Shark Valley, Another's View

My friend and coworker, Lily, goes bike riding out at Shark Valley quite often.

These pictures were all taken by her...

Nothing is cuter than baby gators.

Lily has been completely enthralled by these baby Anhingas. I love their pinkish color.

I always love Woodstorks!

This Red Shouldered Hawk is actually on a nest.
None of her pictures of the babies came out too good, though.
I love this shot...you can really admire the beauty of this hawk.

Sights of North Florida

My blogs lately have been few and far between. My camera sucks, and when I can't take good pictures to share, it's hard for me to get inspired to write anything. But last weekend, my sister showed me some pictures she took up in North Florida and I really want to share them with you. So all the pictures in this post were taken by my sister, Melinda. Kinda cool...hope you enjoy!

Swallowtail Kites...

Alot of 'em!

Mr brother-in-law with their Labs, Holly and Dixie

The property where they camp and hunt has these beautiful Buffaloes on it. And no, they do NOT hunt the buffalo!

A Coachwhip snake. They are harmless, good snakes...very fast. They remind me of cobras when they hold their head up in the grass and look around.

This is the scene they wake up to from their campsite.

My sis asked me what kind of skink this is, and I believe it's a Broadhead. If I'm wrong, somebody please correct me!

Not sure on this one. A Lined Skink? or is it Blue Lined?

Celebrating my brother-in-law's birthday at their place in Okeechobee. My mom had Publix do the cake, but it didn't turn out quite the way she envisioned it. I think it's still kinda cool, though.

My sister and her husband. I think they're a cute couple!

They took Sam out in the airboat and even let him run it. My sis said he did a really good job. I'm proud of him because running those things isn't easy.

So ugly it's cute

My old neighbor-lady's house was sold and last week, the demolition/renovations began. Everyday there's a new pile of bricks and concrete piled up. I am keeping my fingers crossed they don't knowck down that old brick BBQ pit!

Anyway, i stepped out my garage door just now to survey the recent progress when a small movement caught my eye. It's an itty-bitty baby mockingbird that's currently sitting next to the neighbor's new air conditioner. I'm glad there seems to be no destruction going on today, but I'm so worried for this little guy! I fear the odds are not in his favor, being as little as he is and right in the heart of imminent destruction.

It didn't take long for mama to show up. Her squacks of disapproval were easily understood, so we backed off and let them have their peace. She fed him one of my grape tomatoes... I thought Mockingbirds only ate bugs.

Oh well, I'm happy to know my garden is helping this little one.

That's Mama in the Christmas Palm, telling us to back off!

A Drive Down Loop Road

For my birthday today, I decided I wanted to take a drive down Loop Road. So here are some pictures from the day...

You know you're starting to finally get away from civilation when you see this. I know it seems odd, but yeah, this huge Miccosukee casino is on the edge of the 'Glades.

We had to make a pitstop for some "emergency" food supplies...
And on the door were several invitations to different "Camps" for Christmas parties. They all said that "everyone's invited!" but somehow I imagine I'd get strange looks if I showed up at the Wind Clan's Camp with a Santa hat on shouting "Merry Christmas!" Yeah, I think they really only wanted to invite other Miccosukees...
Loop Road!
Not long after making the turn off the Trail, there are several pretty nice houses. They are all identical, yet the owners have managed to make each one a little different. I believe they are all Miccosukees, but it was hard to tell from some of the names on the mailboxes. I would LOVE living there! The view out their backdoors is wide open prairie with Cypress trees in the distance. Beautiful! Well, in front of one of those houses, we spotted this poor guy. Looks like Christmas dinner to me!
Ok, time to get serious...we're getting into gator country now. (To any tourists who may read this, here's a news flash for ya - The ENTIRE state of Florida is gator country!)
This was by far, the best find of the day. I looked in my bird book, but can't find anything that exactly matches this guy. He was awesome! I'm not kidding, we were maybe 10 feet away from him and he wasn't the slightest bit concerned. He looked at us, then bent over and continued to eat his lunch. He must be a species of some concern since he had a band on one of his legs. Note: Misti thinks it's a Short-Tailed Hawk. I think she may be right! Great!!!
Further down the road is the home of the guy who takes pictures of nekkid chicks in the swamp. I've written about him before. This time, his front gate was open, but my hub and son were disappointed not to see any flashes of flesh running around.
Gator!
The Road.
Just playing around with the black and white setting on my camera.
Taking a break, throwing some rocks into the water...
And taking pictures of my son taking pictures!
I think this was at Sweetwater Strand. No gators around there today, which was strange. Woodstorks, ibis and anhingas were there, though. Couldn't manage a decent shot of any of them, though.

ON the way out, we passed a place where they store swampbuggies and airboats. Lots of vehicles in the fence, but we didn't see a single soul around. Kind of creepy.
Monroe Station. I wish they'd fix the old place up. It's getting worse and worse looking each time I see it.
Our final stop - The Pit! YUMMY!!! I was a little disturbed by the fact that they've cleaned the place up since my last visit. Fresh paint, new tables and chairs...no dust...it's just not right! But the food tasted the same, so I guess by the time I get back out there, there may be a nice coat of dust and some scrapes on the paint and maybe the new tables will be a little rickety. Then it would seem normal again.

Thus ends my birthday adventure. Not too exciting, but I enjoyed every minute of it!