"I believe that life should be lived so vividly and so intensely that thoughts of another life, or of a longer life, are not necessary." -- Marjory Stonement Douglas, conservationist
We arrived in Miami the night before our flight to Ecuador as a precaution against winter travel delays. We stayed at the Miami International Airport hotel which is conveniently right in the airport. The room was quite comfortable and quiet. In the morning we were greeted with sunrise over an urban landscape.
With a full day to spend in Miami we rented a car and headed off to the Everglades. Just for fun we rented a Garmin GPS unit for the car. First destination? Dunkin Donuts for coffee. We could have spent the rest of the day navigating to every Dunkin Donuts in the greater Miami area...maybe next visit.
It took us about 45 minutes to get to the entrance of Everglades National Park. Because of time constraints we decided to visit Royal Palm which was only a few miles from the Visitor Center. We walked along the Anihinga boardwalk and the Gumbo Limbo trail. The boardwalk was packed with people but also with birds and alligators. The ratio of wildlife sighted per meter walked was fantastic!
We can thank Marjory Stoneman Douglas for the very existence of the Everglades. Douglas was the "first lady of conservation" and was largely responsible for saving the Everglades from certain destruction due to urbanization. She was the person who first referred to the Everglades as the "River of Glass."
Follow the link to CB's Pretty Good Photos to see today's pictures.
Weather:
Sunny and dry; 60-70 F; winds 10-15 mph out of the West
Bird sightings:
Turkey vulture
Black vulture
Double-crested cormorant
White ibis (immature)
Wood stork
Anihinga
Great blue heron
Great egret
Little blue heron
Tricolored heron
Green heron
Northern waterthrush
Northern parula
Northern mockingbird
Blue-gray gnatcatcher
Purple gallinule
American redstart
Loggerhead shrike
Kestral
Osprey
Other wildlife:
Some nice butterflies
American alligator
Turtle
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1 comment:
Dear CB:
Looks like your trip got off to a great start. Hope the rest of the trip goes well.
LP
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