Florida Day Four And Five. Key Largo Not Many Birds Here Either And A Lot More Mosquitoes.

 On Friday, during  recent my visit to South Florida,  after my delicious lunch at Alabama Jack’s , as  told  in my last blog,  I  continued my drive on  the scenic  Card Sound Road. It was about 2o miles to my lodging  in Key Largo. I was staying at a small but beautiful resort,  the Azul del Mar.  It is located at mm 104 Bayside.  ( Miles are marked from Key West mm 0  to mm 125 at the  town limits to Florida City.  The  Overseas Highway, US Route 1 divides the Keys into two parts the Atlantic  Ocean side or Oceanside  or the Florida Bay side  or Bayside). It was my first time at this resort.

 I explored the beautiful grounds of the resort.  Orchards bloomed under old live oak and gumbo-limbo trees.   It had a a small but beautiful white sand beach. It would be a great place to watch a sunset. 

I did my usual chores and office calls and waited for the heat to subside before I took an afternoon hike at the  Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park. 

I have been hiking in this park , on my yearly visits to South Florida,  for over five years now.  There are many posts about this wonderful little local park in my blog archives. A brief history,  this was  a big land development that  went  bankrupt and  and the pristine remaining habitat was saved by local environmentalists. This park contains the largest  tract of West Indian tropical hardwood  hammock in the United Stated. Many species of rare and protected trees and animals are found here. I love this park and have seen  much wildlife here over the years. I hoped to finally see some migratory birds on my hike. I have  on my past hikes. . 

I arrived at the park around 5 p.m. It was still hot and humid, much hotter than I expected. Temperatures were in the mid 80’s.  It seems both the wildlife and the humans were avoiding being active in the  heat and humidity. I saw no birds or people on the trail. 

The heat didn’t bother me so I continued my hike as planned. I walked  on the abandoned  roads of the proposed  land development under the thick canopy of hardwood trees. 

I saw no wildlife as I hiked. I  noticed many of the wildflowers I had seen during my January visit were no longer in bloom. The native frostweed flowers had gone  to seed,  

and the only flowers  I saw  blooming were  the invasive  gumweed. 

I wasn’t able to identify these red berries. 

The trail left the hardwood hammock and continued through groves of mangrove trees nearer the shore. I have seen many song birds on my hikes here in the past.  There was none on Friday. The Florida sun was intense but I didn’t mind the heat. However, the mosquitoes were beginning to bother me. And I did not apply any repellant before my hike. 

I was hoping to hike through some wetlands. I have seen wood storks and white ibises here in the past. However, there was a sign saying the trails were flooded. I wore sneakers so decided to hike back into the hardwood hammock.   I was now near 6 pm. and  the mosquitoes became  oppressive.  The literally swarmed me and covered my arms and legs. I got dozens of bites.  I quickly walked back to my SUV and ended my hike. I did not see a single bird!!! This was the  first this had happened  on my many hikes here.  

I decided to have an early dinner and stopped at a great Thai  restaurant, Nam Thai Restaurant and Sushi Bar.  I had great meals here on my prior trips and did again, starting tom yum pla soup 

a deliciously prepared  seafood pad Thai ‘

and one of the best slices  of Key lime pie I ever had for dessert. I was full and ready to watch a sunset. 

I retuned to my lodging and waited for the sun to set. It was worth the relaxing wait as the  refreshing breeze finally gave relief from the intense heat.

It  was a beautiful sunset. 

They all are here in Florida, back home in Pennsylvania and everywhere else on our wonderful world.

I retired early with the hope of seeing the elusive migratory birds at Dagny Johnson Park in the morning.  Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website with some more photos from my  hike and evening watching the beautiful Florida sunset. Florida Day Four Key Largo evening March 31 2023.

I was up early on Saturday, I wanted to watched the sun rise in Dagny Johnson as I had many times before. This time I was prepared, so I thought, for the  onslaught of mosquitoes. I covered every exposed parts of my body with  a thick layer of Ranger repellent. I arrived at the park and walked quickly through the hardwood hammock.  The soft calls of the northern cardinals were everywhere and I heard a few gray catbirds. However I didn’t see any of the birds. 

I made it to an inlet  but some clouds obscured the sunrise. It was still a beautiful scene. 

I walked back through the mangrove groves,

seeing these beautiful  blue dawn morning in bloom, 

and actually saw some birds,  first a red-bellied woodpecker high in a tree tops,

then  a palm warbler, 

and  a few prairie warblers. I was excited. 

I wore my waterproof  hiking boots this morning and I thought I could make it through the flooded areas of the trail. I thought wrong. However the waters were too deep , especially with the reports of crocodiles in the area. 

I had to enter the hardwood hammock again. The mosquitoes were waiting. They immediately swarmed me. At first the repellent worked, somewhat, and kept the hungry male mosquitoes from biting me. The swarms were still annoying. I withstood the assault and continued on my hike. I walked the trail and heard some more birds but was having a hard time focusing on my camera with the swarming mosquitoes.

And it would get worse. As the sun raised the temperature I began to sweat and my tee shirt got soaked. The mosquitoes were able to penetrate it and bite my back. I couldn’t  take photos even if I saw any wildlife. And I didn’t because  I was walking as fast as I could to get out of those mosquito infested wood. The swarms lessened as I approached the parking area. 

On my hike back I saw a couple walking  their dog who also complained about the mosquitoes. When I told them the mosquitoes were far worse further along the trail they headed back too.  I don’t often let the weather or insects keep me from my hiking but I will admit, the mosquitoes defeated me, badly, on this  morning.  Here is a link to a gallery with some more photos  from my  mosquito infested hike Florida Day Five Key Largo morning hike April 1 2023. 

I still got in over three miles of hiking, and I was hungry , so I stopped off at a remote  little restaurant I have heard about, the Hideaway, Here there was a refreshing ocean breeze, and no mosquitoes so I enjoyed a wonderful breakfast. I headed back to  my resort,  showered, packed and was soon on the road again. This time to Marathon, with a couple of stops on the way. 

I always befriended animals and have said many a good word for them. Even to the least-loved mosquitoes I gave many a meal, and told them to go in peace.

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