Blue Goose ~ Day 235

January 17, 2015 ~ Everglades National Park (Flamingo), FL to Miami, FL

Woke up and laughed at the bold vultures edging near the picnic tables and tents.

Everglades NP - Flamingo Campground - FL

Waking in the van (as I have mentioned), I watch the eastern sky pale, turn rosy and then golden before the sun rises. And some nights (without clouds or ambient light) the stars and moon shine through the windows. Also, I never leave anything behind since I just drive away. I have no wet dewy tent  to pack.  What other advantages? Simplicity...no carrying and trucking and hauling stuff into motels or tents.

An eagle daily harasses the nesting ospreys near the contact station, and the gentleman in attendance told me that sometimes several ospreys will arrive to help drive the eagle off.

It was a sunny lovely morning and I stopped first at Eco Lake. Two other birders showed up and we eventually saw Parula, Prairie, Palm, Cape May, Black and White and Yellow-rumped Warblers, a pair of mating Red-shouldered Hawks, Mockingbirds, vireos.... As I drove out of the park, I stopped at ponds and hammocks and overlooks. It was warming and mosquitoes started. Fortunately, I found a wet-wipe insect repellant sample since I had run out of spray.

Everglades NP - Flamingo Campground
(vultures picking through last night's stuff)

Alligators, coots, ducks, wading birds, with raptors and vultures overhead in the wide sky... When I got to the park entrance I went to the VC and asked about a bird log; the guy pulled out a worn spiral notebook where I saw that Purple Gallinules and been seen at the Anhinga Trail, five miles back in the park.


So I went there, along with hundreds of others, and saw more birds than in all the rest of the park. Again, there was a boardwalk which is really by far the easiest way to see swamps and marshes except by kayaking. My bird-finding instincts kicked in as I went to the end of a short side trail overlook and saw two Purple Gallinules messing and moving in the water plants. What gorgeous birds! and a lifer for me.

Purple Gallinule - Anhinga Trail - Everglades NP - FL

I eventually made it to Ess and Ger's AFTER I first went to their address using 104th Street instead of 104 Avenue. My gas warning light was on; the traffic had really really increased; I was hot, tired, sweaty and smelled of mosquito repellant; my head was starting to spin....

Everglades NP with dwarf cypress

I finally found their house; they both welcomed me and told me to just park on their lawn. Are there other homes in Miami where people park on the front lawn and a BMW is in the single driveway?

Ess and I sat with a glasses of cold white wine on her own private little sanctuary, her backyard deck, before Ger took us to a delightful little French bistro not far from their neighborhood. I had Delices de la Mer; Ess had mussels and Ger had steak with mashed parsnips....all scrumptious.

For the next four nights I slept in a bed.

Alligators in the Everglades - FL