What a Mother's Day! We headed down to Everglades City to the Gulf Coast Visitor's Center. .Went on a boat trip through the Ten Thousand Islands Mangrove area and saw Osprey chicks & a penguin/heron rookery ....lots of chicks! Erie riding through the Mangroves. Then we took a loop drive through the Big Cypress National Preserve. It's so dry here right now that there is very little water in the cypress swamps. But toward the end we stopped and along the road the ditch was loaded with gators and fish....lots of action with the birds--wood storks, white Ibis, great blue herons and dozens of black and turkey vultures. That loop ended up at the Sharks Cove Visitor's Center in the Everglades NP and we walked down the tram trail for awhile and saw all sorts of turtles and herons! It was a full day of great nature and birds! Also got to talk to my two favorite girls while out in the wilds! Couldn't ask for more!!!
