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.