A Day Trip to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

Every once in awhile, we get antsy and want to get out on the road. We really miss the RVing lifestyle! Sometimes it's a magnificent trip to Alaska, most of the time it's a little day trip somewhere. There's lots to do and see in Florida, that's for sure! Several years ago, we visited Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary near Naples, FL, about 30 miles east. Must have been about seven years or more, so we thought it would be cool to set out for Naples and revisit this wonderful place once again. It's a little less than two hours from Bradenton. We read that it had sustained some damage from Hurricane Irma, but was open to the public. It is open from 7:30-5:30PM every day of the year. So off we went!

It did not disappoint! The boardwalk is a 2.5 mile walk around the swamp, which had dried up in many places. This is normal for this time of year, it's the dry season. The birds move around and in different spots as the water levels rise and lower depending upon the weather and the season. The weather was hot today, and although there is some shade as you walk around, you can easily get overheated if you don't bring water. AHEM! You can get overheated if you don't bring water! (We forgot.)We saw the usual anhingas, anhingas doing a mating dance/ritual, which is NOT so usual. These two love birds were twining and untwining their necks around each other. They were either getting ready to make a nest, or they were just cementing their relationship before getting started!

We saw lots of strangler figs that manage to securely attach themselves to trees. They make such interesting patterns! The ficus aurea, the Florida fig is common around here. The seeds are dropped usually near the tops of trees by birds, then they grow their roots downward and start wrapping and grafting several roots together around the host tree. Sometimes the host tree will die, but some times they do not. If the host tree is older than the strangler fig, it will mostly likely die and rot away, leaving a tree column of roots with the trunk made of this circular pattern of roots. It then provides shelter and habitat for forest animals, so it's not all bad news!

Sparky spotted a red bellied woodpecker high up in a tree. 

And then, we happened upon a group of people intently looking over the boardwalk at a snake (ugh) who had just ambushed a frog, (really ugh...) and was just starting to eat it. Ewwwwwwww....

Let's go see something pretty, says Sparky to Eldo, so we moved on.....This is much better!

This is a wood stork...he's got one wing hanging out occasionally. While he's foraging for food, he will stick out one wing to provide shade so he can see better in the marsh, "the better to eat you with, my dear!" He was oblivious to the gawkers on the boardwalk. Guess they are really used to seeing people. We walked the whole 2.5 miles, even though we were hot. You never know what you are going to see around the corner. Whaddya know....another snake...ugh again. At least this one wasn't eating anything at the moment.

Probably one of the coolest things we saw was this yellow crowned night heron. Normally, they are sort of sleepyheads during the day, and out of sight, but this one was out and about. He didn't care at all that Sparky was immediately above him!

He was beautiful! He sat and posed for a long time, even though this guy was near by......Sparky just read in a Scholastic Magazine to the kids at school last week that if an alligator eats an animal or fairly good size meal, he might not eat again for a year!

We were coming to the end of the boardwalk...a couple more sightings...a little blue heron strutting along on a mission....

And some beautiful wild iris....

It was a lovely day, not a cloud in the sky....We highly recommend visiting here. Just a note: We did see a LOT of hurricane damage,

lots of trees down, big ones. The boardwalk is damaged and closed off in several places like in different connecting sections but we were still able to go for a nice long walk and see so much while we were there. I hope they will continue to repair and reconstruct this beautiful Audubon site. It's a treasure for southwestern Florida, that's for sure!

More Nature...Are We Bored Yet?

Nope! Not only does Sparky see lots of nature USUALLY on her weekly or semi weekly bike rides around Bradenton, lots of other people see really cool stuff here in Florida...

On the news tonight, it was reported that people driving on highway 41, a.k.a. Tamiami Trail, saw two bald eagles duking it out along the roadside. It was a brutal fight over territory, and there was a winner. The injured loser, ended up getting the sympathy vote as LOTS of calls went in to the local wildlife rescue organization. He was captured and taken in to receive veterinary care and then released back into the wild. A happy ending!

Sparky would have LOVED to have seen and taken some photos. Unfortunately, she wasn't there, so we don't have any. BUT---another productive bike ride today...Very early in the morning, on the one day Sparky was not subbing this week. Throughout the neighborhood, there are many many ponds and wetlands. Sparky usually sees quite a few birds and today was no exception. Down at Jiggs Landing, the dragonflies were like sentinels, guarding the marsh grasses. There must have been fifty dragonflies all perched at the very tippy top of the marsh grass stems. This one looked like he was in line for take off at the local airfield!

Jiggs Landing is a beautiful spot to stop and rest for a bit....The clouds were reflected in the water this morning, with not a breeze anywhere in sight. It almost looked like snow on the ground, just for a second. (Sparky is still missing snow and cold, but when everybody up north starts complaining about the bitter cold and the ice storms hit, she will be happy she is in Florida. :-)

The limpkins were out and about today...Sparky apologizes for the dark photos...Not the best time of day for catching the best light on subjects. This was a limpkin and a tri colored heron (?) passing each other on the marsh....

Here's a slightly better photo of a limpkin...A little blurry because he was bogeying down the grass line, worried about Sparky and getting his breakfast at the same time.

Sparky's ride is not complete without spotting a gator....She read just the other day about a guy working in his backyard on a golf course here in Sarasota...He heard a commotion behind him, and a gator came charging full blast out of the pond and after him, getting a grab on his leg! He managed to get the gator off him, and made it to his house, where he then got himself treatment at the doctor for the leg bite. Yikes! Sparky still likes to get a little too close to gators to get photos, but she is becoming more cautious after hearing stories like this. ("One of these days....."---says a worried Eldo.....)

This gator is in the big pond right on our street, just a few doors down. He was out today as Sparky rode by--on the opposite side of the bank. He looks like a decent size, doesn't he? You are supposed to be able to figure out how long the gator is, by estimating how long his snout is to his eye ridge. Sparky wants to know how the heck can you get the approximate "guesstimate" snout measurement without getting a lot closer to the gator?! (DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!! warns E.)

And Sparky passed this one in another pond, keeping cool......She's glad she has a 30X zoom lens.

No spoonbills today, that is a VERY unusual sighting in the neighborhood to see one of those...Usually we have to head out to other parts of Sarasota and Bradenton to find them or we just get lucky like Sparky did last bike ride out. But, the cranes are back in force all over the place in pairs  as they usually are, and drilling the golf course for bugs. This one was beside a pond, busily preening as Sparky biked by...He didn't even blink an eye as she stopped to get a photo.....They certainly can contort themselves around to get at those itchy spots!

Another great day in the neighborhood! Sparky is looking forward to the fall temperatures coming....The rains are diminishing...We had over 10" last week, and Myakka River State Park flooded and closed most of the park. Sparky thinks soon she will want to get back over there to go gator watching....(What is it with my woman that she has this thing about alligators???? wonders Eldo.)  Don't know, dear...they are just very cool looking and so dinosaurish.....And ever since we saw a gator capture his prey and heard the bones crunching as he chomped down while we were watching at the bridge at Myakka River State Park, Sparky wants to go back again and again.....

Until next time.......See ya!

Amazing Myakka River State Park

Sarasota, FL        High:  66       Low:   44

Sparky played five games of pickleball this morning...You play till one side scores 11 points, so it's not a long game, especially if you're a relative "newbie" like Sparky is, and you are the weakest link in the foursome in one of the games. Sparky played with three other players who were top notch. In this particular game, Sparky singlehandedly contributed to making every error that cost our side the game. The other team won 11 to ZIP. Sparky almost went home, then thought, nope, I'm gonna ride out the next game and see how I do with the next partner, and things went a whole lot better.  The level of play in the mornings during the week is a notch higher than the women's social pickleball. Sparky usually plays. Sparky gets intimidated easily by better players, and then gets mad at herself for missing shots she could have gotten. But, your game gets sharpened when you play with better players, so Sparky will keep showing up a couple mornings a week the remainder of our time here, and hopefully, will get better!

Mr. Gator, at Myakka River State Park, nice and close by

This afternoon, we went to Myakka River State Park, for our third time there...Myakka River State Park is a GREAT place to see alligators. We've seen them every time we've been. The first place you see them after entering the park and paying your 6.00 out of state fee, is at the bridge, where everybody stops to look to see if they are there. Today, there was only one...Every time we see one, we think of the Gator Boys TV show, on the Discovery Channel. They go around grabbing and capturing alligators out of people's yards and ponds and take them back to a preserve somewhere or some kind of alligator rescue place. They make it look so easy.....Back to Myakka.....

Very shortly after getting to the little bridge, he disappeared under water and decided to make himself scarce, only emerging once in awhile to see if we were still there.

It's fun to watch the interactions of the birds and the fishermen. We watched a great white heron try to land near a great blue heron, only to get chased off by him. The great blue herons were out in force today, waiting for the fishermen to catch something in hopes they might find something to eat, too!

We saw osprey soaring overhead, looking for fish....

Sparky loves to try and capture the beauty of their flight....She likes the way the sunlight was filtering through the tail feathers on this one.....

On our visit this time, we went deeper into the park...We stopped at the bird observation deck, and saw one solitary spoonbill WA-A-Y out in the distance, and not much else. There was a very stiff breeze, so the birds were laying low. Sparky saw this cute little girl all dressed and covered up like a little swami on our way out of the observation deck. She had her eye on Sparky and as we were walking back to our car, she waved, so of course, Sparky had to take her photo!  Nice to see a little one protected from the hot Florida sun.

On we went to where the "Gator Gal" tours are held along with the tram tours. The Gator Gal tour boat tours are 12.00 for adults..We didn't do that today, but understand it's a great tour.

We talked to one of the tour ladies and she told us to check out the fishing pier/deck and "dock", a place we hadn't seen in the park. It's right behind the campground store, down a narrow path. WOW! Was this a happenin' place for birds and gators! Lots of them!

Sparky asked the tour lady (Terri? I think her name was) if the vultures were still a problem at the park, and here's the story:

"The vultures have been a problem ever since the park opened. They congregate at night across the canal (where the Gator Gal tours start) and usually over a hundred vultures roost there during the night. In the early morning hours, they fly over to the parking lot, some land on the cars and dry their feathers. Then they get a little bored and start pecking at whatever is available, like people's windshield wipers, moldings, and rubber bumpers. If you are a fisherman and you are there early in the morning, then you go and leave your car for the day, that's the only time they really are a problem. One guy, after vultures ate his windshield wipers, made an owl out of styrofoam. Vultures don't like owls. He came back at the end of the day, and HAWKS had pecked his owl to smithereens. So he made ANOTHER owl out of styrofoam, put a wire cage around it and mounted it to the top of his truck. Problem solved. The vultures don't bother his car any more, and the hawks don't bother his owl. "

So, yes, in a manner of speaking, vultures CAN be a problem, but mainly in the very early morning hours. The signs are all over the park, because two people sued the state of Florida for vulture damage so out came the signs. We did see the vultures near the fishing pier....

At the fishing pier there is a cool educational exhibit where you can hear what sounds the alligators make and take a little quiz. Did you know that frogs are predators of baby alligators?

It was a beautiful day in the low seventies, with quite a breeze blowing...There were almost whitecaps on the very low level Myakka River. We really enjoyed seeing the gators and all the birds today...Hope to go again before we leave.....

Air plants or epiphytes at Myakka River State Park

Until next time.......

Settlin' In....

Gulf Shores, AL     High:  67    Low:  48

Sparky REALLY wants to go swimming in the huge Olympic size pool here at Gulf State Park, but it's too dang cool outside and in the water-- both still about 64 degrees...The weather is not supposed to warm up till Friday, temps in the low seventies, maybe she can go swimming then.

In the meantime, it's take care of business today--laundry and some errands...Ever see so many machines available in a campground laundromat? Two dollars to wash, 1.25 to dry...a common price in campgrounds that we have been in.

Next we headed up to Camping World to get a zero gravity chair, one of those chairs where you push back on the lower bar and it moves back into a nap position :-). It's a little pricey but nice. We looked them all over very carefully and this one was the most well made, the most comfortable, had the best locking levers and seemed like it would hold up the best. We purchased the warranty with it for two years..normally, we don't do that, but sunlight really does a number on fabric chairs even with protective UV stuff in the fabric. The grommets start to pull away from the fabric as the UV rays beat down on the fabric, weakening it, the elastic starts to give and shred after awhile. After rethreading our last chairs twice, and the grommets ripping, we were ready for a new chair. Why not paid a few extra dollars for the protection plan and get a new chair if something goes wrong? Eldy goes through his rocker chair about every two years, so it's been well worth it to get the warranty plan. Sparky loves the chair and will be spending more time relaxing in it...(HA! We'll see if that happens, but that's part of the reason we got the chair, to make Sparky slow down a bit, explains E.)

We've been riding our bikes around the park...It's so big that if you go around all the streets in the park, you get about 6 1/2 miles for a bike ride just riding in the park! It's one of people's favorite things to do here in the park....We like riding around seeing if there are any fellow "Hoosiers" here (that's people from Indiana). There are a few, but not as many as you would think in a park this size. Tons of Michiganders, lots of people from Illinois, LOTS of Canadians--Ottowa, especially, and smattering of Kentuckians, Vermonters, Illinois people, :-)  and of course Alabamians. Eldy enjoyed  riding around so much yesterday, he says he might try to ride the park every day. You heard it here, first, folks..(Great...says E., with a BIG sigh..) Nothing like a little loving, encouraging pressure to help our guys stay in shape, right, ladies?

Love the little animals around the signs in the park....

There are definitely quite a few walking trails within the park....

And quite a few alligator warning signs, "DON'T FEED OR AGGRAVATE THE ALLIGATORS"--REALLY? Like somebody would be dumb enough to aggravate an alligator? (Uh, Sparky?.......) Who, me? Naw......I'm not THAT crazy....

But Sparky hasn't seen a single alligator in the park....Just lots of birds and this little tree frog, if that's what he is.

Hope he stays outside and doesn't want to come in, like the last little dude Sparky encountered staring at her from the bedroom floor while going down the road a few months ago. That last little frog, no, wait, he was BIG-- jumped onto the fridge with his sticky little webby feet, and Sparky just about had a heart attack and screamed, and Eldy just about slammed on the brakes with all the commotion going on in the back of the rig. That was the "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON BACK THERE??!!" story in case you missed it. The little hitchhiker was safely disposed of by trapping him in a paper cup and let outside as soon as it was safe to do so......

That's it for now.....see ya later.....

Shark Valley--Stop, Look, and Listen!

Our second day in the Everglades, our second trip out to Shark Valley...Not sure why they name it Shark Valley, it oughta be "Alligator Alley"!  When we were here in December, there were at least 15 alligators sunning themselves on the 15 mile bike/hike trail. You had to ride around their tails to get around them. Most of them were comatose on the boardwalk, so it was no worries, mate!

Today, most of them were in the water....but we saw PLENTY of them! At least as many as last time. There was a couple riding the trail on their bikes, wondering about all the different birds they were seeing. So Sparky, being the ever helpful teacher, starting mentioning the egrets, the anhingas, the herons, and the couple were very friendly and appreciative back. Their names were Marilyn and Denny (?), hope that's right, and they were from Minne-SO-ta. Denny had that delightful Minnesota accent that almost sounded Canadian. We talked along the whole way to the observation tower and really enjoyed their company. They were both teachers as well, Marilyn was a remedial/special reading teacher so she and Sparky traded work stories. Marilyn and Denny are not both retired yet, but wishing they were!

We saw TONS of turtles today, and TONS of great herons standing on the asphalt trailside, one after another. We saw wood storks today, which we had not seen last time. These ibis and egrets were following this "grandpa" woodstork around like little chicks following their mama hen.

Lots of anhingas were sunning and swimming, and we saw lots of baby alligators out and about.

Of course every time we saw the babies, everybody cautioned each other, "Watch out for the mama, she's gotta be here somewhere."

Denny had a scary story to relate as he was in the back of us, taking photos and caught up at one point. He said there was a big alligator hanging out by a culvert, sticking its nose into the culvert. It was on the left side of the road and Denny was coming up on the right side of the bike path. As the gator entered the culvert, he belched or burped "or whatever sound they make" as Denny put it. The sound reverberated through the culvert, amplified, and came out the other end just as Denny passed the culvert on the right side. Denny about sh** his shorts and about fell off his bike the sound was so loud and so close!

The observation tower marks about halfway through the trail. There is NO water at the observation tower, so once you start on the 15 mile trail, you need to have a ton of water, especially if it's very hot like it was today. We get to the tower, and we parked our bikes. You cross a little bridge to walk the rest of the way to the tower. There's a canal and pond on each side of the bridge. We noticed an alligator swimming towards the bridge just as we were crossing. He was swimming quickly and we turned around and looked behind us to see if our new friends were following. By this time, the alligator had started climbing the rocks and we could see that he intended to come across the bridge.

Denny and Marilyn were a little farther behind us. They had to stop along with a large group of people who had just gotten off the tram ride that the park runs on the trail. The alligator ambled across the path and plunked himself down right in the middle of the path, eyes open, and mouth just a little open.

The group behind us froze, and we heard the driver of the tram say, "Goodness gracious!" (He really did say that! E. verifies.) He got out of the tram with a big long pole. He proceeded to give directions to the group, wanting them to cross directly in front of the alligator! We couldn't believe it!

He said, "I want you to walk directly and firmly right next to the rail...Whatever you do, DON'T STOP IN FRONT OF HIM TO TAKE A PHOTO, just keep walking. (What idiot would in his right mind stop to take a photo?? asks Eldo.  Wait a minute, I can think of one!)  Uh, I don't think I would have stopped, says Sparky, but then again, I had already crossed the bridge BEFORE the alligator climbed up on the bank and onto the path.

"Whatever you do, just don't stop to take a photo, KEEP WALKING!" repeated the guide. Yeah, right! Everybody in the group just looked at each other, and were looking to see who was going to be alligator food first! Nobody moved. Our new friends were figuring, well, it was nice knowing you, guess we will be parting ways right here and now, and guess the gator is going to keep everybody from going to the observation tower. Looks like we will be turning around right here...

But then, a courageous and bold tourist took the first step, trusted the guide, and he walked right in front of the alligator, who opened his mouth and HISSED! That scared the shit out of the next tourist, a lady who walked briskly in front of the gator....Pretty soon the rest of the crowd followed one by one, quickly. At the very end, the tour guy from the tram gave the gator a slight poke in the tail, and the gator got back up on his hind legs and rambled across the rest of the path and slithered into the water on the other side.

Wonder how many people had to go to the bathroom after THAT encounter? (E. says, nobody wants to know, Sparky!) It was a COOL encounter with a gator! Despite what people think, gators do NOT go after humans. They have coexisted side by side in the canals in Shark Valley with the visitors for years and years. They don't associate humans as a food source because humans in the park don't try to feed them.  We look tall and intimidating to them, they are more interested in short little things on the ground. They may hiss but it's what they do to when they aren't sure what their next move is themselves. Now, they WILL go after a little dog....and apparently, a little dog in the midway campground almost got taken  the other day as he was chasing a frisbee near the pond.

People walk and ride the paths daily at Shark Valley, crossing in front of the gators day after day after day....and there's never been a problem. At least that's what Eldo keeps telling himself when he's just a few feet in front of them....Of course, when one rises up on his hind legs and starts to move, EVERYBODY still has a temporary cardiac arrest for a heartbeat! We're heard a couple of different things...when the gator's eyelids are closed, no worries. When they are open, be on alert. When the gator gets up on his hind legs, BE PREPARED! For what, we don't know!  They wouldn't let people walk the paths if alligators attacked humans, so really, it's not a worry.....

We biked 14 miles today in Shark Valley....a terrific trip! We highly recommend it. Oh, I almost forgot! We saw a solitary roseate spoonbill feeding in the marsh, very close by. Woo-hoo!

Here's another view...very cool to see them sweep their spoonbills from side to side to get their food....

If you REALLY don't want to see gators up close and personal, take the tram! Nineteen dollars a person....More fun and exciting and CHEAP to ride a bike if you ask Sparky. Up close and personal, that's the way she likes it!   :-) (Yep, that she does! That woman is shortening my life, she's such a risk taker! sighs E.)  See you tomorrow!

Shark Valley-But NO Sharks!

Battle scarred alligator-first one we saw immediately starting out on the bike path!

We'd been hearing about Shark Valley, part of the Everglades National Park...I guess I DID know that there was the Everglades National Park in Florida, I just didn't realize that Shark Valley was a part of it. It's on highway 41,  straight east, about 70 miles from Naples. We heard there was a 15 mile bike trail through the heart of it....We wanted to check that out so we did! Our senior pass got us in for free...Otherwise, you pay a 10.00 entry fee. Park opens at 8:30 AM and closes at 6:00 PM.

Egret in flight at Shark Valley

You can walk several shorter trails there or you can walk the 15 mile one that a lot of people choose to ride their bikes on. We did see several people walking the 15 mile trail. The bike trail through the park was an incredible experience! There are alligators everywhere, lying along the trail WITHIN A FEW FEET OF YOU. You could touch them if you wanted to.

This just confirmed what we heard yesterday, that alligators are considered docile unless they are hungry, and if they are hungry, they will go after something if their prey is at their eye level. OR SO THEY SAY! We couldn't believe it that people WALKED this trail as well as biked it, after seeing more than 12 alligators sunning themselves along the walk. Unbelievable! If the park thinks we're gonna stop by this sign if a tram comes by, it ain't happenin'!

The literature that the park hands out says stay at least 15 feet away from alligators. That was tough to do today, THEY WERE RIGHT THERE!

Most of them paid no attention to us, but ONE of them raised his head as Eldy was riding slowly by, and about gave him a heart attack! He paid no attention to me whatsoever! Guess he thought Eldy looked interesting in his straw hat! I can't believe they let people go out on the trail with the alligators so
close. A couple of times we actually had to drift over to the other side of the trail so we wouldn't run over an alligator's tail!

It was an experience we won't forget! AND, Eldy and Sparky both rode the entire 15 miles today! We don't know how long it took us, we stopped a bazillion times so Sparky could get photos...There were so many wonderful things to see....Like the egrets taking flight...

A great heron.....

An interesting spider....

Anhinga swimming underwater...so streamlined!

And the reflection of the skies in the grassland waters....

If it was later in the winter, we would have seen a huge variety of birds. Today, we saw egrets, common types of herons, and lots of anhingas drying their wings again.....I guess later in December and into January, all kinds of birds start showing up in the park grasslands and trees.

There are three ways to visit Shark Valley...walking, biking, or riding a tram along the 15 mile loop trail. The tram is a two hour narrated ride with a naturalist or park ranger. There is an observation tower and restrooms halfway through the trail where you can stop and get under shade for a little bit. You can stop for a picnic lunch if you bring your own, walk a spiral ramp to the top to see a 360 degree view in the park. You can even see alligators down below.

I think that about covers it...gotta be a record for the number of photos in a post today...but they were all important to me in remembering what a special day it was today....hope you enjoyed our visit to Shark Valley. Thank you to our blogging friends who mentioned that we needed to go see Shark Valley, and thank you for the nice compliments we receive over time on our blogging and photos. We really appreciate your feedback and interest....Sparky and Eldy