MickMickNYC: Eversunny in Everglades

For my birthday, I took a break from the snow and went to Florida! Visiting Everglades National Park was definitely the highlight of my trip. I saw so many animals there: alligators, crocodiles, manatees, dolphins and birds, lots of birds. I also got the best present ever, a private tour with captain Dave Hunt. We got up before sunrise and drove all the way to Flamingo, Everglades National Park.

It was pouring rain as we drove through the park and we were worried that we might have to cancel the trip. When we arrived to Flamingo, I put on my rain jacket and went down to the marina to look for manatees. Standing in the rain, I was looking at the muddy water and a manatee raised its head high above the water. This was the first sign that this was going to be a perfect day.

Just a minute later, the rain stopped, we got on the boat and sailed out of the marina, through the mangrove forest to the bay. As soon as we were out, we were met by two bubbly dolphins, who were playing alongside our boat. As we were on a very tight schedule, dictated by the tides, we had to leave them and sail to the crocodile sanctuary.

The sanctuary is a huge, muddy swamp area, which is flooded during the high tide and exposed when the tide is low. We arrived at the low tide, when the mud becomes a feeding ground for birds. We saw some very rare birds for the area, such as the Long Billed Curlew.

Action was all around us and some of the most interesting photos I took were of animals that caught their prey. On one occasion, on the right side of the boat a crocodile just hit the water and on the left a raccoon caught a crab and ran with it to the forest.

I also really like this photo of a Wilson's Plover, who looks very pleased with the huge shrimp he just caught. The plover was straggling with the shrimp for a while, so I was able to get some nice photos of the scene.

A very disturbing sight was of what appeared to be an eel holding on to legs of white ibis. The ibis was laying flat on the ground with its wings spread and was surrounded by other curios birds. The Asian swamp eels are invasive species in Florida and are causing damage to the local wildlife population. The scene was unpleasant and also far away from the boat, so I prefer to just share an unrelated photo of two juveniles of white ibis.

The swamp was a fertile ground for reflection photos, like this photo of a Willet walking between the puddles.

It was time for us to take a break. We stopped the boat next to a flock of Royal Terns. Dave brought freshly baked banana bread and star fruits from his garden. These, with the combination of ice cold water, were absolutely perfect.

After the short break, we headed towards the open area of the bay, where we looked for land patches that the birds are going to occupy when the other parts of the park are flooded at high tide. We were eagerly waiting for the Roseate Spoonbills and the Black Skimmers, but, unfortunately, while several flocks of skimmers have passed near our boat, none of them landed in areas that our boat could reach.

We then left the skimmers and went to look for the dolphins. We found a school of about 20 dolphins, playing and hunting in the mud. The dolphins were in very shallow water, less than one meter deep, where they have developed a unique way of catching fish: one of the dolphins will circle the fish while using his fin to raise mud from the bottom. The stressed fish try to escape, jumping out of the water, above the mud barrier, right into the open mouths of the awaiting dolphins. We saw them repeat the drill several times, but getting a good photo of fish and dolphins together proved challenging. I did, however, get some nice photos of the dolphins.

After a wonderful time with the dolphins we sailed to the mangrove forest and from there back to the marine. In the marina I spotted five manatees, three adults and two cubs, all swimming just a few centimeters away from the edge of the platform. Around the area, there were quite a few nests of osprey who appeared to have very little fear of humans, one of the nests was directly above the canoe rental. Also near the marina, across the bridge, you can usually find the American crocodile bathing in the sun.

As I anticipated, the Everglades were the gem of our visit, I can't imagine going to south Florida without visiting the them. Birding with Dave was a wonderful adventure and I can't wait to go back.

More photos from this trip to Everglades: