We took a week long vacation to Florida a few years back. I will miss him.

   On rhis trip to  Florida I almost drowned. It's a long story, but I went snorkeling without my fins on and I almost didn't make it back to the beach. I can not exaggerate enough that I thought I was going to die. I have not been as scared as I was in my life. I really thought it was the end. 

   So as you can imagine, losing a close cousin and almost losing my life has gotten me thinking. As my second cousin's and Mark's brother have their first Thanksgiving only days after he passed, I write this thankful to be alive and sad I will never see him again. 

   Since I almost drowned I have had almost nightly vivid dreams that I was about to die (different ways, not just drowning). These are just dreams and when I wake from them I am back asleep in ten minutes. But I am very thankful to be alive. But it is more than that, I am thankful to be living. What is the point of life if you don't enjoy it? I enjoy it. My bad day happened on my fourth day in Florida. I still had eight more glorious days to enjoy. And I did. We did and saw a lot of cool things. I went snorkeling again just to make sure I wouldn't develop an uncontrollable fear of it. I spent about an hour snorkeling a couple of days later. 

   So this year, instead of being thankful for stripers, New Hampshire, or a quick trip to Philly, I am thankful for being thankful. I am very glad that sunsets don't seem prettier or that the mountain views don't seem more special. Because to me I have appreciated them always. I love my friends and I love the memories I have made this year. I planned as many trips as I could into this year and even when they didn't go as planned I still appreciated getting away. As I was reminded over the last two weeks, life is short. I'm glad I am still here to enjoy it. Though I will miss Mark, I have great memories from the trip to Florida.  For all the reasons above,  I am thankful.

"I'm not here for a long time, I'm here for a good time"

-various artists and Mark Vieira

Florida Suburban Wildlife

White Ibis

   I have spent twenty four days in  Florida between my trip in 2019 and the one that just ended. I dedicated a few of those days to birding, but even when I wasn't birding...I was birding. I went to couple famous places like Ding Darling and Corkscrew. However, you would probably be shocked to know that I got the highest percentage of my Florida lifers at a Walmart parking lot.

Yes, you read that right. I've seen Painted Buntings at Corkscrew, Reddish Egret at Ding, and Magnificent Frigatebird on the Keys, but I have gotten more lifers and Florida state birds in Walmart parking lots.

Eurasian Collared Dove

   On my first trip to Florida we went to the Walmart in Florida City, which is the last town before going to the Keys. We stop there to get supplies and food that we didn't bring on the plane. In the parking lot  I saw my lifer Eurasian Collared Dove, and birds I'd only ever seen one other time Boat-Tailed Grackle and White Ibis. This trip I got a lifer in the parking lot when we saw a flock of Muscovy Ducks. 

   

Muscovy Ducks

   In a Walgreens parking lot I saw a bird I know I had never seen, it turned out they are Common Myna birds. Lifer and an unexpected surprise. 

Common Myna

   A lot of the wildlife in Florida has adapted to people. Of course, there is urban sprawl and a lot of wildlife is displaced. But some species like the White Ibis and Boat-Tailed Grackle like to be around people for free food.  

   The whole Mallory Square area of Key West is concrete. Yet, you can find some amazing wildlife. This trip I found White Crowned Pigeons which were a lifer. From what I saw, they seem more wild than regular Feral Pigeons.  They were eating berries off of Palm Trees and not looking for scraps. 

White Crowned Pigeons

   Of course, Key West is famous for the wild chickens (Jungle Fowl) running all over town. We saw them everywhere. They are wild birds and actually countable on the ABA list. They seem to be expanding their range. We saw them at a Winn Dixie on Big Pine Key and as we were driving off the Keys, I think I saw them on Key Largo. 

Wild Chickens (Jungle Fowl)

Just off the bulkhead at Mallory Square are a couple of concrete structures. They are only fifteen feet from the mainland. Yet, that is enough room for birds to feel safe. I've seen Black Skimmers on these structures every time I've been there. Because of the water between us, they are much closer than they would be on a beach. So, easy photos! Also, Laughing Gulls and Brown Pelicans will land on these posts. 

I will never turn down the
opportunity to look at Black Skimmers

 Lastly, while driving to Six Mile Slough we passed a college campus. Feeding right next to the road were three gorgeous Sandhill Cranes. We pulled into the campus entrance and I walked back over to them with the sun at my back. They didn't seem to mind me being forty feet away since they kept feeding. It was a challenge to be patient for them to lift their heads up as traffic was flying by me. (I was safely off the road, but must have looked like an idiot).

 

  The point of this post is to remind you if you go to Florida looking for wildlife, don't stop looking. Much of the wildlife has become used to having people around. This makes for easy photos and fun viewing. If I did a post that included wildlife I have seen in campsites I have stayed at (not even the campground as a whole, just my site) my list would include racoons, green herons, iguanas, night herons, warblers, and now fish.

Boat Tailed Grackle at Walmart

Palm Warblers were everywhere. Waiting for one to stop moving for a 
photo was the hard part.