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NATURE ALI'S
GRAND ADVENTURE - Day 19 - July 8, 2009
My intent
today was to bird Shark Valley as recommended by my friend Ellen. I was looking
forward to seeing the so-far elusive Limpkin. I saw a sign for the loop road off
of Tamiami Trail through the Big Cypress National Preserve so I figured that
would be a good road to go on… not… did see some huge alligators, but the
pavement soon gives way to a dirt road that was filled with water in many
places. It made for 30 miles of slow cautious driving with no really opportunity
to bird unless you count the five-pound mosquitoes that were capable of carrying
off small children. Needless to say I was very glad to be driving in an enclosed
vehicle.
Speaking of
vehicles, my truck “Xena” is a hybrid Ford Escape, and she has taken me so many
places that no car would ever have been able to go. I was continuously
destroying the suspension on my street cars, so I knew an SUV was something I
really needed but could not justify the ecological footprint of something that
only would get 15-20 miles per gallon, so I bought this truck in October 2007.
While the price tag is still high, I am ever so happy to have this truck and the
freedom it affords me. Besides, I am getting an average of over 30 mpg on this
trip which is quite a savings.
Back to the
adventure; I bought a National Parks Passport which you can get stamped at all
federal lands, but since I arrived too late to get it stamped at the lower
Everglades and my 30-mile detour had me miss Shark Valley entirely I headed
toward the Gulf entrance to Everglades. Stopping at the Big Cypress office
first, I met this woman who was such a doll, enthusiastic and helpful and she
really seemed interested in my journey. I got my passport stamped and headed off
to Everglades.
The fellow at
the visitor’s center was such a polar opposite from the woman at Big Cypress, he
did not seem one bit interested in helping, just grunted where the passport
station was and answered my questions with very quick answers, disappointing.
Anyway, I saw some cool fish swimming in the marina where you can get 2 hour
tours by boat of the islands nearby. The price was listed as about thirty
dollars for either trip, which was intriguing but I had too much ground to cover
to stop and even think about taking that much time out of my day.
I left
Everglades to find Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp which I had heard so many wonderful
things about especially the prospect of seeing Pileated Woodpeckers in numbers.
I found the sanctuary to be everything I had expected plus more. I stopped and
visited with the Center Director, Ed, his assistant Laurie and other staff. They
were most helpful in my quest for answers about running the Center. (I am
working on the plans for a Center back at the Kern River Preserve.) I took off
down their 2.2 mile long boardwalk and took every detour that was offered. What
an amazing walk. While I did find my much sought after Pileated, there were not
too many other birds out in mid day but the walk was very pleasant and the
weather while muggy wasn’t too unbearably hot. I want to visit this place again
and again.
After my visit
I programmed in Mom’s address and drove straight to Gainesville arriving after
10 p.m. |
