A Day at Flamingo Gardens

Anna and Rylee, I'm making my blog today just about one day, because I took so many pictures at this place and enjoyed it so much. Maybe later I'll make another one about our whole last week except for this one day.  Hope you enjoy the pictures and that you learn a little something as well.

 
The place we went to was called Flamingo Gardens, and although there were flamingos there, there were also lots of other birds and animals, as well as trees and flowers.  It is not a zoo, but rather a place that takes in birds and animals that are native to Florida and have been injured or for some reason cannot survive in the wild.  They try to rehabilitate them so that they can be released, but if that can't happen, then they give them a home in as natural a setting as possible. 

 

We saw about a kazillion flowers, so I thought I would make a collage of some of them. 

The flamingo is a very unusual and beautiful bird.  They say that they are the colour that they are because of what they eat.  Not sure how that works.  Anna and Rylee, maybe you could check that out and let me know what you find out. 

The other birds that I really enjoyed watching were the many peacocks that were there.  This is the male peacock trying to impress his lady friends.  The ladies are called peahens. 

This is a collage of peacocks.  And by the way, the colourful pictures are from the front, and the others are from the back. 

I was interested to find out that peacocks and peahens come in white as well.  Can you guess which is the male and which is the female? 

 One of the things I liked doing the most was going into an aviary, a huge screened-in area that had lots of water birds.  I liked it so much, I went in twice!  This is a wood duck pair.

 I'm afraid that, since we moved today, and I left my bird books in the car, that I don't know the names of all the birds, but I do know that this is some kind of a night heron. 

And I think this duck pair may be called "Golden Eyes", though I'm not sure. 

 I really wanted to see some white pelicans on this trip, and I did.  In fact, Paul was close enough to touch this one. 

 I loved seeing the Roseate Spoonbills.  They are so colourful and unusual.  Guess why they're called spoonbills?

 This is a pair of  Anhingas guarding a nest.  Not sure if they had eggs in it or not. 

 Paul found some friends.  Don't know what kind these are either, but they sure are pretty and friendly. 

 This pair of Black Crowned Night Herons are building a nest. 

And this little Snowy Egret was all alone, and seemed kind of sad. 

Here's another collage, this time of the water birds. 

Flamingo Gardens has 21 "Champion Trees" - that is, 21 trees that are the biggest of their kind in the state of Florida.  It's the largest collection of champion trees anywhere in the state.
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I don't remember what this one is called, but how do you think you would like to climb it?  I don't think I even want to hug this tree!  

It's hard to hug a tree this big!  This is one of the Champion Trees, and it is called a "Cluster Fig" tree.  It comes from India. 

Something interesting is that some plants attach themselves to a tree and just start to grow there, with no roots in the ground.  They take moisture from the air to help themselves live.  also, there is a kind of fern that grows on tree branches.  It's called "resurrection fern" because during a dry period it dries out and dies, then when it rains, it "resurrects" itself, and comes back to life.  If you go to church at Easter time, you will hear about how Jesus was "resurrected" - came back to life after dying on the cross. 

This is another plant that had attached itself to a tree with air roots.  It's a beautiful orchid, and I saw several of them in the park. 

Have you heard of a Christmas Cactus?  Lots of people have one in their home, and it usually gets flowers on it at Christmas time.  This mockingbird was sitting atop what I think is a Christmas Cactus that was about as tall as a 2 story house! 

There were 2 alligators in an enclosure.  The male, called Elvis was about 12 feet long, and had been rescued from a house where he was being kept illegally - I hope it was when he was much smaller!  The female was called Priscilla - can you guess why? 

There was a bobcat in a pen, but he was having a nap.  Do you know why they are called bobcats? 

This African Spurred Tortoise was huge.....but he had a nice smile.  Anna and Rylee can you find out the difference between a tortoise and a turtle and let me know? 

The river otters were having a great time, and were such fun to watch! 

Have you ever eaten a kumquat?  They look like a tiny orange, but you don't peel them to eat them.  You just pop the whole thing in your mouth and chew it up.  The inside part is very sour, but the skin is really sweet, so you must eat them together.  They are so good! 

We found a few trees with starfruit growing on them.  There were lots just rotting on the ground, so we thought no-one must be using them.  So we picked one off the tree and I ate it.  It was so sweet, and the juice just dripped off my chin and my fingers.  Yummy!  It's called starfruit because if you slice it, the slices look like stars. 

Here's another fruit we found growing.  I think you know what they are.  they were not quite ready to pick, though.  Bananas take as long as 18 months to grow.  That's a long time!  And the banana plant only produces one bunch of bananas and then it dies. 

Another animal we saw was a Florida Panther.  There are very few of them left in Florida, unfortunately.  There were 2 male panthers in this large enclosure. 

This lovely creature is called a Florida Pine Snake. I'm sure glad I never met up with him outside of his terrarium!  

Anna and Rylee, do you remember Petunia 'Possum from the Maggie Muggins stories?  Well, this is an opossum.  There was an animal encounter show, and this was one of the critters featured.  This poor little guy was hit by a car, and because he had some brain damage, cannot survive in the wild, but is very well loved and cared for here.  He was very cute! 

 There was also a barn owl featured in the show.  Apparently barn owls are one of the most common birds in the world, found everywhere except the South Pole, yet are rarely seen.   God has made them with some very remarkable abilities.  Can you find out what they are? 

This box turtle was purchased at a pet store by a girl who thought she was doing the right thing by putting him in water.  Trouble is, box turtles don't belong in water, and he did not do well.  His shell did not grow as it should, and he cannot get himself inside of it, and so cannot survive in the wild.  Poor fellow!


Well, that's enough for now.  I'll maybe do another blog later in the week.  Have a great week!  See you next time!