Everglades Sunset
Everglades Sunset It’s time to leave the Everglades; a land of great contrasts, savage wildlife and serene sunsets. Hope I’ll come back again someday.
Everglades Sunset It’s time to leave the Everglades; a land of great contrasts, savage wildlife and serene sunsets. Hope I’ll come back again someday.
Florida Manatee OK, this image, well, sucks. Yet, it was the only Florida Manatee image of the trip. It seems only proper to post it since the Manatees are so cool.
Florida Redbelly Turtle Some folks have asked about alligator food. Well, this turtle is one of their favorite snacks. They can crush the shell and their digestive system can digest all the parts of the turtle.
Raccoon Wild Everglade raccoons greeted our air boat. These guys roamed around an old native American house site which is frequented regularly. They seemed thinner than the fat raccoons seen around the farms in Illinois. Again, the easy to carry Nikon 1 V1 and the 70-300mm lens allowed me to capture a nice image while still not overloading the air boat. This image is very likely the nicest raccoon image I have ever captured.
Juvenile Brown Pelican This Brown Pelican was just hanging around a path up to the ocean. He must be very accustomed to people. Notice the 50mm f1.4 lens; a great lens to control depth of field, particularly if you can get close. This guy was such a ham; it was as if he was a trained pelican model.
Anhinga Glamor The Anhinga can be glamorous too. Sometimes you just get lucky. Capturing the reflection of the clouds in the water with a bit of backlight was too good to pass up. It definitely made the entire hike worthwhile. And, I am continually impressed with the versatility of the Nikon 1 V1 and 70-300mm lens combination.
The Anhinga actually swims underwater using its wings with just its head and neck out of the water. This image show it drying its wings. They’ll stand in this position for quite some time. It’s hard to see from this image, but the Anhinga has a wingspan of about 4 feet and ranges between 32 to 36 inches in length. Their preferred diet is fish, but will also eat water snakes, tadpoles, frog eggs and young alligators. Of course, in the Everglades, they too could be prey to alligators.
In Shark Valley, Everglades NP was this Little Blue Heron. I had never before seen one in person and in the wild. What’s so amazing to me; along the foot path in the park, the birds, including this one, seem totally unconcerned by us Homo Sapiens passing by. Well, he was across a small stream, but still.