Torry Island to the Kennedy Space Centre - February 16 to 24

February 16 and 17
We were enjoying our stay at Torry Island so decided to camp there for a few days as we explored the eastern shore of Lake Okeechobee.

 

White Ibis

 

Osprey

This osprey seemed quite functional despite the fishing line tangled in its wing.

This lake was more like a gigantic water reservoir. The entire natural shoreline has been replaced by a massive dike that circles the lake. I had expected a pristine primitive lake in the centre of Florida and saw a man-made reservoir instead. It appeared that little if any thought had been give to the impact on wildlife.

There is a large dock complex at the town of Pahokee. Given the lack of natural beaches, the local birds roosted on quieter sections of the dock. There were dozens of Black Skimmers along with Caspian Terns, Forster's Terns and a few Bonaparte's Gulls.

Great Black-backed Gull - Immature (128)

Caspian Tern

Forster's Tern

Bonapate's Gull (129)

Spotted Sandpiper in Winter Plumage (130)

One Spotted Sandpiper was also using the dock as a promenade. When you see this bird in summer you understand why it is called a Spotted Sandpiper. In winter, its breast is not speckled but pure white so the name seems incongruous.

Boat-tailed Grackle.

On a cloudy day, this bird looks like just another black bird, but on a sunny day it radiates colour. Iridescent feathers reflect the light in beautiful shades of blues and purples.

February 18
It was time to head back to the Atlantic Coast. We drove north along the east side of Lake Okeechobee to Port Mayoco then east  on highway 86. At noon, we stopped for lunch at the DuPuis Wildlife and Environmental Area. It was refreshing to hike through pine forests and meadows after days in the Torry Island marshes.

DuPuis Wildlife and Environmental Area

Palm Warbler

In the late afternoon, we arrived at Long Point Campground near Sebastian Inlet State Park. I was surprised to see Wood Storks walking around in the campground. It all became clear when I saw the fish cleaning station where the fishermen were filleting their catch. Wood Storks were patiently waiting near the fish cleaning station to assist the fishermen as needed.

 After a brief look at the Atlantic Ocean we went to the inland side of the island. 

Emma was keen to have an upper body workout so we rented kayaks and paddled around Sebastian Inlet.

White Pelican

When  pelicans open their gullets you get a real sense of what the fish are up against.

Brown Pelicans

White and Brown Pelicans use different fishing techniques. White Pelicans fish by swimming along and hoovering up fish as they go. Brown Pelicans prefer to hover overhead then dive bomb the fish by plunging head first into the water.

Great Egret

There was a bit of a wind so we got more of an upper boady workout than we had planned. We went with the wind on the way out then had a very strenuous paddle to make it back to our starting point.

February 19
Our day started with a walk along the Sebastian Inlet fishing pier. This substantial structure extends well out into the Atlantic Ocean. We carefully wound our way past scores of avid fishermen intent on landing the "big one".

Fishing Pier at Sebastian Inlet State Park

Fishing Pier

Beach on the Atlantic Coast at Sebastian Island State Park

The pier provided a good viewing of the adjacent beach. The water was a fair bit colder here than in the Gulf of Mexico but still attracted a goodly number of beach enthusiasts.
 

Atlantic Ocean

Northern Gannet - Immature (132) 

 From the end of the pier, you could see a few Northern Gannets foraging well out in the Atlantic Ocean.

The beach area also attracted the usual surf and sand bird species.

Royal Tern

Sanderling

Great Black-backed Gull - Immature

Before leaving Sebastian Inlet, we visited the Archie Carr Refuge, and learned about the efforts being made to save sea turtles from extinction. All along this beach, Loggerhead, Green and Leatherback Sea Turtles haul themselves on shore, scrape out a nest in the sand and deposit their eggs.

Archie Carr Refuge

In the past, people took turtle eggs by the truck load and drove the population to near extinction. Habitat loss and bright lights were also contributing factors to their downfall. Now, we safeguard the nests and keep disorienting night lighting to a minimum.

On this day, there were no sea turtles on the beach. Emma took a moment to flolic in the surf while I tracked down a few nearby birds.

 Sanderlings

 Willet

There are definitely too many suds in this surf. There has been massive algae blooms in and around Sebastian Inlet. This in turn kills thousands of acres of sea grass. Without plant life to sustain them, the fish and crustateans die and the lagoon becomes an inert wasteland.
It appears that nitrates and phosperous from city and agricultural run-off are the cause.

We must do more to reduce our environmental footprint.   

February 20
Today, we drove to Disney World near Orlando. The freeways around Orlando and Disney World were complex but Magellan guided us smoothly to our Fort Wilderness campsite inside Disney World. This campground is first rate like everything else in Disney World. The quality and the price were top-notch.

The Disney World Complex is immense with five worlds to explore. On this visit, we chose to visit the Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

Fox Squirrel

February 21
Wild Turkeys were wandering through our campsite as we awoke. The Fort Wilderness campground is a sprawling complex nestled in a beautiful pine forest. It took a 10 minute walk through our campground to get to the lakefront where we caught a boat ride to the Magic Kingdom.

Fantasyland in Disney World

There was a real sense of deja-vu as we entered the Magic Kingdom. We had never been to Disney World before but we both have been to Disneyland in California as children. The lay-out of the two theme parks was identical and we relived our childhoods as we wandered down mainstreet and into Frontierland.

Main Street in Fantasyland

Steamboat Ride Around Tom Sawyer's Island

Our first stop was Tom Sawyer's Island where we had great memories of exploring the island as children.

Emma Exploring Tom Sawyer's Island

We spent a pleasant day enjoying rides including the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Carribean, It's a Small World, Peter Pan and Thunder Mountain.

Jim at the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse

The fumes from the gas-powered floats and boats were out of place in the otherwise first-class services at the theme park. Disney needs to keep up with the changing times and hop aboard the environmental band wagon. Addressing  energy pollution issues should become a priority.

Epcot Centre at Disney World

February 22
On this day, we went to the Epcot Centre. It was great. Epcot is for adults what Fantasyland is for kids. The exhibits were exciting, stimulating, and informative. We wandered around the entire day  and well into the night.

The adult oriented rides were fun. Soaring was the best along with the Siemons ride about communication.
Around the man-made lake were displays from 11 different countries. This section of Epcot reminded me of Expo 86 in Vancouver. Each country displayed the art, food and history of their nation and the staff were citizens of that country. You got a quick snapshot of the historic worldview of each country. We made our best effort to drink in the culture of each country so we had beer, wine, schnapps, etc. Great fun.

Epcot Centre After Dark

Impressive fireworks concluded the evening. We joined the surging crowds leaving the park and found the right bus to take us back to our campground.

February 23
We left Disney World and drove east to the Kennedy Space Centre. I was thrilled. Emma was bored. For me, the rocket garden was great, the bus out to the launch pad exhilarating, the tour of the Saturn 18 rocket outstanding and the Imax film on the Hubble telescope riveting.

 For Emma it was another day at the dentist.To get her grudging compliance, I had to promise to take her back to Orlando to see the Harry Potter exhibit at Universal Studios

Rocket Garden at the Kennedy Space Centre

Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB)

The VAB is th fourth largest building in the world.

Crawlerway to the Launch Pad

Saturn V Rocket and Jim

Saturn V Command Module

Space Shuttle Atlantis

By 5:00 p.m., the space centre was closing and our all too brief visit was over. Sigh from me, Yay from Emma.

We drove to the nearby Manatee Hammock Campground for the night.

Florida Keys to Torry Island - February 13 to 17

Our stay in the Florida Keys was brief but memorable. We headed out of our "Kampground of America" (KOA) and started back up the Overseas Highway. The KOA facilities are top of the line and they go the extra mile to make your stay enjoyable and safe.

We stopped briefly at Big Pine Key for another look at the diminutive Key Deer. This buck just wandered in front of me as we walked up the path to Blue Hole.

Our next stop was Bahai Honda State Park where we hiked along the east and west nature trails. The white sand was largely covered by a mat of reddish seaweed but the view was beautiful. 

Most of the beach was empty of birds so we returned to our RV and headed out of the park. As we passed over a stream that emptied into the gulf we saw hundreds of shore birds foraging in the outlet waters. It was a secluded section of the beach with no parking for a mile in either direction.I parked on the gravel shoulder and hiked back to the action. From the bridge, I was getting great shots of the wading birds. A passing motorist lended out his window to ask some distracting questions. Without taking my eye off the lens of my camera I responded to her inquiries. When I looked up I realized I was talking to the park ranger who was telling me to move my RV. Such are the perils of birding.

Least Sandpiper (123)

We walked up the ramp to the old highway bridge until we got to the section that was removed to prevent further exploration.

Our next stop was Crane Point Museum and Nature Centre at Marathon Key. We had a refreshing walk through the shady mangrove forest. It was nice to see a nature area in the heavily developed Florida Keys.

Before leaving the keys we stopped for a snack of world famous key lime pie. It was tasty.

We ended the day back at the Miami Everglades RV Campground.

February 14
It was time to head back up north along the Atlantic coast of Florida. We decided on a last visit to the southern Florida Coast and went to West Lake Park in Hollywood. Traffic was fierce but thanks to Magellan we made it to this tropical island sequestered in the middle of sprawling suburbia.

The view from the tower at West Lake Park.gave a good overview of the expansive size of this urban park.

West Lake

The park is right on the edge of the Atlantic ocean and is covered by an extensive Mangrove forest. We saw a goodly number of birds as we hiked around this refreshing park.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Palm Warbler

We had no luck finding an RV park in the sprawling suburbs north of Miami so late in the evening we headed inland toward Okeechobee Lake. We had had enough of the big city traffic and congestion.

It was dark as we arrived at South Bay beside Lake Okeechobee. We had Magellan directions to a campground but the Magellan batteries died as we were getting close to our destination. We made some educated guesses, and with a little luck, made it to the campground. 

February 15
It was a beautl ful morning when we woke up in the Torry Island Campground. We were parked in an extensive RV park with a beautiful swamp on all sides. I do chuckle at the concept of a beautiful swamp but such is the perspective of avid birders.

There were channels through the swamp for boats to access the lake. We had an enjoyable day wandering around the paths through the camp and hiking trails into the swamp.

  Torry Island

Common Moorhen

Red-winged Blackbird

Caspian Tern - molting into spring plumage

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Glossy Ibis

At last, a good look at a Glossy Ibis. We had been looking for this bird throughout our swing through southern Florida. As often happens Emma spotted it first. She is getting good at birding. She is at the point where she knows when she sees something unique. Once she focuses me in the right direction I put a name to what she has seen.

White Ibis

Cattle Egret

Cattle Egrets have a very stately way of walking for such a small heron. I try not to anthropomorphize birds but these little guys seem to be doing a great impression of Robert De Niro in Taxi ... "You talkin to me?".

Great Egret

I'm always amazed at how long a herons neck is when fully extended.

Green Heron

Loggerhead Shrike

Common Moorhen

There were an amazing number of birds in the Torry Island area. Then again, it was South
Florida and we were in a big swamp.

Glossy Ibis

Cattle Egret

Rough-winged Swallow (125)

Tricoloured Heron

Painted Bunting

This painted bunting was not attracted by a bird feeder so I had to follow him through the swamp as he foraged among the reeds and bushes.

Purple Gallinule

Green Heron

Loggerhead Shrike

The Loggerhead Shrike is robin sized with small feet like other perching birds. However, the hooked bill tells the story as this bird is all about preying on sparrows.