Why Do I Listen to Bill?

Why do I listen to Bill? The other day he asked what I wanted to do - then continued "I thought maybe we'd..." (so why did he ask me????) "try to find that geocache at Estero Bay Preserve." We had gone one other day, but the mud and water (and the fact that Bill had printed out the wrong directions) kept us from finding it.

Our hike started out fine. We had the correct directions and were headed down the right path. We both had sprayed with bug spray and Bill said we would not need it on the trail and to leave it in the car. (See blog title.)

This is not a pond - it's the $%$#&*! trail!! Under that layer of water was black mud - the kind that sucks your shoes off with each step. (See blog title.) And naturally, the bugs were ferocious! The hungry black flies were so thick, Bill had to break off a branch and swat his back as he walked. I hate when they buzz around your ears - but buzz they did - non-stop! Bill said the mud and bugs were "incentive to keep moving" (See blog title.)

The dead trees in the background are Melaleuca - an aggressive invader that spreads rapidly, destroying habitats by converting beautiful sawgrass marshes, wet prairies, and aquatic sloughs into impenetrable paperbark thickets. It was introduced to Southern Florida from Australia in the early 1900's to help dry out the swamps so they could be developed and is now a huge ecological threat - especially in the Everglades.

Here's the really awful part: One Melaleuca tree can store an estimated 20-million seeds. They are released when the trees are stressed, so many of the methods used to try and kill the trees may actually cause them to spread.

There were a couple of Plovers on high ground. At first I thought they were Killdeer - but they were much too small. I sent the picture to my sister as she is much better with the shore bird identification than I am and she says it is a Semipalmated Plover. Thanks Beth!

That's me at ground zero looking for the cache. The boardwalk was around 15 feet from a huge tidal pond - and we were there at high tide - so guess what I was walking in - up to my ankles. Bill finally spotted it through the deck slats. At least the water washed some of the mud off my shoes.

The cache was in an ammo box. We signed the log, replaced the box under the deck and headed back. I had hoped to find ducks on the pond - but not a one. (Maybe the bugs ate them.)

We went back on a different trail. Yes, it was plenty muddy - and slippery - but there was not near as much water so at least I knew what I was stepping on. Have I mentioned the smell? Black mud stinks!

This is a hog trap. The feral hogs are another big problem in the preserves as they dig up huge areas looking for food. I tried to get Bill to pose for a picture inside the trap - but at this point he was afraid I'd leave him there (and I just might have!).

We arrived back at the car hot, thirsty, dirty & smelly - but glad to have finally found the illusive Estero Bay Cache. This cache was special to us because we met a geocacher last year at ground zero. He was looking for the cache around the deck where we were sitting looking at the birds around the pond. At that point we were not into geocaching - and meeting and talking to him was one of the factors that got us started.

Outside the preserve, these beautiful Wood Storks and Great Egrets were waiting for us. A nice way to end our walk.

So to answer my question "Why do I listen to Bill?" - I listen, because I love him and we have amazing adventures every day. I am so-o-o lucky!

Lots of Adventures!

On a recent trip to the Sarasota area, I saw this sign in a business complex and could not resist taking a picture.

Sandhill Crane Area.

Sure enough, just down the road we saw several Sandhill Cranes brunching on seeds and insects along the side of the road.

Sandhill Cranes are huge birds - over 4-feet tall. The crane in the foreground with the bright red forehead is a mature adult while the smaller bird in the back is a youngster. The endangered Florida cranes live here year-around and because they are protected, the numbers are increasing nicely.

The very endangered Whooping Cranes look like white Sandhill Cranes and will probably become extinct during my children's lifetime as there are only about 200 birds left. I would love to see and photograph one, but will probably never get that chance.

Another endangered bird is the Wood Stork. I've seen quite a few around town as they are passing through on their way to their winter breeding grounds. Last year, many storks nested at Corkscrew Swamp, but they fear the storks will not return this year because there has not been enough rain.

The Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is one of our favorite places to visit. (Thank you Beth and Warren for introducing us to this beautiful place!!) The 2-mile boardwalk weaves through the largest remaining stand of ancient bald cypress trees in North America. Every time we visit we see something new - and our recent visit was no exception!

As we entered the trail, two deer crossed right in front of us. We knew this walk was going to be special!

We saw several raccoons along the trail. This one was scampering down from high in a tree.

Our goal this year is to photograph more of the smaller birds here in Florida - not an easy task. This Pine (or is it a Palm?) Warbler hid in the shadows of the tree.

I still love the larger birds - and they are easier to see, identify and photograph. This is a black-crowned Night Heron.

The Little Blue Heron is all white as a youngster, becoming blotched with blue-gray as it changes to its adult plumage. This little guy must have been bothered by the mosquitoes.

As I was leaning over the railing taking this picture, Bill yelled "There is a fox heading right at you!" Next thing I know, something runs right between my legs - hitting my ankles. It was a grey fox that was spooked by an alligator and was running down the boardwalk at 80-miles an hour! I've never seen a grey fox and would loved to have had the presence of mind to quickly get a picture - but I didn't and he was moving so fast, it probably wouldn't have turned out anyhow. He ran quite a distance before jumping off the boardwalk (obvious by the screams, followed by loud laughing and talking further down the boardwalk) and several groups got the rare opportunity to see him.

This Blue-gray Gnatcatcher has an almost comical, puzzled look.

I like this picture of a Gray Catbird better. He was definitely posing for me!

This is an Eastern Phoebe. A volunteer on the trail pointed him out to us. They are just arriving here from their summer in the northern United States and Canada.

We always see lots of butterflies at Corkscrew. This one was small - only a couple of inches from wingtip to wingtip. I may have to get more guide books so I can identify them.

The Brown Anole were everywhere! I love the way this cute little guy blends in with the lichen on the wood railing.

There were lots of Bald Cypress (sometimes called Swamp Cypress) with their round, green seed cones. Bald Cypress trees are deciduous - losing their needles in the winter - which is why they are "bald."

We did not see very many wading birds on this trip to Corkscrew - but we did see a couple of Anhinga - large black waterbirds that live here year-round. This one was drying his wings in the sun.

My book says Anhinga are usually quiet - but that is not my experience. They have a loud, raspy call - and this one was making lots of noise!

One of the guides at Corkscrew told us to look for Sandhill Cranes in one of the yards near the sanctuary. She told us the owner feeds them and they return every year. Sure enough - we found the yard and the cranes.

For our next adventure on an especially hot morning this week, we decided to find a Geocache that we knew was hidden at the Estero Bay Preserve State Park. We had a Travel Bug that we brought all the way from Colorado to put in a cache here in Florida.

Last year when we hiked at Estero Bay, the dry trails were fairly well marked and maintained and we met a geocacher locating a cache on a platform beside a huge, picturesque pond. That's where we decided to put our bug. We had already been to the gym and had our workout for the day and since it was hot, we wanted just a short - maybe a mile - hike before heading to the pool. We knew the area - so I didn't even download the trail map. I also did not look at the geocache map. All I had were the cache coordinates.

We happily headed north even though the GPS indicated the cache was west. After all - we knew where we were going and we were sure the trail turned to the left up ahead.

Long story short, we quickly lost the trail and found ourselves hiking in high weeds and black, smelly mud that made disgusting sucking sounds with each step. The black flies, mosquitoes and those nasty bugs that dive bomb into your ears were terrible! Still we figured the trail must be just ahead - so we kept going. It was hot and the humidity must have been 200%.

As miserable as the walk turned out to be - we saw some great birds, making it all worthwhile. This is a Pileated Woodpecker - one of my favorite birds and the first one I've ever seen completely in the wild - outside a preserve. He was gorgeous!

We never made it to the picturesque lake of our memory - but did see this lone Pied-billed Grebe on a smaller pond.

We often see Loggerhead Shrikes here in Florida. This one was keeping a keen lookout atop a dead snag.


We watched several Red-shouldered Hawks but they insisted on sitting between my camera and the sun (which by now was high in the sky and even hotter!) so all my pictures are dark. I removed the background in this picture so you can see the bird.

Look at all the White Pelicans - returning for the winter. It was beautiful when we looked up - but we spent most of the time looking down to make sure we did not step on any snakes.

We finally found the cache. The coordinates we had were not for the one we remembered at all - but were for an easy one just a short walk west of the entrance on a well-marked, dry trail. We placed the travel bug, picked up a Geocoin and a Jeep Bug - and headed back to the car - where we spotted a beautiful Bald Eagle. He took off before I had a chance to get a picture - but we got a great look at a beautiful bird.

By this time it was noon - we were hot, wet, dirty and tired - but I was thrilled with our glimpse of wild Florida - one I would not have seen if I had remembered a trail map. I'm taking one next trip anyway.