Florida Day Two: Ospreys And Storks In The Everglades

As I always do when traveling, I awoke early my first day in Florida City, Florida and was driving to the Everglades in the morning twilight. It is about a ten mile drive from my hotel to the park entrance. I decided to drive to Flamingo located at the southernmost part of the park. It is about a 38 mile drive. It is always a peaceful feeling driving through this vast desolate river of grass early in the morning. 

The almost full but now  waning gibbous moon added to this feeling. 

I had hoped to watch the sunrise through the Bald Cypress forest  near the  Pahayokee Overlook. However I had forgotten the distance to the overlook didn’t get there when the sun rose.  Instead I watched the sun rise from the side of the road.  No matter where I see it I am always filled with awe as the sun appears on the eastern horizon.

I continued onward,  driving through the vast emptiness of the Everglades. As I did white egrets, red-winged blackbirds and great blue herons could be see flying above  the wetlands.  There was little traffic on the highway. There are a number of places of interest along the way to Flamingo  but I only stopped at one. It is one of my favorite places to visit in the Everglades., Mzarek Pond.

This little pond alongside the road attracts many wading birds and it had not disappointed me on any of my visits to the Everglades.  It didn’t this time either. Standing almost stoically near the shore of the pond was this wood stork. 

It stood motionless as I approached. It allowed me to take  photographs while it seemed to just take in the beauty of its surroundings. 

And beautiful they were. The waters of the small pond reflected the cloudless deep blue sky. 

Sitting in  a tree above the wood stork were two brown pelicans, enjoying the morning sunshine. 

Cormorants, egrets and great blue herons flew over and around the pond and in the surrounding woods I saw cardinals, catbirds, this mocking bird,

and even a pair of pileated woodpeckers. This quaint little ponds seems to always provide  spectacular beauty  , both in quality and quantity. 

After taking in the tranquil,peaceful scene at Mrazek pond  I drove to the visitor center at Flamingo. Flamingo is located at the southernmost tip  of the Everglades and the continental United States, it has a marina , campground, hiking , kayaking and canoeing trails. 

It is also one of the few places one can see both manatees and crocodiles. I was excited when a ranger at the visitor center told me there were two large crocodiles sighted near the marina.  

I quickly walked toward the marina but there were no crocodiles or manatees around. However, I saw a woman with her camera looking up into a palm tree. She had a camera and so I had to investigate.  looking up I saw this beautiful osprey. 

I soon learned it was a male. The female with the camera pointed out his nest on a pole a short distance away. In it I saw this cute chick pop of its head, I also  learned there was another chick in the nest. 

Mommy soon showed up with a fish and I got hundreds of photographs of her feeding her young. I was a wonderful way to spend the morning. 

Daddy watched from afar but finally decided to join in for some breakfast. I watched this osprey family interact for about 45 minutes.  I hope to share some more thoughts and photographs in another blog post. Here is a link to a gallery with more photographs of these beautiful birds. Florida Day Two Flamingo Everglades ospreys March 2020. 

I left the osprey and got a water and coffee at the little shop  in the marina. And then continued my visit to Flamingo. Here is a link to some more photographs from my drive to Flamingo.  Florida Day Two Everglades  Drive To Flamingo March 11 2020.

“In travel, in the beauty of nature, we touch the eternity – the beauty of our soul.”
― Amit Ray

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