The gang had just returned from a three-day tour of some local theme parks when they picked me up from the airport, and the girls were bubbling over with enthusiasm. It was fun to hear all the details, to see what had really caught their fancy.
In addition to the usual complement of pelicans et al., we were treated to some visiting dignitaries.
But its courage soon returned on the wings of a friend, so to speak. Safety in numbers, or some such.
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| A pair of woodpeckers flanked by pelicans |
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| Moon over the Bailey Tract - once again, we did not see any bobcats |
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| A rare sign of life on Wildlife Drive |
The other new visitor - or rather, visitors - of an evening were dragonflies. Not the cute little Tinkerbell type, either, mind you, but built more along the lines of Chinooks for ruggedness. They filled the air.
We mostly took it easy over the course of the weekend - went swimming, played Ticket to Ride, read "Hound of the Baskervilles," practiced playing bridge, and feasted on wonderful homemade meals.
The waters are very high now, even at low tide, and we'd seen practically nothing but ibises (and few enough of those) during our earlier drive through the refuge, but on the morning of my last day I thought we should go back once more to visit the Indigo Trail.
There was not much to see, initially. There were some strange tracks across the path right by the entrance, and we tried to convince ourselves they were the marks of an alligator's tail, rather than lines drawn by kids with sticks. We saw a few ibises flapping around near the observatory. Then we crossed the bridge, and down to the right was - an alligator! A fair sized one, not too hidden in the brush!
So that was cool. Even though the gator was moderately close, we took turns with the binoculars to see the details close up. It stayed quite still, except for the occasional eyelid blink, and the opening and closing of its nostrils into straight lines.
We retraced our steps and turned the corner to head back to the start and saw - another alligator! This one was even closer (maybe 3 or 4 yards away), in shallow water, with no fence between us. It was seemingly smaller and younger than the first; my dad estimated it at about five feet. Its head was out of the water, and it was watching us.
We took quite a few photographs here, staying respectfully and warily on the path. We were a little nervous at how close it was. Apparently, the gator was also nervous, for it suddenly lunged a few inches toward us with a fierce growl, then retreated to the reeds. (I hadn't known alligators could growl - it was a little intimidating.)
We walked back up onto the bridge for better viewing in its new location, and (while we were there) also checked out the first gator again. It had moved almost 90 degrees from its original position and was now pointing away from us.
So we relished these views from the safety of the bridge and went back to the path, feeling quite pleased with ourselves.
And then something small, dark and furry darted across the path!
A river otter dashed down to the water on the left, but then came out again and cavorted on the bank amid the shrubbery as we watched from the trail. The girls were thrilled!!! (As we were all - this was only my third time seeing river otters in the wild.)
This otter was much darker than the others I'd seen, and perhaps a bit larger as well. It looked almost cat-like when it stood and hunched its back.
So this was a truly phenomenal way to end a lovely celebratory weekend with family. (Oh, and we managed to reach the conclusion of the Holmes story as well - though we had to circle once around the airport to do it. Luckily we still arrived in plenty of time.)
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| Huge dragonflies swarmed like a battalion of helicopters |
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| All those specks in the sky? Dragonflies. |
The waters are very high now, even at low tide, and we'd seen practically nothing but ibises (and few enough of those) during our earlier drive through the refuge, but on the morning of my last day I thought we should go back once more to visit the Indigo Trail.
There was not much to see, initially. There were some strange tracks across the path right by the entrance, and we tried to convince ourselves they were the marks of an alligator's tail, rather than lines drawn by kids with sticks. We saw a few ibises flapping around near the observatory. Then we crossed the bridge, and down to the right was - an alligator! A fair sized one, not too hidden in the brush!
So that was cool. Even though the gator was moderately close, we took turns with the binoculars to see the details close up. It stayed quite still, except for the occasional eyelid blink, and the opening and closing of its nostrils into straight lines.
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| We watched it blink its eyes - an inner and outer eyelid - and examined its pearly whites |
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| Down this waterway, as usual, we saw two anhingas |
We took quite a few photographs here, staying respectfully and warily on the path. We were a little nervous at how close it was. Apparently, the gator was also nervous, for it suddenly lunged a few inches toward us with a fierce growl, then retreated to the reeds. (I hadn't known alligators could growl - it was a little intimidating.)
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| A much safer location. No one can see you there!!! |
So we relished these views from the safety of the bridge and went back to the path, feeling quite pleased with ourselves.
And then something small, dark and furry darted across the path!
A river otter dashed down to the water on the left, but then came out again and cavorted on the bank amid the shrubbery as we watched from the trail. The girls were thrilled!!! (As we were all - this was only my third time seeing river otters in the wild.)
This otter was much darker than the others I'd seen, and perhaps a bit larger as well. It looked almost cat-like when it stood and hunched its back.
So this was a truly phenomenal way to end a lovely celebratory weekend with family. (Oh, and we managed to reach the conclusion of the Holmes story as well - though we had to circle once around the airport to do it. Luckily we still arrived in plenty of time.)
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