Have Camera, Will Travel.: Miami to Flamingo

February 8
After several days of intense birding we decided to take a day off and drive into Miami. We stayed away from the main highways and ended up on narrow street with spanish moss hanging down on the top of the RV. We stopped at Matheson Hammock Park and took a long walk through a mangrove forest. After a mile along this shady path, we arrived at a beach with an excellent view of Biscayne Bay and downtown Miami.

Matheson Hammock Park

Coconuts

We continued into downtown Miami but stopped when we got to Miami City Hall. The traffic was fierce and the parking non-existent.In our efforts to turn around, we got blocked in by a belligerent local who was not about to give us the room we needed to turn our RV around. With a little encouragement from Emma, the other driver finally backed up and enabled us to exit from downtown Miami.

Biscayne Bay and Miami on the Horizon

Miami

Emma on the shores of Biscayne Bay

Biscayne Bay

February 9
My morning started with a great shower in the RV. This is something to celebrate because our shower is on the fritz. For no apparent reason, the hot water suddenly stops working then minutes or hours later it miraculously returns. I think it has something to do with the back flow valve on the hot water tank.

When the shower works you feel like you won the lottery. Emma dashed in right after me and the hot water stopped. Somehow that was my fault.

It was another foggy morning as we regrouped and headed to the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Centre in the southern regions of Everglades National Park.

Saw Grass Prairie in Everglades National Park

At Royal Palm, we took a short walk along the Anhinga Trail. Wading birds and alligators were everywhere. The trail is less than one mile but it took us two hours because of all the great opportunities to see wildlife up close. There were so many wading birds that it is easier to identify the ones that were not present. We did not see any Reddish Egrets or Glossy Ibises.

Green Heron

Wood Stork

American Bittern

Little Blue Heron

Tricoloured Heron

The trail is called the Anhinga trail as the boardwalk goes right beside their nesting area.

Anhinga Basking

The ponds and banks were full of alligators basking or cruising about.

Black Vulture

Large numbers of Black Vultures were hanging about and waiting to see if the alligators turned up a meal.

At the Lone Pine stop, we had a nice walk through an open pine forest. Many Yellow-rumped Warblers were feeding and flying among the trees.

The Pa-kay-okee Overlook had a nice Boardwalk with excellent views of the Everglades landscape .

Snowy Egret

Emma in birding mode and scoping out a Wood Stork

Wood Stork

Our stop at Mahogany Hammock was brief. It had a nice walkway but relatively few birds were out at mid day so we continued on to Flamingo.

The visitor centre at Flamingo was nice but the entire area is still recovering from the flooding effects of Hurricane Katrina.We walked over to the Flamingo Marina and saw two manatee and two salt water crocodiles. |A manatee cow and calf were browsing on the marine vegetation growing on the side of the dock.

Manatee Cow

Observing manatees is a little like whale watching. You usually only see the nostrils after waiting for several minutes. Fortunately, this cow and calf were friendly and inquisitive.

Emma is excited by all wild mammals and went from observing to petting the manatee as they surfaced. Both Emma and the manatee appeared to enjoy this bonding experience. In fact, Emma was really getting into the bonding experience. She was missing our dog Sona and takes every opportunity to pat and cuddle all dogs and most other cuddly looking creatures. She also would really like to swim with dolphins and I could see that she was thinking a manatee might be a willing substitute.

Emma can be impulsive but she was able to restrain herself with the helpful reality of the nearby Salt Water Crocodiles.

Salt Water Crocodile

Crocodiles are much more likely than alligators to consider adult humans a prey species.

A pair of nesting Osprey were directly above the marina. Despite the excitement on the dock the parents stayed focused on feeding their chicks.

Osprey

We drove to the nearby Flamingo campground, It was quite large but only a third of it was reopened after the flooding damage from Hurricane Katrina. We went for a hike along the adjacent trail.

Emma at Flamingo in Everglades National Park

The campground trail went through a nice forested area with large sections of open scrubby meadow. At one time, it was all forest but Hurricane Katrina wiped out large sections of the forest. This has created the open spaces that are now scrubby meadows.

Scrub Meadow

As dusk approached we wound our way back through the park. We stopped again at Royal Palm and did a sunset walk along the Anhinga trail. The warm light from the setting sun gave a rich glow to the Everglade landscape.