Friday, January 18, 2013

Siesta Key/Everglades Jan 2013

I just got back from the Tampa (FL) area. I was there for business, but took a few days off to enjoy the beach at Siesta Key, and to tour the Everglades.

Some snapshots:

Siesta Key, on the Gulf Coast, is known for its very fine-grained, high-quartz, sugar-sand beach.
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It's a good walking beach, especially where there are fewer people.
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There's lots of bird fishing going on; mostly pelicans, but also some osprey.
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It was too hazy/cloudy for a green flash, but the sunsets were still very nice.
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The Everglades were also a treat.
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I took a Ranger-guided tour at Shark Valley, in the Everglades National Park; it was spectacular.

A flock of Ibises. There were in the Everglades early, as were many other species; a sign of climate change and general warming.
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Gators were abundant.
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Wood stork.
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Gator love; we saw many mating pairs, unusual for January. Historically, pre-global warming, alligator mating took place 60-90 days later in the year.
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The Great Blue Heron (left) is a visual hunter; it sees dinner, and strikes. The Wood Stork (right) is a tactile hunter, feeling around with its beak in the water for prey.
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Views from the Shark Valley Observation Tower:

Giant turtle, about 1M (1 yd) head to tail.
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Partial panorama from the Shark Valley observation tower.
This is a reduced-resolution version; although you can still zoom way in and pan around. The original version 89 megapixels, and 21MB in size! :)


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Anhinga; a diving bird, similar to cormorants (but more colorful, and deeper-diving.)
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It was a good trip!
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2 comments:

  1. Wonderful to armchair-travel with you, Fred!

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  2. wow,,,, beautifulll,,,
    doo u ever come to indonesia?? bALI??
    this nice country... thanks

    ReplyDelete