Big Cypress National Preserve part one

[urbpan]

As it so happens a naturalist friend of mine was also in Florida that week visiting relatives. We live just a few miles from each other but hadn't managed to get together since the April Urban Nature Walk. We were each on opposite sides of South Florida so she suggested we meet up in the middle, at Big Cypress National Preserve. This picture is taken at the Oasis Visitor Center. Theres a wide canal between the road and the building, with a nice boardwalk and fence. Down in the canal there are many many alligators.



Also dozens of Florida gar, floating eerily motionless in the water.


At the far end of the boardwalk, a tree bristles with double-crested cormorants.


Among the many (dozens?) of gators was this giant, with a broad head nearly 18 inches wide, and a chink in his armor just over his right shoulder.


We decided to go for a hike in the Big Cypress Swamp! The trail was marked, but at certain spots it was anyone's guess where to walk!


We followed well-worn ruts in the swamp, which in many places had filled with crystal-clear water.


Seriously. Crystal clear. It would be hard to convince us to walk shin-deep in a New England swamp, I can promise you that.


But we had our sticks (lent to us by the nature center staff) and a lot of gumption, so we hiked in a good long distance.


My dad strongly resists any implication that he is handicapped. He probably wouldn't have taken a stick if we hadn't. (We watched a short film about the swamp before the hike, which convinced us that a stick would be a helpful thing to have.)


I tried tracking in the few patches of mud there were--I don't recognize these tiny pug marks, do you?


A string of jewels dangling in front of this palmetto is the wrapped prey of a spider.

END CAROUSEL ONE