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!

What's the Perfect Day in Florida?

For Sparky, visiting with family, laughing and sharing memories and experiences is probably at the top of her perfect day list. But her perfect day list is a BIG list! The perfect day for Sparky could be any number of additional things…kayaking out on in the gulf, making and creating something with her hands, riding her bike, seeing gators, seeing dolphins, visiting a farmer's market, tickling her toes in the sand, eating at a favorite restaurant,  gator watching at Myakka River State Park with Eldy, and let's not forget eating at the Gulf Gate Tiki Grill on Anna Maria Island.

But here's today's perfect day….For starters, not a cloud in the sky and zero percent chance of rain, and temps in the low sixties…PERFECT for a festival!

Off to Coquina Beach to park the car and ride the trolley to the Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival 2014 this past weekend in the historic fishing village of Cortez, right there at Anna Maria Island. Check out the flea market/farmer's market along the shady sidewalk/boardwalk at Coquina Beach first. It was CHILLY at the beachfront! Coquina Beach is Eldo and Sparky's favorite beach, even more so than Siesta Key Beach because of the beautiful shaded boardwalk that runs for several miles along the beach. The sand is clean and white at Coquina, too...

Some cool stuff for sale…..Vintage signs….Some not so vintage, kinda cheeky….

Next, hop on the trolley bus to get to the JAM PACKED 32nd annual Cortez Fishing Festival, 2014. Cortez is a sleepy little village on Anna Maria Island where fishing is done on the water from sun up to sun down, and where generations of fishermen and women have been raised on the water. The town opens up to thousands of visitors for a weekend each February to celebrate it's fishing heritage. It costs 3.00 to get in, and you buy tickets for food and drink once you get inside. Seafood lover? It's all here--smoked mullet, crab, shrimp, alligator, grouper, everything you can think of….And, there are crafts, too. Most people in the village make their living from fishing or art, so both are well represented at the festival. About 25,000 people are expected to tour the village and it sure looked to us like half of them were there already when we visited this weekend. The money made at the festival benefits the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage, a non profit  organization that promotes all things maritime--fishing, preservation, skills and marine resources.

With not a cloud in the sky and the cool temps, LOTS of people were there sampling all the fantastic seafood, pricey, but delicious! Not sure how much of the seafood is local, but there were plenty of options! Hard to find a seat to sit and eat, many people plunk down at the tables and then sit and people watch, making it hard to find a place to sit down and eat your food.

The smoked mullet was served in the skeleton of the fish!

Even the trash bins have an artsy vibe to them…

With Sparky's belly full from a great taco (Yep, she ate a TACO, folks, at a SEAFOOD FESTIVAL) But it was GOOD! And if you aren't a big seafood lover, there were plenty of other great offerings, like a huge dessert tent….

Time to head back to the trolley for the ride back to Coquina Beach to head for home….Taking a back way out of the traffic jam from the festival through Longboat Key, Sparky saw something out of the corner of her eye…."ELDY! STORKS AND SPOONBILLS!" And of course, Eldy, being the accommodating driver he always is, always stops the car if he can safely when Sparky gets excited about birds, gators or snakes or other wildlife, because he knows he'd BETTER STOP THE CAR or Sparky is going to be one unhappy woman if she can't get some photos….When Sparky thought the sun angle was wrong, Eldy even drove a ways and turned back around so Sparky could get out of the car and get a little closer for some better shots. Awwww….what a guy…..(Accumulating my brownie points any and every way I can, explains E.) He's got a LOT right now, but that could change, haha….

Not one, not two, but FIVE roseate spoonbills trying to keep warm next to some wood storks….JACKPOT! Here are some shots of a couple of them at a time...

Sparky was in seventh heaven at seeing these spoonbills, her favorite Florida bird….

Wow!….Another one flew in, but Sparky missed the landing…Unbelievably gorgeous when you see the fuschia underneath side of their beautiful, really BIG wingspans….The one that flew in chased a couple other spoonbills around for a few seconds, letting them know he had arrived and to make room.

A perfect ending to a perfect day……Sigh…….

Bird Brained and Duck Dynasty

Sparky is definitely getting more bird brained in her golden years. Forgetting stuff right and left, losing keys and wallet on a regular basis (in the house usually), difficulty remembering occasions in the past year that she SHOULD remember, enough that she consults Alzheimer's checklists on a regular basis, lol. So far, fairly normal aging of the brain, she surmises. Eldy is not alarmed yet, older sis is not alarmed, and friends have not broached the subject yet, so guess Sparky is still on track for navigating her way through life each day. Heck, she can still navigate to Michael's and Hobby Lobby without help (although she DOES have instructions on how to get to Hobby Lobby in her phone in case she forgets), so things are ok....

Speaking of being a bird brain, Sparky has birds on the brain at the moment. She is enjoying Florida birds more and more, and focused on taking photos of them. Today we spotted a FLOCK of about 20 wood storks, behind a shopping plaza in a lagoon area.  WOW! TWENTY woodstorks...they've been scarce lately...and scarce in general, because they are an endangered species. They must be making a comeback because the National Fish and Wildlife agency is thinking about reclassifying them as "threatened", a step down from being endangered...Sparky ran home to get her camera, hopped on her bike and boogied back to the back of the shopping center, where there's a little marsh ecosystem tucked behind the center. It attracts lots of birds, and today, it was the wood stork convention!

Wood storks used to be called a wood ibis...They have similarly curved bills like the little white ibis that are all over the place here in Florida.The wood storks look like turkeys or vultures a little bit. Their heads are blackish and bald like the vulture's. They have a BIG wingspan with big black feathers that you can see when they fly. The wingspan is anywhere from 5-6 feet across!

You can see the relationship between man's flight inventions and the streamlined birds, can't you? What aerodynamics!

Sparky took lots of shots, and had to stay a fair distance away because the birds were wary....

"Come any closer and I'll bite!"

Sparky just thinks these are really cool birds....Here's one in the grass....

And a couple mirroring each other....

A pair in the sun...

"Maybe she won't notice me if I hide behind Agnes."

There were a pair of cool ducks there...These are black bellied whistler ducks, a biologist friend says...Cool! Never heard of those!

Saw these same species of duck in a little pond on the Legacy bike trail a few days later...A mom and dad pair with four little ones who were popping up and down like little bobber corks for a good twenty minutes practicing their diving skills. Sarasota's own duck dynasty!  Each time one little duckling went down, the other three went immediately in succession right after each other--PLOP! PLOP! PLOP! The water churned a little bit, then POP! POP! POP! up they came, one right after the other. It was fun to watch!

Duck diving....

A wonderful part of a morning spent watching and photographing nature right across the street, well right across highway 70 from us.

                                                                           The end.....  :-)

A Return to the Celery Fields of Sarasota

Sarasota, FL        High:  66      Low:   48

A couple of days of very cool weather has sparked Sparky into biking...Sparky has made some nice friends here at the park. It's funny, but when you are full timing in a park, starting to get to know people, and you mention acquaintances, a lot of people will say, "my friend Joanie, from Michigan" or someone will ask, "Do you know Patty from Wisconsin?" kinda like that's their whole name--"Karen-from-Florida".

Any way, Sparky went biking today with her friend, Joanie, from Michigan. We went to the Celery Fields because Joanie had never seen them. It's a short bike ride but there usually is quite a bit to see. You can climb to the top of an old landfill that's been made into a hilly observation point with gravel trails.....Good exercise climbing up and back down...

You can walk across the street to the boardwalk overlooking the marsh and see lots of different kinds of birds. We saw a great blue heron glide entirely across the marsh while we were standing on the boardwalk. It was a beautiful sight! There was a flock of egrets in the marshes. Sparky loves how they all rise up on occasion, as if they are going to fly away, but then they just settle down again in a slightly different position. Sparky was too busy yakking to take a photo of the birds as they changed their positions now and then. We were busy talking and sharing about our families to take a photo. Joanie is a retired special ed teacher just like Sparky, and we had a TON to talk about!

Sparky pointed out some birds that Joanie hadn't heard of, and told her about the roseate spoonbill that can be occasionally seen in the marshes and even around Sun 'n' Fun. Sparky asked a couple of gals if they had seen any spoonbills today, and they said yes, in the distance a little bit. Joanie really wanted to see one so we biked over to another section of the park, looking for alligators and spoonbills (it's alligator habitat in the celery fields) but we didn't see any. On the way over, Sparky was describing the spoonbills, with their beautiful pink plumage that can be seen when they fly, when Joanie called out, "What's that? Is that one of them?" It sure was! It was too far away to take a photo, but Joanie was excited, we were close to maybe seeing some more. She was game for exploring further, so we did. We rode along another gravel path looking for more birds. We did see turtles and several blue herons....

We saw two wood storks, which was great...

AND--the best sight of all, which remains uncaptured on camera but forever captured in our minds, the best camera of all...was a roseate spoonbill, a mature one with GORGEOUS fuchsia plumage soaring over the swampy marsh. It was close enough to see how beautiful the plumage was, but too fast moving by us to whip out the camera. We were thrilled to see it. Sparky is putting a photo of the spoonbill she saw just outside the park a couple of weeks ago, so Joanie can see one close up.

We had a great ride today and a great time talking....Thanks, Joanie, for coming along with me today! Best wishes to you on your upcoming mission trip!

Until later......

Beaucoup Birds

Sarasota, FL        High:  72       Low:  52

Some people would not find the beauty in a rainy day...We think rainy days are awesome! First of all, you don't get that many in southwestern Florida. We've had a few sprinkles here and there, an eighth of an inch here and there, but it passes over so quickly, you forget that you had any rain at all during the day, the sun comes back out so fast.

We had a very steady rain late this morning. Eldy likes to sit out outside under the awning and both listen and watch the rain come down. Sparky does, too, if she sits long enough. But, as it was, Sparky crafted and Eldo researched places to go looking at model homes for fun on this very rainy day.....But first, it's very important that you eat a good breakfast before starting out your day, right? How about this breakfast at the Broken Egg restaurant in the Lakewood Ranch community, where Dick Vitale, announcer for ESPN basketball, hangs out when he's not announcing?


It may not be very good for you, but it tasted GREAT! Hey, there are lots of green peppers in the colorful potatoes.

He wasn't there today but lots of his fundraising stuff for pediatric cancer was....

After breakfast, we went looking for places to look at....We found a few.....We went to an area called River Strand in Heritage Harbor, a development made up of several subdivisions in Bradenton. The models were unremarkable today, but the wildlife and the grounds of Heritage Harbor WERE remarkable!

While Eldo waited for a salesperson to give us some information, Sparky looked out the back lanai and saw 1) two squadrons of white pelicans --yep, one of several names for a big flock of these birds.....hmm-m-m-m-m, does that make it a platoon?  At least 5 great blue herons, a pair of woodstorks and a bazillion ducks, and lots of anhingas or cormorants sunning themselves. WOW! She wants to live here! Right here in this end condo unit. No such luck, Sparky...it's the builder's model/office and it's already sold. No wonder, you had your own  semi-private golf course view with an estuary/bird sanctuary right outside your door!

"If you get any closer with that darn camera phone, you're asking for trouble!"

Does the pose of the wood stork standing on one leg remind you of anything?

Eldo says it reminds him of Sparky's water exercise stretch where she has to grab her ankle behind her and the exercise leader yells out, "POSE"...which means hold that stretch for a bit.....Sparky was actually standing on one leg with the knee tucked under just like the stork, only the pool current caught her off balance and she's starting to float away!

Back to nature, Sparky digresses (easily!)....These wood storks look like they are horny little devils with the little protrusions on their heads. Hm-m-m-m...wonder if it's mating season yet?

Did Sparky have her camera? NO-O-O-o-o-o-o.....Wahhhhhhnnnnhhhh! Just a few cell phone photos...sigh! Then we saw some Florida sandhill cranes at the development's park called Central Park.

Beaucoup birds today....Love it! Had fun looking around at the different neighborhoods, and then got to see a lot of nature too. A beautiful rainy day it was, and then the sun came out for the rest of the day!

The REAL Alligator Alley!

We've heard that the interstate highway 75 is "Alligator Alley" but we can't vouch for that. What we can vouch for is the stretch of highway 41 heading east towards the Everglades. After leaving Naples and driving east, about 20 miles out, start looking to your left at the Everglades canals and waterways and you'll start seeing them.

Last year about this time, we saw one right after another. This year, because the water is so high from all the rain they've had earlier this fall, the banks are not there for the alligators to sun themselves. We had to drive much farther east to start seeing them. And see them, we did!

One of our favorite spots to stop and learn some new things is the H.P. Williams boardwalk/park. There's usually a naturalist or two there and we always learn some new things we didn't know before...Did you know the ibis has a nickname--"Chokoloskee chicken"?  They move their heads like chickens when they feed...Chokoloskee is a town/island in Florida. How the two go together, I'm not sure, but the Calusa Indians and locals use to eat ibis as a source of food.  And drum roll, please!....They taste like....CHICKEN!

Did you know alligators never sleep?  They have a highly efficient thermal regulating system that shuts down their organs when it's cool, they go into a sort of coma state...BUT THEY'RE AWAKE. Did you know they don't eat humans unless they perceive them as food? Well, DUH, Sparky! What is meant by that is, if some dumb tourist (and it AIN'T Sparky!) throws some food to them and nothing happens, it's the next person who comes along who might be in trouble. If the alligator views THEM as a food source--they might come after you. The naturalist said they can run VERY fast for only a couple of seconds...BUT at speeds up to 30 m.p.h.! But most of the time, they are very docile. Are you SURE, guys? This one doesn't look like it, although he does look like he's smiling!

Alligators WOULD go after a little dog, because it's low to the ground, moves like prey so it would be viewed as a food source. A person swimming would be viewed as a food source....If something is in the range of its ground level viewing, all bets are off! So consider yourself forewarned! Hm-m-mm..I wonder if a kayak is perceived as a possible food source?

Next, we stopped off at the Big Cypress Information Center....it's got a nice boardwalk where you can see manatees, alligators sometimes, and various birds...the manatees are just starting to come in from the gulf waters. As the gulf cools down, the manatees moved inland....There were three, one of them a baby, but we just saw one...There's somewhere in Florida where you can swim with the manatees, I'd love to do that! It's probably not an ecologically sound idea, but it still sounds cool!

Wanna see some BIG alligators? Head to the Oasis Welcome Center....there are always big gators in the canals right outside the boardwalk at the visitor center...Here are some BIG BAD boys.....The one laying his head on the other just cracks me up with his expression! Sort of like, "Duh, what's up, people?"

Then we saw something else really cool at the Oasis boardwalk...a female anhinga (brown heads/necks are females, black heads are males) was swimming underwater at our feet under the boardwalk..Up she pops out onto a branch with a fish! And we watched her flip the fish several times until she got the head first into her mouth, then she swallowed it whole! That's how they eat fish--gotta have the head first go down.

After her tasty meal, she spread her wings to dry.....anhingas don't have oil in their feathers for buoyancy like ducks do...so they have to "hang out" to dry.....

On the way home, we saw some wood storks...I think they are endangered....but there seemed to be quite a few in the waterways and marshy swamps along that same highway 41...I'm so glad I got to see them and they didn't fly away as I approached!

It was quite a spectacular nature show today.......You can't beat the Everglades for some wonderful viewing experiences!