Loop Road Scenic Drive

A couple of weeks ago, our friends took us on a drive down Loop Road Scenic Drive in the Everglades. They promised lots of gators and other wildlife, and they didn’t disappoint! We just rolled down the window and took tons of photos as we drove down the road. Following are just a few of the many photos I took that day!

The next gator appears to have some sort of damage to his eye.

Such prehistoric looking creatures.

As promised, the other wildlife was fairly abundant, too. The following was actually 2 large snakes laying on top of each other. I would have needed a shorter lens to get all of the two snakes into one photo.

I “think” this bird is a Limpkin.

The last 3 photos were from my backyard. Gators abound everywhere in Florida! This one was slightly up on the bank of the lake, so I ran back inside to grab my camera. He was starting to slide back into the lake when I grabbed this photo of his large fish breakfast.

This large turtle was between the gator above and another gator in the middle of the lake. They weren’t paying the turtle much attention.

This mockingbird below was doing a little dance. It would take a few steps and raise its wings, take a few steps and raise its wings again. That went on for a long time.

Wildlife Around Home

It’s a couple of weeks short of 2 years since we moved from Sanibel Island, inland to Fort Myers. We were very fortunate to be unaffected through the devastation of Ian. But, even five months later we have friends who are still struggling to recover their homes and businesses on the island. The Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge is working hard with recovery efforts so that it can open to the public once again.

In the meantime, I’ve taken some photos from my yard and from a quick trip through Six Mile Cypress Slough. First, the photos from my yard, beginning with a Great Blue Heron.

I caught a quick shot as he flew away.

We always have a couple of Common Gallinules behind our house. These had a couple of cute little chicks recently.

This was the first time I’d seen any Killdeer in our yard. We were treated to a pair of them one day.

Another bird I had not previously seen in our neighborhood is a Royal Tern. I watched the one below dip down into our lake and come up with a fish. He flew around trying to find a place to land to have dinner.

I watched this Cormorant as he fished for his lunch.

A pair of eyes, that were connected to a large body, watched me from across the lake.

We had a particularly foggy morning and that means that a lot of spider webs show up!

There is almost always an Ibis in the yard. (Thus, the nickname Yard Chicken.)

We had a nice walk through Six Mile Cypress Slough, but there wasn’t much wildlife out. The air was so still that it made for some nice reflections.

The only wildlife we saw was a turtle, a squirrel and a cardinal. Maybe next time!

Long time, no post!

It has been too long since I’ve posted photos. Life just gets in the way sometimes, I guess. I have photos from the Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Delray Beach, the Six Mile Cypress Slough in Fort Myers, the area of the bay between Sanibel Island and Useppa Island, and also a few photos from around our home.

There’s no other way than to just dig in and start posting them. (There are over 60 photos here, so I’ll understand if you fall asleep before you finish!) The early May morning when we walked through the Wakodahatchee Wetlands, the sun was extremely bright and harsh, which is not ideal for photos. There were hundreds of Wood Storks in the trees. It was pretty amazing to see!

So many trees full of Wood Storks!

The baby Wood Storks are a bit cuter than the adults!!

There weren’t just Wood Storks, even though they seemed to make up the majority. I think the next one is a juvenile Glossy Ibis.

I believe this is a juvenile Tri-colored Heron

The next two photos are of a Purple Gallinule chick. I couldn’t get a photo of the adult, but they are really pretty. The chicks are just black at this age.

Those feet!!!

A Black-bellied Whistling Duck is tucked in for a morning nap.

I love the pink legs on the Black-necked Stilt

Great Blue Heron chicks!

Tri-colored Heron juveniles

Wood Stork Yoga

Cattle Egret fresh from the beauty salon

Juvenile Great Egrets

Now, a quick walk through the Six Mile Cypress Slough. At the entrance, our squirrel guide gave us a quick description of what we would see.

This is the first Wood Duck I’ve been able to photograph. They are so pretty. Well, as usual, the male is colorful and the female, not so much.

Another bird that I’ve never gotten a photo of is a Limpkin. I was excited to see this one.

It’s always cool to see a Black-crowned Night Heron. We actually saw three sitting in the trees near nests.

It’s always nice to end the walk with an Anhinga

In June, I went with some girlfriends on the Lady Chadwick with Captiva Cruises, over to Useppa Island. We left from Captiva Island and went along the bay to Useppa. We had a really nice lunch at the Collier Inn on Useppa Island and then headed back home.

We were treated to the dolphins playing in the boat’s wake along the way. They seem to have such fun playing in the boat’s wake.

I think this is my favorite of the dolphin photos. It seemed to be looking straight up at me and posing for the camera.

I love the looks you can get from an Osprey. This could be captioned a lot of ways!

This is a much photographed strangler fig, aka Banyon Tree, on Useppa Island. As their limbs and roots grow, the trees “walk”, spreading further out from the base.

Hang in . . . just a few more of wildlife around our home in Fort Myers.

I’d never seen this many Cattle Egret in one place around our homes.

Spider webs are always fun to photograph. This was a large one near our front window.

The video below was taken early one morning from inside our home. Seeing three deer prancing around next to our lanai was so cool.

Spring in Southwest Florida

All of the photos below were taken from standing in my backyard, except for a couple of an eagle that were taken in a large wildlife management area.

This Mama duck and 11 babies were moving swiftly down the lake as one unit.

Oooh! Look, Mama, Squirrel, no gator, oh nevermind, it was just a fish!

Maybe it was a squirrel, little dude!

Or, it could have been a gator!

The next two photos were taken on a very bright day. The lake was perfectly still and the glare off of the water was extreme. It gave these photos sort of a surreal look.

The swallow-tailed kites are back and are beautiful as they ride the air currents, using their forked tail as a rudder. I tend to forget they are raptors. As hawks will do, they grab and eat the young hatchlings of other birds. These swallow-tailed kites were being chased by mockingbirds and black birds, probably grackles. It wasn’t until I downloaded the photos from my camera that I saw why the other birds were so upset.

Being dive-bombed by a mockingbird!

And there it was, the hatchling. Unfortunately, that’s life in the wild.

Sometimes, you just need to give a boot your buddy . . .

But, be careful or you may be giving a piggy back ride next.

These photos of an almost mature eagle were taken at the Yucca Pens wildlife preserve. This was the only wildlife we saw, but it was worthwhile!

One night we heard the boom of fireworks. I grabbed my camera and hurried outside, so I had to take the following photos without a tripod from my backyard. It turns out that the fireworks were at Jet Blue Park. It was the Red Sox Foundation’s annual party for their sponsors before spring training started. Front row seat to some pretty nice fireworks!

Fall in Fort Myers

These photos were taken over the last couple of months. Most are from our backyard and a few are from when we joined our friends for a sunset when they were camping out.

This young gator comes to visit occasionally. Look at that smile!

So, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, flies like a duck, but it whistles instead of quacking . . . is it a duck? Yep, it is a Black-Bellied Whistling Duck!

The little cotton-tailed rabbits are a bit cuter than the marsh hares on the island.

Busy Bees!!

And another visit . . .

Not a great photo, but a young Wood Stork was in our backyard. This was taken through the lanai screen. He flew away when I opened the screen door to get a better photo.

A few beautiful sunrises from our backyard

These last photos were taken when we joined our friends who were camping, so that we could take some sunset photos and hoping for some of the last Milky Way photos of the year.

Unfortunately, the clouds moved into view just as the sun went down enough to get some good photos.

I was able to get just a bit of the Milky Way above these clouds. Oh well, maybe next year!

More Bambi

I had no idea when we moved into our new neighborhood that we would have cute little white-tailed deer prancing around our yards!

We had plenty of Ibis (affectionately known as island chickens) on Sanibel Island, but in eight years I never saw one Glossy Ibis on the island. When they stretch their wings and fly, their wings are almost iridescent. It was cool to have one in the back yard!

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Like on the island, we have many Common Gallinules around the lakes here. They make their presence known with their loud calls.

It took me a while to get a decent photo of these ducks below in order to identify them. My question was always, “If it looks like a duck, flies like a duck, walks like a duck, but doesn’t quack like a duck, is it a duck?” These birds have a strange squeaking sound as they fly by. It turns out they are Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks (thus the odd squeaking sound).

Elsa on the way

With Elsa on the way to Southwest Florida, these Swallow-Tailed Kites appear to be hunkering down in a tree across the street on the south side of our neighborhood. The rain had already started so the sky was very grey, but this was too cool to pass up!

How many Swallow-Tailed Kites do you see? Look closely. I count 16!

Backyard photos

When we lived on Sanibel Island, we had dubbed our yard the Sanibel Zoo. We only live a few miles away now and our new yard may have a whole different vibe, but we still have cool wildlife! We were having dinner on the patio when I saw this guy running along the embankment across the lake. Notice the two spikes on his head!

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A mockingbird took exception to the deer running along in his territory and went on attack.

Any time there is a 4 foot tall bird in your backyard, it calls for a photo. I love when a Great Blue Heron visits!

And I finally saw a gator in the lake behind our house. It was raining, but I ran out in the rain and took a photo before he was gone. He was moving fast down the lake.

Morning at Six Mile Cypress Slough

We took an early morning walk on the boardwalk at Six Mile Cypress Slough (pronounced slew). There wasn’t a lot of activity, but I was able to get a few photos. It’s quite fascinating to walk on a boardwalk through a swamp.

We saw a couple of families of wood ducks. The mother ducks had their work cut out for them, trying to keep up with the chicks.

Seriously, how cute are these little guys?

Time to herd them all to safety. They seemed to know when she meant business and would stop the shenanigans.

Squirrel overhead!

We saw a pair of white egrets nesting on the opposite bank of the pond.

There were many odd mushrooms to see.

I had to ask a volunteer what these were. She said that it’s the bloom on a buttonbush. A bee was diving in head first to get to the good stuff.

Venice Audubon Rookery

This section of my website will be used for photos taken in Florida, but not on Sanibel Island. I’ve been torn between placing them here or starting a new web page. If you would like to share, I’d like to hear your opinion in the comments section below on where you’d rather see my “Wild In Florida” photos. I will continue to have photos taken on Sanibel Island on the blog tab.

The photos below were taken at the Venice Audubon Rookery. These were taken during the bright mid-day sun, which isn’t the best condition for photos. It was fun to see so many nests in one little spot. The Rookery is a small island covered with trees, in the middle of a small pond/lake. Every spot available is taken up with a nest of egrets, herons, ibis, and more.

The first photos are of great egrets.

The mating plumage on the great egret is so beautiful

Young great blue heron with a parent

The great blue heron below looks to be a fledgling on its own

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The young great blue heron below appeared to want to be fed. It kept poking at the parent to no avail.

This great blue heron seemed to be watching the nests from the shade across the water.

This male red-winged blackbird posed in a tree for a lot of photos from several people. Why is the male often the prettier of the birds?