830 October 26, 2022 Last Day in the Everglades

It was a beautiful morning for a walk.

Later in the morning, we biked around, our usual path from the campground to the bay and marina.  It is breezier today and it feels less humid. 

We stopped in at the visitor center.  We talked with the ranger about our panther sighting.  She has only seen a panther on one occasion in the seven years that she has been serving here; they are so elusive and clever.  She confirmed that there are bears, panthers, bobcats, and coyotes all living here in Flamingo. 

We both biked to Mrzak Pond.  On the way, we passed great flocks of mostly white birds; ibises and egrets. 

We also saw a few spoonbills. But they were further away and it was harder to get good pictures because of the distance.

This osprey sat in a branch right over our heads. 

We went out again this evening just to see what we could see. We saw this poor diamondback rattlesnake. It had been hit by a car. We had ridden our bikes right by this bridge today!

It was very still and quiet at west Lake. Even the croc was hiding.

There was a new moon. The alignment of the sun, the moon, and the earth is causing the extraordinarily high tide or a “king” tide.

We saw this ribbon snake in the road on our way back.

Of course we drove through that abandoned camping loop. We saw a rather large rat-like creature…this is a bad place to live if you are a small rodent! No other sightings this evening!

We have loved spending time here in the Everglades but we are also ready to move on. Fiesta Key tomorrow!