ANHINGA TRAIL, ROYAL PALMS, FLORIDA EVERGLADES

This was no ordinary boardwalk; no sandy beaches, no seaside attractions, no sunbathers (at least none of the two-legged variety); certainly no Atlantic City.

This was no ordinary visitor, either. This is my sister, Lynda.

This was Alligator Alley, as in the Florida Everglades, where there were enough four-legged creatures soaking up the sun to make my skin crawl.

Alligator Alley, up close and personal.

Of course, Florida’s Everglades is the only place in the world where both alligators and crocodiles co-exist in the wild; as if one family of reptiles wasn’t enough to creep me out during my visit last week to this World Heritage Site.     

We’d taken the Florida Turnpike twenty miles south of Miami to the main entrance to Florida’s Everglades in Homestead.  Jim and I, along with my sister Lynda, spent a few minutes at Ernest Coe Visitor Center before heading to our destination, Royal Palm’s Anhinga Trail, the boardwalk; and all those alligators!  

Anhinga Trail offers a webcam for viewing. The link is provided below near the end of the post.

Silly me!  And here I thought the place would be crawling with anhinga. Crawling seemed to be the operative word that morning.  

Apparently those “crocodilians” (both alligators and crocodiles are members of the reptilian order Crocodylia, but the families they belong to, Alligatoridae and Crycodylida respectively, differ slightly), are considered a keystone species when it comes to the Everglades.  In other words, they owned the room, all 1.5 million acres of swamp, sawgrass prairies and mangrove-rooted islands, despite the presence of anhinga in this particular freshwater slough. 

No doubt this fellow had his eye on me.

The crocodilians got no argument from me!  After all, they are at the top of the eat-and-be-eaten food chain inside the Everglades eco-system that starts with the mosquito and ends with the crocodilians, with a few bear and panthers thrown in for good measure.  I, for one, wasn’t about to interrupt the flow of that food chain.

I kept to the safety of the half-mile boardwalk running above this International Biosphere Reserve,

They're everywhere, they're everywhere!

giving these creatures that had somehow managed to outlive the dinosaur by 65 million years (the lineage of crocodilians goes back 240 million years) all the respect they deserved, particularly given a portion of that boardwalk gave way to an asphalt path lined with several crocodilians I doubted would turn up their noses at some fresh meat.

Look who's hanging out just off the beaten path.

I should probably share some history and facts about Florida’s Everglades, least you get the wrong idea (it’s not all creepy and crawly) about this World Heritage Site.

This is one of the richest, densest and most subtle ecosystems the world has ever seen; 10,000 different islands harbor 67 endangered species.  A thousand different forms of plant life have been found in the Everglades.  Nine identified habitats remain in a constant state of flux with rainfall the lifeblood of the nine identified habitats (hardwood hammock, pineland, mangrove, coastal lowlands, freshwater slough, freshwater marl prairie, cypress, marine, and estuarine) that make up this ecosystem. 

This end of the gator hole looked rather peaceful.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas, the “Grande Dame of the Everglades,” redefined the popular conception of the Everglades as a treasured river instead of a worthless swamp in her book, The Everglades: A River of Grass (1947).   She was one of the first to recognize the ecosystem’s importance to human and animal life; she worked tirelessly to prevent the Everglades from being drained in the name of progress, up until her death in 1998 at the age of 108.

President Bill Clinton awarded Marjory the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993 for “her splendid example in safeguarding America's beauty and splendor for generations to come."

Once I got past the alligators, I began to appreciate that beauty and splendor, particularly the birds; the herons seemed to prefer the sawgrass.  That’s where I spotted this great white heron coming in for a landing.  

The epitome of grace.

During my one-hour trek above this fresh water habitat Native Americans called Pahayokee, “the grassy waters,” I got a peek at about a dozen of the approximate 350 documented species of birds that call the Everglades their home, among them the woodstork;  

She stands guard, ready to deliver all those new hatchlings.

and the great blue heron.

Keeping a low profile in the Everglades.

And of course, no stroll along the Anhinga Trail would be complete without a glimpse or two of the anhinga.

These two unlikely friends were so cute.

If my locks looked this beautiful, I'd be showing off.

This common moorhen seemed to enjoy walking the straight and narrow.  

He did a great job of holding this pose until I could snap a few pictures.

I spotted this green-backed heron poised on the edge of his seat awaiting his next meal, usually small fish.

Another one of those days living life on the edge.

Did you know a group of vultures is called a committee; in flight a flock of vultures is a kettle, and when feeding together at a carcass, the group is called a wake?  Wow, who knew our aviary friends had such a warped sense of humor.

Looks a lot like the committee meetings I've been part of.

I watched this beautiful purple gallinule tiptoe effortlessly atop the green spatterdock in his quest for insects before capturing this image.    

What a beauty!

Beneath the slow moving channel of water (called a slough in Everglades terms) flowing through the sawgrass prairie was another layer of life part of this natural web of food.  Each layer makes it possible for the next to survive.  These ancient Florida gar have been sheltered and sustained for thousands and thousands of years in the Florida Everglades.

These guys were always fishing for complements.

They’re a crucial part of the Everglades’ web of life.   

This hawk is obviously enjoying some takeout.

Just months after Florida became a state in 1845, the legislature took the first steps that would lead to draining the Everglades.  When the Everglades National Park was established in 1947, the shallow, slow-moving (100 feet a day) sheet of water covered 1.5 million acres, half its original size.   

The gator hole at Anhinga Trail.

Originally the massive rain-fed series of wetlands, lakes and rivers flowed from just below Orlando and through Lake Okeechobee south to the top of the Florida peninsula, as well as east and west towards the coast. 

Today, man is still a threat to the Everglades; 1,800 miles of canals and dams interrupt the nature flow of water, the life blood of this unique habitat.  Nutrient pollution from agricultural runoff and other fertilizers has allowed the growth of plant life not originally part of the delicate balance in this ecosystem, among them cattails, harmful algae blooms and duckweed.  Accumulations of toxic mercury in fish, birds, reptiles and mammals, including the elusive Florida panther, are endangering the wildlife.

This was a new road sign for me - Panther Crossing.

The Everglades is suffering biological pollution in the form of exotic plants and animals introduced by man, currently the worst of the offenses the Burmese python.  Oh, great! Another creepy, crawly reptile!

Notwithstanding the creepy, crawly factor, my first visit to the Everglades won’t be my last.   

I for one am not fooled by this gator's sly grin.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



The Bottom Line on Florida’s Everglades


Verdict:  No doubt about it, I’m a nature lover.  Reptiles may not be at the top of my list, but I can appreciate that each species, animal and plant, contribute to the wonder and beauty of this planet we call home.  No visit to Florida would be complete without seeing this amazing, one-of-a-kind natural wonder. 

No surprise why anhingas are also know as "snake birds".

How to Get There:  There are five Visitor’s Centers offering access to Florida’s Everglades: Big Cypress Swamp, Flamingo, Shark Valley, Gulf Coast and Ernest F. Coe; three separate camping sites also provide access: Long Pine Key, Flamingo and Chekika.  Directions to each can be found on the National Park Service’s website. 

Ernest Coe Visitor's Center.

Inside Information:  Bring a hat, binoculars, camera and sunscreen; this is subtropical climate. Mosquitoes weren’t a problem during our January visit, but temperatures were soaring up into the eighties as well as the humidity.  Wear shoes to protect your feet.  Who knows if a hangnail might not tempt those alligators.  And by all means, leave the dog home; keep the kids on a leash!  Check out the National Park Service’s webcam on the Anhinga Trail courtesy of this link.   

Nearby Food:  We had a Coke and crackers for lunch, courtesy of the vending machines at Royal Palm.  Needless to say, as guests of the Everglades, we were the nearby food.  Civilization was miles away.  Pack a lunch; be sure to bring plenty of water.  An ice chest is a good idea.