825 October 21, 2022 Exploring

What a wonderful place to take a walk!  All the way to Florida Bay and back.  A good three-mile circuit! 

These yurts are brand new and sit right on the water.

Some critters.

Home for this week.

We have seen lots of very large scat in and around the campground.  It has probably been left behind since the hurricane.  What is lurking out in these woods?  We asked the ranger and he thinks either coyotes, bears, panthers, or bobcats…that narrows it down!  We are thinking that it might be a good sign.  For a long time, mammals were not here in this part of the Everglades.  Burmese pythons had eliminated all the smaller mammals like raccoons and rabbits and some of the larger animals as well.  We read that bobcats eat python eggs.  Maybe nature is taking care of these invasive snakes in its own way.

We took our bikes and cycled to the bay.  We heard excited yelling and then we watched these fishermen pull in this shark. 

We biked to the marina and watched manatees.  These three were all about getting fresh water from this large pipe.

Some gulls were every interested until they discovered that we were not going to feed them.

Ibises hunting.

A crocodile was sunning himself on the boat ramp.  He looks positively prehistoric!

Later, we packed dinner and road about thirty miles on the park road to a pond.  We saw this sixteen-inch snake on the way in.

We ate our evening meal and watched the sunset.  

At one point there were ten crows waiting to be fed.

The end of another good day.

As we headed back toward home, we watched for wildlife.  Tim spotted another small snake.  We saw some beady red eyes and we think they were night herons standing along the road.