That's Joy pointing out something to me that I either didn't notice or just cannot seem to see! But to be fair, when you are out in the forest, it's hard to give verbal directions. "It's on that branch? " Which branch? "The one on the tree" Which tree? "The tall one?" LOLOL She is so patient with me for which I am truly grateful. Yesterday, for the first time in a bit, Joy and I were able to hit the trails once more which means this is a Photo Safari Report! I had several choices about what to call this one but I'm landing on the "Lotsa Birds Hike" because, wow, there were a LOT of Birds! So hunker down and be prepared for Birdie Photos' Galore! We waited until the night before to decide if we were going to hike or not because the weather has been so, un-Florida-Winter-like lately. Which is to say, wet. We always get at least a few days that register with us as being chilly (Not to anyone else on the planet understand, just us Floridians), but it's this uncharacteristic winter rainfall that is unsettling our tourists and occasionally our own plans. But Wednesdays nights weather report said cloudy, cool and NO rain until afternoon. Thursday mornings report echoed the same so we headed over to Carlton. We were the ONLY car in the parking lot when we arrived, which is absolutely fine with us. We set out, loaded for photos, and discovered several things straight away. First, that the trails were a bit mucky so we would be picking and choosing our trails carefully. Second, that the sky looking alarming (but beautiful). And Thirdly, there were birds EVERYWHERE! Holy Cats! We didn't have to go far to get loads of shots and that's a good thing because within the first hour, the sky opened up and the rain arrived ahead of schedule. Dang. We tucked our cameras under our jackets, pulled up our hoodies and booked it back to the parking lot. Still, we were pleased with what we managed to get in that brief period of time. Here's the trail and sky. Ominous for sure: But honestly, we were there for the birds. Ready? Here's a sampling: So there we were, sitting in the car in an empty parking lot at the preserve listening to the rainfall debating if we should just call it a day and go out to breakfast? Or try again elsewhere and hope that the rain stops. You guessed correctly, we weren't ready to stop yet. So we moved on to Myakka State Park which has a road going all the way through it. In most parks and preserves you arrive, park and either hike it or bike it the rest of the way. But Myakka, while it has hiking trails a plenty, also has a road to drive all the way through. It's a wonderful meandering road where the forest comes right up to the edge of civilization which also means, wildlife is often, right there out the window. Our thought was that if it was Still raining when we arrived we could, literally shoot out the car windows. Or, if the rain held off, perhaps we could risk a few short hikes. It's a beautiful drive down a canopied road, surrounded by various land and water - scapes: We had no idea what, if anything, we would see along the way, As we chatted about what we hoped we might find, almost every thing we listed, showed up! It's like they were listening to our wish list. Including a bird that someone recently told me cannot be found locally anymore. HAH! We found it. And lest you think that there is no four-legged wildlife at Myakka, we also saw this: And this: I know I'm pushing the definition of "wildlife" with the squirrel but I think when they live in the forest and not in a neighborhood park or somebody's back yard, they still qualify.
We timed our visit perfectly because shortly after Joy dropped me back off at home, suddenly out of nowhere, the rain was pouring down once more. Awesome!~ We were both very chilly and very wet by the time we were done but I regret none of it! Hope you also enjoyed the Lotsa Birds Hike! I wonder what we will see the next time? Have a great weekend everybody~
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AuthorYup, this is me. Some people said, "Sam, you should write a Blog". "Well, there's a thought", I thought to myself. And so here it is. Archives
May 2024
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