Peggy and I watched this pair of Brandt cormorants at the Point Lobos Reserve near Carmel, California as they shared a quiet snuggle. We had watched the two interacting for 10 minutes and we couldn’t help but think how human they seemed to be. The cobalt blue neck pouch and the white whisker-like feathers are both signs of mating season.
This is the second half of our series on Point Lobos. In my last post, we visited the northern part of the park and emphasized the natural beauty of the area. Today, we are going to explore the southern part of Point Lobos where we will feature the cormorants and seals. We had the opportunity— I might even say privilege— of watching cormorants as they went about the serious (and sometimes humorous) process of attracting and interacting with mates and mother seals as they watched over their babies. We will continue to explore the beauty of the park as well. How could we not? It’s Earth Day.
A California sea gull insisted on being in our first photos of the two cormorants shown above. The cormorants divided their attention between communicating with each other and checking their surroundings. Or maybe they were necking.They totally ignored the seagull. Is this a cormorant kiss?The gull decided to vacate the premises. It had gathered something in his beak that might have been nesting materials. It’s that time of the year. On the left, you can see another cormorant that apparently had something to say to the couple.In my imagination, she was seeking advice.Just before, the female had been eyeing a male on the rock above that seemed to be totally ignoring her. I imagined her asking, “How do I get his attention?”“You have to strut your stuff.”“We mean really strut your stuff.” Right about then, a pelican flew over and scared away her potential mate. She was not happy. Peggy caught the action.Meanwhile this pair went on with their discussion. Possibly they were discussing nest building. It’s the male’s responsibility. “You need to get busy, dear.” Was she egging him on?Actually, an important part of the mating ritual is for the male to build a nest with the hope of attracting a female to use it. We watched another male advertise his services. It appeared that the the nest was a little too makeshift. The female did not seem impressed. Maybe it was the fact that she had just watched him steal the materials from another cormorant! You can see the beak of the crime victim in the upper left hand corner about to deliver a peck.I liked this photo because it displayed the white whisker-feathers a Brandt cormorant grows during mating season. It also showed one of the big feet it uses for swimming. The cormorant is an excellent swimmer and can dive as deep as 200 feet in pursuit of fish.A final portrait of cormorants doing their thing.A seal birthing area was located right next to Bird Island where we watched the cormorants.This photo shows the steep cliffs that serve to protect the seals and their babies. It also shows the advantage of having a good telephoto lens to get close. Peggy and I happily snapped away.A mom and her baby had settled next to another seal that looked pregnant. The baby worked its way around to the other side of its mom. Was it looking for a hug?You may have wondered why we thought the other seal was pregnant. Well…There were several seals and pups in the area. I used this photo in my last post.We watched a mother seal swim in with her baby. A wave had washed the baby up against the mother.Peggy caught this shot of the mom checking up on her baby. Are you curious about all of the blue/grey/white stuff the seals are lying in?They are Velella, a small jelly fish that comes with a sail on its back. It normally lives offshore and uses the wind to move about in large numbers. Occasionally a strong Westerly will blow thousands of them ashore, however, where they die. And stink. I’ve seen and smelled them several times over the years. Apparently the odor does not bother the seals.Moving on from smelly jellies, here’s an Indian Paint Brush…And crashing waves…Lots of them…More…What they looked like close up. I don’t know which of us took this photo. It may have been a mistake, but I found it very interesting when I was looking through our photos for this post. Having expended its energy, a wave gently retreats back to the ocean.Neither Peggy nor I can ever resist stones that require little imagination to turn into creatures. We were sort of thinking Easter Island.Nor can we resist a flower garden framed like this?A series of sea caves were also quite photogenic. The water had a translucent quality.This rock offered two caves. Eventually the caves will cut all of the way through and create a sea stack. Of course the ‘eventually’ could mean a few hundred thousand or million years. Why hurry.The color of the water caught our attention here.These islands mark the southern boundary of Point Lobos.A final photo to wrap up our two posts on Point Lobos and another reminder of how beautiful and precious the world we live in is. And how important it is that we protect it. Next up: We go inland to Pinnacles National Park. One of the latest created in America’s great system.Peggy and I are in Sacramento now, heading out to our next Pacific Coast location: Pt. Reyes National Seashore. We came to town to visit with family and friends, which we always do when in the area. This time we had another special treat: Meeting with Jenny Collins, a fellow blogger on Word Press whose blog is Bulldog Travels/Photos by Jenny. Jenny and I started following each other 9 or 10 years ago. We have a lot in common. She loves traveling, nature, and photography, as many of us do. We also come from the same area, however, which adds another layer. This time we met at a restaurant in Auburn which Peggy and I used to frequent 30 years ago. It was the first time we met Jenny and we had a delightful time. I was reminded of just how valuable the friendships we make on WordPress are. Jenny’s last post was a gorgeous photo essay on Yosemite National Park. I recommend that you check it out at bulldog travels.com.
Point Lobos is considered one of California’s most beautiful state parks. The world renowned photographers Ansel Adams and Edward Weston would agree. They spent years returning to the park again and again to capture its beauty. it is located just south of Carmel along highway 1. Hiking out the Cypress Grove Trail, Peggy and I came upon this sea stack known at the Pinnacle.Peggy found unique ways of framing it, including the twisted limb on the upper right.She was having great fun with her new camera! See the black dots on peak…Like many sea stacks up and down the Pacific Coast, it had its own flock of cormorants.Another perspective. Following are other views along Cypress Grove Trail.Both sides of the peninsula leading out to the Pinnacle provided different views of Pacific Ocean waves rolling in.I am ever fascinated by the patterns in water created by the waves and tides— infinite works of art.A view from the south side of the Cypress Grove Trail.And another.A close up.As might be expected, we found some very impressive cypress trees growing along the Cypress Grove Trail.Ansel Adams and Edward Weston both loved the gnarly cypress trees. I rendered this one in black and white to honor them.Flowers are also abundant in the Reserve. I stopped to capture this iris. Peggy had beaten me to it.Invasive but striking, Oxalis or Bermuda buttercup, is another native of South Africa.Does a flower get any more yellow?Wild lilacs greeted us at the beginning of the Cypress Grove Trail.As did this nettle, coastal hedge. You can look, but best not touch.I had my nose in a flower when Peggy said, “Curt, check out this buzzard.” She had photographed it with its wings spread. We were on the Whaler’s Cove Knoll trail on our way to Whaler’s Cove.It had ignored Peggy but it started to give me the eye with a hungry look. Or was I imagining things?Hmmm. I wasn’t sure about being eyed by the buzzard, but I admired its beautiful feathers.This may the occasion for one of those “You know you are old when a buzzard thinks of you as a potential dinner,” jokes.The daisy I ‘had my nose in.’ I totally missed the spider!Another daisy of a different color. Our flower app identified it as a seaside daisy.An old friend: Bush, monkey flowers.A small museum housed in an old whaler’s cabin at Whaler’s Cove provided a bit of history. I should not have been surprised to learn where Monterey Jack Cheese came from. Jack made it. Grin. Actually, it was originally known as Jack’s Cheese. The Monterey was added later. A number of industries were located at Point Lobos. In addition cattle ranching, cheese making, and whale hunting, they included the largest abalone factory on the West Coast.One reason I wanted to hike over to the Cove was because the last time I was at Point lobos, I saw a seal nursing its baby there. We missed that, but we did see a mother with its baby swimming along behind. We had to travel down to the southern part of the park to find more mother seals and their pups. We will be featuring them, along with cormorants, and more great scenery in our next post.Next time: There will be close ups!
Jellyfish: The best aquariums have to have them and the Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of the best in the world. A whole room is devoted to their ethereal beauty…We, along with umpteen thousand other people, patiently made our way through the five person deep crowds gathering in front of each display case and dutifully took photos with our cell phones. The jelly fish came in a multitude of shapes, sizes and colors.
It was a rainy and cold last week when we visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium with high hopes that a combination of visiting mid-week during nasty weather might tamp down the crowds. Label that wishful thinking. The weather meant that people would be looking for an inside location. Duh. And, with the Big Sur highway washed out, there were a lot more people in town than usual. We joined a long line that snaked its way up the hill and around the side of the building before winding through a crowd control maze and back down the hill. Thankfully, the weather gods put the rain on hold for the 30 minutes it took to reach the entrance.
What had to be tamped down was my normal claustrophobia brought about by large crowds wanting to see the same thing I did. Fortunately, the jellyfish, sea otters, sharks and countless other forms of sea life were guaranteed to put a smile on my face and cure my grumpiness.
This smiling fellow with a barely hidden toothy grin is a moray eel. As friendly as it looks, you wouldn’t want to pet it. Morays have an extra set of jaws in their throats. When they bite into a tasty morsel with their front jaws, the back jaws spring forward and drag the meal down their throat. These snake like critters can grow up to five feet in length. Peggy was scuba diving in Corona Bay, Palawan in the Philippine Islands once exploring a sunken ship and peeked in a port hole. A giant moray took offense and shoved its head out of the port hole. Fast. But not nearly as fast as Peggy retreated.Colorful fish swim unharmed among predatory sea anemones. Apparently some fish develop a mucous coating that makes them impervious to the anemones’ stinging tentacles.A sea anemone, front and center, waves its tentacles in hopes of attracting its next meal.One of the top attractions at the Aquarium is a huge tank which supports a kelp forest and a wide variety of fish including this shark. Our cell phone didn’t take the best photo here, but you get the idea. Ocean View Blvd. starts just outside of the Aquarium and leads into Pacific Grove and around the Monterey Peninsula. It’s where Peggy found the seal balanced on a rock that we featured earlier.A seagull was hanging out at the same pullout, hoping for a handout.It had knobby knees.There were lots of flowers along the drive. In fact Pacific Grove, Monterey and Carmel are all filled with flowers. The large yellow flower belongs to an ice plant. The purple flowers are hairy dew flowers according to our flower ID app.Ocean carved boulders made their way down to Monterey Bay.Where the ocean continued its multi-million year task of creating new boulders.Ocean View Blvd. morphs into Sunset Drive, but we were a little early to take advantage of the evening show. Sunset Drive, however provides an entrance to the 17 Mile Drive which connects Pacific Grove with Carmel. The 17 mile Drive is equally famous for its views and golf courses. For a mere $47,000 you can buy a membership at Pebble Beach. There is also lots of wildlife along the way. This is Bird Rock. All the little black dots you see are birds, mainly cormorants plus a few brown pelicans. Closer view of the cormorants and one seagull. We have lots of fun photos of cormorants in our next post (soon) about Point Lobos State Park.What caught our attention more that Bird Island was a raft of sea lions, which was something that Peggy and I had never seen before.What we learned was that the sea lions come together to rest instead of climbing up on a rock or the shore. It’s thought that raising their flippers in the air is a way to control their body temperatures. The raft also provides some protection against predators such as orcas. The sea lions were also snoozing on a rock that was next to Bird Rock.I find it fascinating how they drape themselves over the rocks.Mmmm, a nice comfy pillow…Any drive down the 17 Mile Drive has to include the iconic Lone Cypress. I’ll finish up today rendering it in black and white simply to note that people have been taking photos of the Lone Cypress as long as they have had cameras to do so. I first saw it in the 70s when I used to drive my VW camper down to the area and park for free along the ocean south of Carmel. I was almost a hippie…Our next post will feature the beautiful Point Lobos State Reserve just south of Carmel. Mother seals and babies were just one of many sights Peggy and I enjoyed.
There is an entrance to the Fort Ord National Monument near us, a mere 20 minute walk from where we are camped at the Laguna Seca Regional Park. The monument was once an army base, rightfully billed as the most beautiful army base in America. Getting there from our camp requires climbing a steep hill and hiking along a ridge. We’ve been there twice. The first time we went without our cameras. Boy, was that a mistake. Wild flowers were bursting into bloom everywhere. Then we came upon a whole field of the eye popping beauties featured above. They came in multiple bright colors. Then and there, we vowed “We’ll be back!”
The next day found us climbing the hill again with my camera. Peggy’s camera, and our cell phone. Just in case. We entered the National Monument and I dutifully went to work, capturing wildflowers as I walked along the trail. Peggy took off like a greyhound. That woman can move when she has a mind to! I think she was afraid that the flowers we had so admired the day before would be past their prime, expired, and that somehow ten minutes was going to make all the difference. When I arrived a half hour later, the flowers were still in their prime, new ones had joined the crowd, and over a gazillion buds were waiting for their turn. Peggy quickly announced that she had taken over 20 photos of the flowers. She never takes 20 photos of any one thing. That’s what I do. Naturally, I had to add to her collection.
One challenge we faced was we didn’t recognize the flower. I knew it was a composite, a member of the vast family of sunflowers, daisies, asters, etc. Not a problem, we thought. Ha. That evening, I checked my National Audubon Field Guide to North American Wildflowers with its 666 entries. No luck. Okay, time to jump online. I typed in flowers of Fort Ord National Monument. Nope. How about flowers of Monterey County. Nothing. Flowers of the central Pacific Coast of California? Nada.
Then I remembered that we had added a flower ID app to our i-phone a few years back. Would it still be there? Peggy went searching and found it. She took a photo of my screen showing one of the flowers. And there was the answer: Gazania. What? We had never heard of it. Turns out it is a native of South Africa. I had taken photos of a number of flowers in South Africa on our safari trip there. But not Gazania.
Its beauty meant that it had been imported to the US and numerous other countries to adorn flower gardens. Not surprisingly, it had escaped. Monterey was listed as one of the counties where it happened. Following are a number of photos that Peggy and I took of the Gazania and other flowers we found along our walk both wild and wild-domesticated.
Yellow twins…Orange reddish triplets…A red single…A yellow single.A couple.A bouquet.Another bouquet.A field.A happy Peggy.Looking out from Fort Ord National Monument south toward the coast range and Big Sur.Coast live oaks on the edge of Fort Ord National Monument in Laguna Seca Regional Park. The top of a picnic table can be seen in the background. We walked through a very attractive tent campground on our way to the monument.We also found this flower growing on a bush in the campground just before we hiked into the monument. Our flower app described it as a gum Cistus.We were greeted by this sign as we walked into the park. With a rich military history behind it, the army base was closed in 1994 due to base realignment. In 2012, President Obama signed a proclamation declaring a portion of the former base as a national monument. Following are some of the wild flowers we saw. I knew most of them, but used the phone app to check.This golden violet was among the wild flowers I photographed along our trail.A member of the mallow family with spider. Can you find it?Bluedick with a bee.Yarrow with beetles.Vetch.Scarlet pimpernel.Golden eggs.It isn’t known for its beauty, but miner’s lettuce is noted for its edibility. The 49ers of the California Gold Rush mixed it into their salads regularly, as my mother did on occasion when I was growing up. I pulled a leaf and chomped down. Peggy nibbled a small bite cautiously.One of numerous members of the lupine family.Peggy and I were amused when we hiked back to our camp and found two Gazania perched above it that we had failed to notice previously. That’s it for today. Next up we will take you on two scenic drives: Ocean View Drive in Pacific Grove and the world famous 17 Mile Drive between Pacific Grove and Carmel.This view had Peggy and I both wondering what the heck we were looking at. Sea lions, yes. But doing what? I’ll explain what we learned in our next post.
An extended trip north up the Pacific Coast Highway from Carmel, California to Olympic National Park, Washington has been on my bucket list forever. It includes some of the most beautiful coastal lands in the world. Peggy and I have been to each of the places we will be visiting and they are all places we love. Starting at the bottom and working our way north for three months is new for us, however, a leisurely one way trip up the coast that promises to be uniquely rewarding. As always, you are invited to join us.
There is an ancient Chinese proverb from the Tao Te Ching that states “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Although the distance and mode of travel may vary, it’s how all great adventures begin. I started my 750 mile backpack trek down the Pacific Coast trail to celebrate my 75th birthday with a single step and my 6-month, 10,000 mile solo bike trek around North America at 46 with the crank of a pedal. That was an adventure! An even greater one was waiting for me at the end… I met Peggy when I stepped off my bike in Sacramento. She gave me a dazzling smile and said, “You must be Curtis.” I was smitten and svelte at the same time. I’m still smitten…
I lucked out. Peggy loves adventures as much as I do and we have been on many over the past 30 years. In the past two years alone, we have traveled up the Rhine and Nile Rivers by boat, gone on an African safari, and explored 30,000 miles of North America in our pick-up, Iorek, and small trailer, Serafina. I’ve already blogged about these adventures, although I still have some catching to do.
As I write this we are camped in a scenic site perched above the famous Laguna Seca (now Weather Tech) Raceway located between Salinas and Monterrey, California. An organization called Hooked On Driving— made up of a collection of passionate and dedicated high-performance driving enthusiasts and coaches— has rented the raceway for a weekend of fun and training. That’s not the big news here, however. The Sea Otter Classic starts in two weeks. Billed as the premier cycling event in the world, it will involve over 9,000 athletes, 77,000 fans and 1000 vendors! Mountain bike racing and road racing will be included with racers from beginner to pro participating.
Our small Imagine trailer perched on the hill above the raceway.A view of the raceway from our campground. Fans of auto racing, motorcycle racing and bicycle racing would kill for this spot during major events.Here’s a map of the Weather Tech Raceway. We are camping at the small campground just to the right of the number 5 on the track. Fort Ord National Monument is just above us.
I suspect the participants down on the track roaring around its two mile course are having a blast. Assuming you are a fan of driving fast in a high performance automobile, imagine driving on one of the world’s top raceways. As camping spots go, however, it’s a bit noisy. Grin. Make that a lot noisy. I have my headphones on and am listening to Chopin. Peggy has hers on and is listening to songs from America’s Got Talent. Fortunately, the HOD folks will be out of here tomorrow and we will be gone before the cycling event starts. Linda, a volunteer who works at the entrance station, told us, however, that a TV crew is coming in to film a show in the next few days. I’m assuming it will involve noise. Will there be explosions?
When the race track isn’t busy, this campground is quiet as well as beautiful. It’s also inexpensive and ideally located for exploring Monterey, Carmel and Big Sur. If you follow the news, you know that Big Sur is off our itinerary this time. Part of the road a few miles below Carmel decided to go to sea a couple of days before we arrived. We were busy avoiding the storm as it made its way across Nevada. In fact much of our 3000 mile drive to get to this campground was spent avoiding storms, which we did except for one night we spent in Missouri where severe weather warnings were up on a thunder and lightning storm, high winds, hail stones that could be as large as soft balls, and a tornados. That was a fun night to spend in a trailer.
We hung out in Carson City, Nevada as the storm that closed the Big Sur Highway turned into a blizzard over the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
This is what Donner Summit looked like two days later.This big rig was a few miles down the road and Peggy snapped its photo. I imagine he was wishing he had hung out in Carson City with us.
Now, here are a few photos to show you what to expect over the next three months on Wandering Through Time and Place.
There will be huge waves crashing over rocks…Creating an infinite variety of swirling waters.You will join us as we hike out to the ocean’s edge— carefully. Does Peggy look worried???The edge, where she stood and took photos.The ocean will be calm as often as wild.With lots of gorgeous sunsets.Of course there will be tide pools. Peggy and I explore them with all the excitement of ten-year-olds. If you’ve ever spent time looking into them, you have probably seen a sea anemone…But have you ever seen one covered with shells and stones?Starfish…There will be dozens of magnificent sea stacks…As well as interesting smaller rocks…Any idea what this is? Once it was a tree that stood high above the ocean. A massive earthquake dropped the forest below sea level. This is what remains.Lighthouses are found all along the way.And beautiful bridges.Small coastal towns have special appeal to us. This is an historical building in Pt. Reyes Station above San Francisco.If there is an independent bookstore to be found, we will take you there. This is in Mendocino, California.And here is the bookstore cat. One way I judge a bookstore is whether it has a cat…Expect to meet many amazing creatures. This is a banana slug. Did you know that the banana slug is the school mascot for UC Santa Cruz?There will be magnificent wildlife such as this elk..Seals…And great blue heron.Expect a few cows as well.So here’s a question. Are these two butting heads or seeing eye to eye?We will have many adventures along the way, including kayaking.We may even get our ducks in a row.Eeyore and Bone are along for the trip…And, like us, hope you will join our journey. First up, we will be exploring the highways, byways and coast line of the Monterey/Carmel area, including the world famous 17 mile Drive. Peggy took this photo of a seal along Ocean View Blvd. in Pacific Grove, just before we climbed onto the 17 Mile Drive. I was so impressed with the photos my new camera took when we were on safari in Africa, I immediately bought one for Peggy. Expect lots more…
If you’ve been following my blog over the past couple of months, you have already met Anhingas: In Africa. I showed one demonstrating the proper way to eat a fish in Chobe National Park, Botswana. We found this fellow with its googly eyes along the Anhinga Trail in the Everglades National Park, Florida.
Peggy and I traveled to Everglades National Park a few weeks ago, came back to our basecamp in Virginia, spent two weeks rushing to prepare for our five-month road trip, and are now in Terre Haute, Indiana sitting on the border of Missouri. We were supposed to be continuing west today, but the National Weather Service had a severe thunder and lightning storm warning up for Missouri. It’s not the type of weather to be out on the road, especially when pulling a small, light trailer.
The storm introduced itself last night. We could hear it approaching from miles away, at first a distant constant rumble, it became an earth-shaking roar. We hunkered down and wondered if Armageddon had arrived. I worried about hail. Baseball size chunks were crashing down on Kansas City. Serafina, our trailer, would not have been happy. But the storm passed us by without any damage.
On top of that, we had a propane leak, which can be more dangerous than softball-size hail. My solution, other than a few chosen words, was to shut the tanks off and wait until we could find an RV service facility to fix it, which often takes days or even weeks to schedule. Fortunately, we have options that allow us to function without propane.
Peggy and I have learned in our recent travels that mobile techs can solve most RV problems, however, often on a same-day basis and at a fair cost. Since we were here for the day, I called a local business in Terre Haute: At Your Service— Mobile RV Repair. And boy did we luck out. I reached the owner, Allen Grota, and he told me he would be over as soon as the storm stopped. He went through everything, tanks, connections and regulator. Finally he found the problem. The hose to the trailer had been left hanging next to one of our levelers and the lowering and rising of the leveler had cut it. As soon as this had happened, the regulator had shut down the tank. We weren’t in danger, but neither would we have propane. Allen then ran downtown to get what he needed to fix the problem. The cost was incredibly reasonable. And it turns out, Allen is a heck off a nice guy.
I’ve already done three posts on our Everglades trip: One on white pelicans, one on osprey, and one on the area around Everglade City on the Gulf Coast. I’ll conclude today featuring more of the Atlantic Coast side where we found the osprey and white pelicans. We entered the park at the Ernest F. Coe entrance. After stopping off at the Visitor Center, we made a beeline for the Anhinga Trail, just inside the park. Peggy and I had been there before and were quite impressed with the alligators and birdlife.
From there, we drove down through the park to Flamingo, where we would be glamping. We stopped along the way at various pulloffs to check out features of the Everglades emphasized by the National Park. First up, the Anhinga Trail.
Our first stop was to admire this impressive mangrove. Peggy provided perspective. Shortly afterwards, we came on this colorful bird that was busily walking over lily pads. It’s a Purple Gallinule.Quite the stretch! Check out the feet.Pretty amazing, huh.Next on our list of colorful birds along the Anhinga Trail was this great blue heron.Head shot.Here’s another shot of the googly-eyed Anhinga. One of its relatives was busily fishing in the pond below.Anhinga style, only its head was above the water. We liked the shadow.It had been fishing under water and came up for air here.A turtle also swam by underwater while we were watching the Anhinga.In addition to the wildlife, the scenery along Anhinga Trail is also quite attractive. A loud noise in the middle of it caught our attention…A large alligator had raised its head among the trees and was bellowing.A close up. Remember, one way you can tell the difference between a crocodile and an alligator is that the crocodile shows its teeth. The alligator doesn’t. Another is the alligator has a shorter snout.Having made his point, whatever it was, the big fellow swam toward us. We liked this photo as well.One of our stops along the way toward Flamingo was the Mahogany Hammock Trail where we found this great egret. I called it scruffy neck. They say that great egrets have really long necks.That would certainly appear to be true from this photo. But it got longer…We wondered if it had inherited giraffe genes!A head shot. Our glamping tent in Flamingo. It had a good view of Florida Bay. Low tide brought in various birds to take advantage of the the feast it made available.Among them were these guys hungrily scarfing down miscellaneous delicacies, at least from their perspective. While they may seem like different birds, they are all white ibis in their various development stages from juvenile to adult. A reflection shot of one of the adults.A snowy egret joined the white ibis.I close with this shot of the egret. Next up, we take a look at some of the excellent wildlife carvings we found in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and take you to the workshop where they were made. You will be surprised.
Well maybe not pretty, but we thought the neck colors of this wood stork we found standing next to the road in Big Cypress National Preserve rather striking. We asked her if she hired out for delivering babies. Her response was, “Are they tasty?”
Peggy and I visited two different areas during our recent trip to the Everglades. The first was Everglade City that I will be blogging about today. It’s a small town on the southwest Gulf Coast that has a feel of old Florida. It’s far away from the huge populations and hustle-bustle of the southeast coast where Miami reigns. We could easily walk anywhere in town and meet friendly people, including a few old timers who fit the description of quirky. Our kind of folks.
The town’s primary source of income is the tourist trade that comes to experience the natural wonders and adventures provided by the Everglades 10,000 Islands and the Big Cypress National Preserve. Local businesses offer a variety of options for exploring inside and outside of the park from airboats and swamp buggies to eco-tours and kayaks. We chose a motorboat eco-tour for the 10,000 Islands area. To start, we drove south from Everglade City for a couple of miles to Chokoloskee Island and the end of the road. Our objective was the old Smallwood Store, which does double duty as a museum and a tour center. The store provided a perspective on the first white settlers in the area. We met out tour guide/boat captain there and headed out into the 10,000 Islands with one other couple. Following are a few highlights.
Three different species of mangroves provide the base for most of Florida’s 10,000 Islands. These trees have adaptations that allow them to take in extra oxygen and to remove salt that allows them to thrive in coastal intertidal zones. The creation of new islands is an ongoing process. 10,000 is a guesstimate at best. Our two hour trip took us through the relatively open waterways shown above to the enclosed jungle-like canal shown here. Speed varied from zoom to put-put with occasional stops to admire the local flora and fauna.The Everglades are one of the few places on earth where crocodiles and alligators co-exist. While our small, bouncy boat wasn’t the best platform for photography, it’s easy to see that this is a crocodile from its long, thin snout and visible teeth. Our tour through the 10,000 Islands also produced this colorful bird with its interesting top-knot, a yellow-crowned night heron.Something moving very fast left this trail through the water in a split second. Can you guess what it was?It was a dolphin. Several of them had chased fish into the shallow water and were working to catch them. I had never realized how fast they are. Apparently they are quite common in the area. One tour operater offered, “If you don’t see dolphins on our trip we will refund your tickets.”
After our tour, we stopped at a local Chokoloski Island institution, the HavAnnA Cafe for lunch. It’s a charming, roofed-over, open air restaurant with lots of greenery— and chickens. A flock came clucking through while we were eating, eager to pick up any crumbs that had escaped to the floor. “The officials won’t let me sell their eggs to our customers,” the owner complained to us. I was both surprised and pleased that the officials allowed the chickens visiting rights at all. I did see chicken on the menu, however. I ordered a Cuban Sandwich instead.
We decided to drive ourselves on a tour of the Big Cypress National Preserve, which was just north of Everglade City. The name of the road we would start on is Birdon Road. How could we resist? And it was true. The three roads we drove over— Birdon, Wagon Wheel, and the Turner River— followed streams and were packed with birds, and alligators.
A pair of wood storks barely bothered to move off of Birdon road as we drove by.An osprey seemed surprised by our presence. A snowy egret hovered over a stream where it was fishing.One of the defining chacteristics of a snowy egret is its yellow feet. Hard to miss!Close up.This snowy egret was perched in a tree. One of the streams we followed through the Preserve.This great white egret was surveying its world from the top of a tree.Another view.We found another one fishing by the stream and took a close up.A great blue heron flew away before we could take his photo. “Be that way,” I called after it and snapped a photo in flight. An anhinga twisted its neck so it could keep an eye on us.A white ibis was also curious.We also found alligators lurking along the stream. The clearness of the water and the time of day led to some interesting reflection shots.…such as this.And even more so here! I’ll wrap up today’s post with this ‘two tailed’ example. At first glance, Peggy and I thought we had spotted a monster! The next blog will be on the most dangerous animal in Africa, the Cape buffalo.
A large nest with two Osprey was located near our camp in Everglades National Park. The wind was playing with this fellow’s feathers.
At the beginning of February, Peggy and I drove down to Florida to visit with our son Tony, his wife Cammie and their three boys: Connor, Chris and Cooper. Afterwards, we drove down to Everglade City in southeast Florida where we explored the 10,000 Island area of the Everglades and Big Cypress National Preserve. There were birds galore, alligators, and even crocodiles! We then crossed the state and drove down to Flamingo in Everglades National Park where we went glamping, i.e. stayed in a tent camp with floors, electricity and comfortable beds.
Peggy discovered an osprey nest nearby when she was searching for a restroom. The one in our glamp-camp was closed for cleaning. She came back to our tent quite excited— to say the least. It was imperative that we go check it out, immediately! We decided to have lunch near the nest so we could watch the osprey come and go. Peggy had seen a chick being fed on her first foray. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see it. “Teach me to head for a restroom without my camera!” Peggy groused. But there was plenty of other action as the ospreys watched us, preened, and remodeled their nest.
The female Osprey lands on the nest. Her ‘necklace’ gives her away. Had I been faster in refocusing, I could have captured her large wing span. The black streak that extends down from the beak to the wing is an identifying factor for osprey. Its partner watched as she landed. The birds mate for life and can live 15-20 years.The size of the nest suggested that the two Osprey had been using it for several years.I’ve always been excited to see osprey. Besides their beauty, they are superb hunters. Watching one dive feet first from 30 to 100 feet up in the air to capture a fish is a sight one never forgets. These fierce looking talons are specialized for catching fish. That they are sharp, is obvious. Not so obvious is the fact that Osprey are unusual in possessing a reversible outer toe that enables them to hold a fish with two toes in front and two behind. Note the pads. They are barbed to help them grip their slippery catch. We were amused to learn that an Osprey lines up its fish head first to reduce wind resistance.Given their strict fish diet, it isn’t surprising that Osprey always build their nests near water including rivers, lakes and the ocean. Somewhat more surprising is that they are found on every continent except Antartica. If conditions are right, they may live in the same area year round, but if not, they migrate and have been known to fly as far as 4200 miles. Their history as a species dates back over 11 million years.Some remodeling was going on. While the birds weren’t particularly worried, they did keep an eye on us. Sometimes, it seemed like they were posing.One peered over the edge of the nest at us. Or maybe it was checking its chicks.A tail shot…Eventually they ignored us and started to preen…Which is always fun to photograph. And then a van showed up and disgorged a group of photographers with serious cameras. They scared the Osprey. I kept my small, light weight camera with its mega digital lens that I easily hold in one hand to myself. Grin. That’s it for today. Friday’s safari post will be on zebras.
Peggy and I were leaving the Everglades last week when we drove by a small pond that had at least 250 white pelicans working their way back and forth across the pond, herding fish, and downing them as they went.
Having lived in California and Oregon with occasional trips to Washington and the west coast of Mexico for most of my life, I have spent hours watching brown pelicans make their impressive dives into the Pacific Ocean capturing fish. White pelicans are much leas common in the West and have a very different approach to fishing. They don’t dive. Instead, they herd fish as a group, scooping them up as they go. Peggy and I had only seen this process once before. We were at Morro Bay on California’s Central Coast and watched a half dozen white pelicans form a semi-circle and herd fish toward shallower waters. Imagine our surprise when we passed by a pond that had between 200-300 swimming back and forth in unison!
As we were driving by, this is what we saw. More pelicans were off to the right and other birds could be seen in the background. Peggy was driving. She slammed on the brakes and backed up. What you can’t see were all of the mosquitoes and biting flies. Grin.The Pelicans would cross the pond in one direction and then come back the other way. Great egrets, cattle egrets and snowy egrets were some of the birds seen in the background.Going in the other direction.A close up of the action.And another.When white pelicans capture a fish, they also get a bill full of water. They then raise their bill to let the water drain out before they swallow the fish.Some of the other birds. I think the pink flash was a Roseate Spoonbill.Given the black legs on this bird, I’m guessing it is a great egret.A final photo of the magical pond.
One of several beautiful orchids we saw in the Naples Botanical Garden.
On our way down to the Everglades after visiting with our son and his family in Safety Harbor, Florida, we stopped In Naples on Thursday. Having never been there, we asked the locals what to do. One thing was to check out the Naples’ Pier. Not impressive. The other was to visit the Naples Botanical Gardens, which turned out to be fantastic. It is chock full of tropical plants from around the world. We spent three hours wandering down its numerous paths. Being on the move, we didn’t have much time to research what we were seeing but want to share some of the plants we admired. Enjoy.
Another orchid. like the one above it was living on a tree.There were enough water lilies scattered throughout the garden that Monet could have spent a year painting them.They came in a multitude of colors.And where you have lilies, you have to have lily pads, right? This photo also gives a sense of the tropical paradise the gardens display.Like the lilies, the pads came in a variety of shapes and colors.In their own way, they were as impressive as the leaves. Oh to be a frog…The trees also had unique, weird personalities. This was a cannonball tree. We considered this tree even stranger. A sign announced it was a Ceiba Erianthos. Now you know. There will be a quiz.Or how about this? It’s called a screw pine and we could only wonder how it got that name. There were a multitude of palm trees in the garden, as one might expect. Many were covered in vines like this one.A close up of the vines. Quite beautiful.This tree had its own unique collection.Time for a little color. This plant was labeled an Annatto.When the pods open they display seeds that, apparently, are quite important to creating natural dyes.Have you ever checked out a banana tree?We heard a guide say that this was a red bellied woodpecker. It must have been hiding it. (Red headed was already taken.) It was one of the few birds we saw in the garden.Colorful leaves were everywhere. My mother used to love plants with colorful leaves. At any given time, a half dozen or so could be found in our house.A beauty.As was this.While on the subject of unusual…And suddenly, this fellow was warning us to leave.He wasn’t alone. More importantly, nature was calling, so we called it a day.On the way out, we came upon animals dancing in a circle. Of course Peggy had to join in the fun, positioning herself between an elephant and a giraffe, which takes us back to Africa. On Friday, I will be featuring crocodiles.
Peggy and I are down in the Everglades without an internet connection. I should be back to responding to comments and reading blogs this weekend.
Wandering through Time and Place 