Everglades National Park & Biscayne National Park

During our stay in Miami, we took three trips to the Everglades National Park (including two bike rides at the Shark Valley Visitors Center), and one trip to Biscayne National Park. The most striking thing about our visits were the many varieties of birds we encountered, including egrets, herons, wood storks, anhinga, limpkin, pelican, and vultures, and the plethora of alligators, sometimes so close to where we were walking or riding our bikes, we could nearly reach out and touch them. We were even lucky enough to see two separate nests filled with baby alligators. During one visit to the Everglades National Park, we saw an American Crocodile, which looked quite prehistoric. We also saw lots of turtles who seemed to thrive in the Florida swampland.  

I’ll let the following pictures tell the rest of the story

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

During our stay in Punta Gorda, we took a day trip to the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, located in southwest Florida just north of Naples. The sanctuary was established by the National Audubon Society to protect one of the largest remaining stands of bald cypress and pond cypress in North America from extensive logging that was ongoing throughout the 1940’s and 1950’s. A 2-mile long boardwalk provides access to pine flatwoods, wet prairie, stands of cypress and marsh ecosystems within the sanctuary. In 2017 some parts of the boardwalk were damaged by bald cypress trees knocked over by Hurricane Irma. Most of the damage was repaired, but several small sections have remained permanently closed.

The sanctuary is a gateway site for the Great Florida Birding trail, a 2,000 mile long collection of more than 500 locations in the state of Florida where bird habitats are protected. We saw several species of birds during our hike through the swamp, including colorful pink roseate spoonbills, wood storks (an endangered species), herons, egrets, and cormorants. Besides the many birds sightings, we came across turtles, alligators, and a snake. I felt like we experienced an authentic visit among the denizens of the Florida swamps, and were lucky enough to come away with these great photos