What a thrill to be able to experience the Everglades. Bob and I take off in the car one morning taking the expressway as far south as it goes until arriving at the Ernest Coe Visitor Center.
Ernest Coe is the "father" of Everglades National Park. We quickly learn that we can take a ranger led tour at the Anhinga Trail which leaves in about 6 minutes. We hop in our car and make a mad dash 4 miles down the road to make this tour in time. We are certainly glad we did. The birds and Aligators we see are amazing. A few pictures follow.
Although just a few people are on this tour, all of them have cameras. A few times I got a good shot; other times the birds take off before I can get to them. Birds aren't necessairly good at posing. But I got a few surprising shots I think you will enjoy. If you don't find something you like here, be sure to view the slide show at the end of this post. Although we took over 200 pictures this day, I'm limited the album to just under 60 total photos.
The Aligator, our guide explains, ate a turtle for lunch a couple of days ago.That explains the lopsided stomach. He went on to say that aligators have a bite of about 1,000 pounds. A turtle feels like a potatoe chip to an aligator!
Blue Herons, he explains, are the most treaturous of all birds. They can eat an aligator up to 3 feet long and are the primary prey for baby aligators. I hope I have the right bird in the following picture.
We can't remember what our guide called this little guy, who was sitting on the side railing of our trail, but he/she was really colorful. I bet they taste aweful!
About 34 miles south of the Anhinga Trail is Flamingo. Here we can catch the 1:00 PM boat tour of the canals going north to one of the many lakes in the region. The following pictures show part of what we enjoyed.
This next beautiful bird is a little green something. If you know the name, please let us know. Since they are rather small and shy, getting a good shot is nearly impossible with our little camera. This will have to suffice.
On our way back to the car, I notice several photographers with serious cameras mounted on tripods aiming at a tree. Low and behold, look what I find, holding is fish no less. He stayed there for a long while. More photos of him are in the slide show.
Our next stop is the Maghony Hammock Trail, a not-to-be missed walk through a beautiful hammock, indian for high ground.
After our walk, we take a brief drive through the campgrounds to see if the parking spaces and turns are "Popeye approved." Hopefully another year we can spend several days here. There is so much beauty to enjoy, and of course, the animals are amazing. Bob and I hope you take time to enjoy this slide show:
For further information:
Everglades National Park
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