Palm and Sky

Miami, Florida.

Waterlillies

The Everglades.

River of Grass

It has been an incredibly dry winter in South Florida - areas that normally had shallow slowly moving water were dry. Lack of water concentrates wading birds and alligators. It is hard to find alligators in summer when there is plenty of rainfall. Then the river is fifty miles or more wide.

The clouds in the Everglades offer birders the chance of brief shade and the threat of thunderstorms. More than once the rain has been so fierce that we had to stop and wait because, even when no traffic, it was impossible to see to drive even slowly.



Here is a close up of the saw grass - soil is the driest I have seen, although I am far from an expert on the Everglades. I do know it very well as a visiting birder.

Pines in the Everglades

Many people think the Everglades is all swampland. With a few feet of elevation above sea level you get semi arid pine lands with an understory of palms. Wild turkeys can live here. We saw Eastern bluebirds, brown headed nuthatches here - both very rare in the Everglades. The bluebirds were a pair, hopefully nesting there.

We came back at night to hear barred owls, but only heard one nighthawk and a chuck will's widow (web picture added below). Both birds are nightjars which are nocturnal and which sleep on tree trunks or limbs during the day. Their pattern and coloration make them difficult to spot.



Night hawks actually nest in Manhattan and I have seen and heard them in mid summer around Central Park, Rockefeller Center and on Irving Place. I love hearing them - a most reassuring loud affirming "yhhaank."

Foliage Study

Marathon Key

Laughing Gulls

The Keys

Retaining Wall

Matheson Hammock.