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Birding and Hiking in Grassy Waters Preserve

For a change of pace, Tony and I hiked in Grassy Waters on Saturday.  The Owahee Trail follows the head waters of the everglades and the source of fresh waters for palm beach county.  While we have never seen the quantity of bird life at Grassy Waters that we do at Wakodahatchee and Green Cay, we usually see a variety of both animals and birds. 

 As we started our hike, we ran into a lady with a dog (which is a no no) and two small children making lots of noise.  She mentioned how she was disappointed because she hadn't seen anything, I was hoping that it was because all the wildlife was scared from all their commotion! 

 

The 8 mile hike did not disappoint.   We did not see a lot of birds, but it's the quality, not the quantity that was important.  Grassy Waters also borders Mt. Trashmore and the most prevalent birds there are the Black and Turkey Vultures, floating high on the thermals over the trash piles.  You always want the wind to be blowing in the opposite direction of your hike and cooler days are a must!    

Pileated Woodpecker

Starting our hike seeing normal birds for the area, a couple Red Shouldered Hawks, a couple woodpeckers, a graceful Wood Stork flying overhead, two Red Bellied Woodpeckers and  a Pileated Woodpecker flew in from the swamp too- you know, the woody woodpecker kind.  I never even knew what it was until I came home and looked at my pictures! 

  

Belted Kingfisher

A couple of Belted Kingfishers were teasing me, a skittish, elusive bird that is very hard to get a good picture of because they are always flying off in the opposite direction!  Of course we saw the usual wading birds, a couple of Great White Egrets, a couple Tricolor Herons, a Little Blue Heron, both a white juvenile and an adult blue one and a Limpkin.  We also saw some waterfowl, Coots, Morehens, and Ducks.

 

  

Towards the end of the hike we saw about 100 Ibis starting to roost for the evening, filling the trees along the canal.  

 

 

 However, our hike held several surprises for us.   We took a half a mile detour down a boardwalk and in the distance near the marshes, we saw a Bald Eagle!  We watched him for 15 minutes or so before he flew off.   It was actually the 2nd one I had seen  this week!

  

Bald Eagle

 We also saw a mysterious raptor near the M canal which I am still trying to identify, it was almost the size of an eagle and soared right over our heads! 

Mysterious Raptor

 

 

The great thing about Grassy Waters are the other animals that you can see.  Besides turtles and alligators

that line the canals, we saw 3 separate sightings of raccoons.





 We noticed a mother and her 2 babies walking down the path right towards us immediately after we had seen the mysterious raptor. 

  

Because we were stationary, she didn't really know we were there, so I had ample opportunity to click away.  They were so cute!  

 

 

We also spotted a large river otter.  While we couldn't watch him play in the canal, we did get a close encounter with him before he disappeared in the brush and the water. 



River Otter

And of course, what is any hike in Florida if you don't see a snake!  Very happy when they aren't poisonous and I see them before they see me!    A large 5 black snake greeted us near the end of the hike. 

 

 

 As we drove out the parking lot, we saw the most beautiful bird in Florida, a Rosette Spoonbill, sitting on a pipe at the entrance to the dump, guess he was trying to spruce up the entrance! 

 

Florida has so many parks and preserves, Tony and I have fun checking them all out to see what treasures they will reveal. 

National Parks, Here we come!

Once again we are on the road again to visit our nation's National Parks.  This time we are visiting three of our favorite parks, Glacier, the Grand Tetons and my all-time favorite, Yellowstone.   The first time we visited Yellowstone, I fell in love with the bizarre geothermal features, the diversity of the landscapes and the wildlife.  We visited there two years ago, but this time I will have my monster lens, so all the wildlife will look much closer.  I can hardly wait to try it out! 

We start our trip flying into Jackson Hole and then immediately drive for a couple days to Kalispell to pick up our Florida friends, Connie and Bill Wagner.  We decided to take the scenic route, driving through both the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone for a quick glance of things to come. 

We started the first morning out, driving through the National Elk Refuge, just outside of Jackson, WY.  While we saw loads of ground squirrels, we did see a single elk.  However, on the highway side of the refuge we spotted a pair of Trumpeter Swans with 3 chicks, known as cynets,  swimming in the wetlands just outside of town.  Once on the endangered species list, the Trumpeter Swans have made a comeback and can be seen numerous places throughout Wyoming and Montana.  This is the first time I have seen them outside of Alaska. 

We took a little side trip in the Tetons to look for moose at the Jackson Lake Lodge.  I love the view from the windows and patio of the lodge.  I was disappointed to see that there was a haze over the valley and the Tetons themselves were shrouded in a haze.  Smoke from the Washington State fires had drifted over the Tetons.  We arrived too late in the morning to see any moose, they were sleeping amongst the willows in the acres between the lodge and the lake.  On our return trip we need to stop by at dusk to check them out.  However, I still found a photo moment to document our trip.

Next stop, Old Faithful Inn.  How great is this that we can just drop by for lunch, and at the same time take in an Old Faithful eruption too! 

Old Faithful is the flagship geyser of the park, a magnificent geyser and reliable as it can be counted on to erupt every 60 to 110 minutes.  Old Faithful eruptions are between 105 and 184 feet high.  Watching the crowds gather for the eruptions, it reminds me of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”!  Every 60 minutes there are tons of people sitting around the geyser waiting for it to blow.

Old Faithful erupting

Next stop, Butte, Montana.  The countryside on the way to Butte was nice.  Butte itself is a large town for the area, comparatively speaking.  We arrived on Sunday night and the place seemed devoid of people,  We found a place for dinner and then tomorrow we will do it all again on our way to Kalispell, Montana.

Peru bound, but we haven't made it out of Ft. Lauderdale!

Today is the first day of our 15 day Peruvian adventure.  We have been packing for weeks, been innoculated against a bunch of diseases and have a whole pharmacy of prescription drugs for the trip.  Our friend, Connie and Bill Wagner are our traveling companions.  The day started off great, beautiful day, made great time to the airport, boarded on time and off we go- right!  Wrong!!

Only once before have I been on a flight where they had to kick people off, today makes it two.   I guess flying is like the LIFO inventory method, last in, first out and the last  people who walked on, 5 of them had to get off.  The plane would not have enough gas to make it to Peru with a full flight.  As Crissy would say "REALLY!". 

After 45 minutes of splitting up families, shuffling people, passports and luggage we were finally ready.  Doors closed, we were good to go, only an hour late.  However, the air was getting a little stale, must be sitting the sitting on the runway counting passengers 20 times.  No, something to do with the air intake, we wouldn't be able to breathe in flight - now we have a mechanical  problem!  After 15 minutes everyone has to get off the plane.

Finally a replacement plane has come, we just boarded and I'm keeping my fingers crossed we will be off a mere two and a half hours late.  At least everyone has been pleasant and we have been with friends making lemonade.  Peru bound once more!  Let's hope the taxi is waiting for us. 

Time for a Florida Road Trip!

When we returned to Florida at the end of October, our mail was inundated with Hard Rock Casino mail, offering Tony, “The Gambler”, free play dollars and our first free night offer at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.  The winds had been terrible the previous couple of days, creating huge waves and beach erosion, so it was no fun at the beach.  All this tempting literature from the Hard Rock and the desire to see some different scenery, helped shape a road trip.  We decided to travel to Everglades National Park and then break up the return trip with a night at the casino.

We hadn’t been to Everglades NP for several years and had only visited in the summer.  I was interested to see what wildlife was there in the fall and winter with the “great bird migration” just starting.  We headed south to our favorite area right inside the park, the Anhinga Trail.  As we made our way into the parking lot, we were greeted by 30 Black Vultures and warning signs indicating that they WILL damage your vehicle. 

 

 The park service provided tarps and

 bungee cords for you to cover your vehicle. 
 Evidently the vultures pick at anything rubber; windshield wipers and the weather stripping around the windows, many people covered their vehicles.  Tony covered ours, but watching the vultures, you would see them test the tarps and hop around the parking lot and target any vehicle that owners neglected to cover.  The vultures actually were quite comical and even more so when returning owners were chasing them off the uncovered vehicles!

We had visited the Anhinga Trail many times in the summer, where we would see many huge alligators.  However, we learned since the water level in the Everglades is still high, the alligators were nowhere to be seen. 



Anhinga along the trail

We were initially met along the trail by a double-crested cormorant that had just caught lunch, something that looked like an eel. 

The cormorant, a swimming bird that catches fish, struggled with its prey in the water until it finally downed it in two big gulps.  We saw a number of blue, green and tri colored herons in addition to the anhingas and cormorants. 

We decided to go directly to the Flamingo Visitor Center at the end of the park road, which was 40 miles from the entrance.  From the Flamingo marina they had Mangrove Boat Tours that would take you back into the everglades.  Arriving at the marina we once again were met with more black vultures! 

Vultures migrate to South Florida in the winter from October to March.  Experts say the black and turkey vultures, members of the stork family with wingspans of nearly 6 feet, come to the subtropics in search of carrion, but we know better, they are looking for windshield wiper blades!
 

Looking out over the Florida Bay we also were able to see hundreds of White Pelicans that had just migrated there for the winter. 

 
I had only seen them once before in Cancun.  They are beautiful birds in flight, looking similar to a Wood Stork.  In flight, you can see the White Pelican’s black tipped wings as they glide gracefully just above the water.  They have the second largest wingspan of all birds in North America, 9 feet; second only to the California Condor.

However, I was most surprised by the number of Osprey that were there. 

White Pelicans watching Osprey carrying away their catch.

 

Between the Florida Bay, the marina and the mangroves, I saw more Osprey there than any other birding location that I have been to in Florida.  Every time I looked around, it seemed an Osprey was carrying off a fish it had caught. 



Another good catch!

Osprey landed on a tree near the marina.

Two hours later he was still eating the same fish!

  Osprey is the only raptor whose diet consists solely of fish.  While eagles, hawks and other raptor eat small mammals too, the Osprey never strays from sushi.  We were really fortunate to have several of the Osprey hang around the marina where we were waiting for the boat tour and pose.

We also saw several manatees in the marina, our first of the season.  Manatees have just started returning for the winter, and a couple females with one year calves were hanging out in the marina. Unfortunately to water was not clear, so all we got to see were their noses!

Manatee mother and calf

Our boat tour was very interesting.  As we made our way down the narrow canals, we were able to see two small crocodiles, my first in the wild. 

Evidently the Everglades is the northern extreme for crocodiles and southern extreme for alligators.  We also saw a number of White Ibis in the mangroves.  The Ibis is the last bird to leave when hurricanes approach and the first to return. 

We learned some interesting facts about the flora of the mangrove swamp.  I had never heard of the Manchineel tree, otherwise known by the Spaniards as manzanilla de la muerte or the “little apple of death”.  Everything about this tree is so toxic, not only is its apple like fruit poisonous, but its leaves and bark is so caustic, you receive chemical like burns just by brushing up against the leaves or trunk.  Even water dripping over the leaves, can cause burns on your skin if it drips on you.  It is said that Ponce de Leon was struck by an arrow that had been poisoned with Manchineel sap during battle with Florida natives, dying shortly thereafter.  Poor Ponce de Leon, he came to Florida to find the Fountain of Youth but found the Tree of Death instead!

The mangrove trees themselves are interesting too.  Mangrove swamps protect coastal areas from erosion and storm surge from hurricanes.  They tolerate a broad range of fresh/brackish/saltwater and expand by massive intertwining of aerial roots. 

Their seeds are also unique as they form a propagule (a ready-to-go seedling).  The mature propagule drops into the water and can remain dormant-floating for over a year.  Once a propagule arrives in a suitable location, it can start to root within an hour. 

Our day at the Everglades was full and with sunset approaching, we made our way to the Hard Rock Hotel.  While we had been to the casino many times, but we had never stayed overnight.  The room was quite nice and it was great not to have to drive the additional hour home. 

We had a great dinner at the Hard Rock Café, bringing back memories of past vacations.  Christina loved to go there whenever we were vacationing when she was a child.  After dinner, off we went to lose money at the slot machines.  Ultimately we retired early before we lost more than our free room would have cost.  Guess we will just have to settle for winning thousands of pretend money on our “Jackpot Party Casino” game on our cell phones! 

Happy Halloween, It's one of my Favorite Occasions!

I have always loved Halloween!  I’m sure it started with the fact that I love CANDY!  M&M’s Milky Ways, Snickers, malted milk balls, candy corn, I love it all!  Easter is my second favorite, always love all the great stuff that the easter bunny brought me in my Easter Basket!  Easter is more gourmet, but  Halloween is pure bulk.  Who doesn't remember coming home, dumping out all your treasures and picking out the good stuff.  The secret was to hide the Milky Ways, Snickers and 3 Musketeers before my dad could get them!

However, I think this love for the holiday is more a product of my upbringing, with candy just being a bonus.  My family was always looking for an excuse have fun, to be out of character and become someone different for a day.  Going through these old pictures, I found these wonderful reminders of Halloweens gone by and how I am a product of my roots.

My Aunt & Uncles and Cousins, the "Down the House" crew.

 My mom was a fantastic seamstress and initially made all our costumes, which were passed down to all the kids.


Carol & Barbara, my cousins with Jo Ann in the famous clown costume that everyone wore.  Millions of yards of bias tape were used for the white edging on the sleeves, feet and neck.  I also wore Carols outfit when I was older.

 


Clown Christina with Ya Yia and Pa Pou

 

 

 





Crocus Drive neighbors who just want to Trick or Treat, not have their picture taken!!!
Leclairs, Pararas & Jones

 

Being an excellent seamstress myself, Christina had many costumes over the years too. 



Rainbow Brite.  When I made this costume it cost a fortune, just for the materials.  Vange had bought me a "number" and I won $45, the exact amount I spent on the costume!  Lucky costume!

 

Christina the good witch!

 

I was room mother every year and also would get into the act.



Mom and Daughter Mini Mouse's

However, it appears that we didn’t need Halloween as the only excuse for that great escape.  In my early years, my brother Bob loved Cowboys and Indians and my parents enabled him by purchasing him a genuine indian headdress, which he frequently wore. 

 



Brother Bob in full headdress

 

 

 

However, we didn't see to stop at Halloween.  We later used our Campouts as the perfect opportunity to have fun all our participants get into character.

 



The Pirate Campout
 

 

 





The Greek Olympics Campout
 

 





The luau

And the craziest of all, the Wild, Wild West Campout.

Finding gold at McGriff's Mine

 

Of course, campouts made for great family portraits!

But there is always one in the group who just goes a little over the top.  For us that is my brother Mike who looks for any excuse to take it to the extreme.

 

Mike top
 Steve, Ed and Salami on the bottom



Another Greek God, two in one family and a goddess to boot!



Hold onto your head, you don't want to be another shrunken head around Mike's neck!



Who buys a fake butt!

 

Captain Jack Sparrow and the Zombie

 

But as I said, its in our roots, so I guess we can't be totally blamed.

  For look who is our role model!

Ya Yia, the Cyclops!

So for all you lucky people who get to go out trick or treating, have a great time and be safe.  Oh, and save the M & M's for me!