March 30, 2014 – Everglades City and South Florida
Stopped to have lunch on US 41 on the way home, alligator bites!!
A fantastic airboat ride!
A Snail Kite with a snail for lunch .
The Snail Kite is a locally endangered species in the Florida Everglades, with a population of less than 400 breeding pairs, we were lucky to see this one I guess. The changing elevations of the water have messed up the amount of snails: as the snails go, so do the birds.
A Great Blue out over the Everglades.
A series of huts out on the Everglades.
A Great Blue looking around!
Back on the road, the sign says “Wildlife on the Road”.
Below are photos taken along the edge of US41! There is a canal all along the road, plants, animals and birds galore.
Tricolor.
Great Egret……………female Anhinga
We also saw an unfortunate 8 foot alligator, the Black Vultures now have enough food for the summer here.
Then I cried out “The studio of Clyde Butcher!” and I have always admired the work of “today’s Ansel Adams” but we never expected to see Clyde Butcher himself!
Mr. Butcher is seldom at his studio, but on the day we passed by he happened to be there giving an interview out in the Everglades!
We spent time viewing his amazing work, then walked through his small piece of the Everglades behind his studio.
Huge air plants.
Suddenly Clyde Butcher appeared!
I purchased some of his art and he autographed it!
We left and continued through the Everglades. Another Kite! This was a Swallow-tailed Kite. It was eating a mouse (below left) while he was flying around! It slowly disappeared down his gullet.
Isis is said in Ancient Egyptian mythology to have taken the form of a kite in various situations in order to resurrect the dead. I do not think that the mouse is coming back though.
And I then “flew” on home, having had an exciting, wonderful, refreshing, delightful, unexpected, restful, thrilling vacation!