Into the wild, trekking in Everglades National Park

This past weekend I visited Everglades National Park, this is one several visits I make to the park every year.  I wanted to go before many of the birds visiting during winter, start to leave for their summer homes.  The water levels in the park seem higher than in other years at this time.  I don't know if this is good or bad, they say that high water levels prevent some bird species from nesting and too dry hurt other birds and animal.  The ecosystem in this park is a tricky balance and us humans are responsible for the imbalance caused by climate change and many stupid off the park manmade projects.  It will take lots of funding and the will to fix these problems, unfortunate I don't see that our current federal and state governments have either. 

Snowy Egrets are year around residents of the park

Another regular is this Great Blue Heron

I love the Anhinga birds, they are a great fisherman.  This mom was feeding three chicks.

Drying up and relaxing in the sun after a long day taking care of the kids.

Every winter you can find thousands of American Coot ducks in the waters of the Everglades.  This year I did not see many, it could be that some have already moved north to cooler weather.

The American White Pelican is a migratory bird, they are found in the park during the winter months.  I was lucky to find this group in a small lake off the road, they are usually in areas that are not that accessible.

The Black Vulture is part of the cleanup crew.  They are not cute but they like to pose for pictures.

Gators is what most tourist visiting the park want to see, every year I come to this corner of the park and here they are the same group of gators.  I am beginning to think that they are props, none of them moved an inch.

I am not very good at identifying fish but someone suggested that this was a Florida gar.

The marina in the Flamingo area was host to a group of about ten Manatees, it was good to see these gentle giants in such numbers.

The River of Grass is one of my favorite wild places on this planet.  A healthy Everglades is essential to the survival of all us in South Florida.   I find it incredible that many of my fellow Floridian have never been to the park and have no interest in ever going.