Florida, 2015

What a fabulous day we had yesterday!  We went with Jo and Eric to a place near Lakeland called Circle B Bar Reserve, a previous ranch, turned reserve, protecting Polk County's Water, Wildlife, and Wilderness.  What a great place for a camera!

The first thing we saw was something I have wanted to see for years!  An armadillo!  They are the most amazing little creatures ever!  And not only did we see one, but probably closer to 8 throughout the day - I was in my glory! 

They are totally armoured, the plates on their backs overlap, and they can curl themselves into a ball for protection.  Even their faces appear to be armoured!  Not that they were the least bit worried about people here!

There were lots of trails to follow, many of them covered with branches of old live oaks, covered in Spanish moss.  So pretty!

This lovely big bird is called a Limpkin.

This Limpkin was trying to crack open a shell.

Much of the still water is covered with a plant called duck-weed, which is quite harmless and normal, but when a creature comes up through it, it tends to cling to its back - like this turtle.

This is the Great (or American) Egret, waiting for a meal.  How they see the fish through the duck-weed is more than I can figure out!

And this little beauty is the much smaller Snowy Egret.

The Double Crested Cormorant, seen here, is common to Florida.  Although similar to the Anhinga, it is different in colouring and in the shape of its beak.  The cormorant has a hooked beak, which he uses to hook his prey - fish.

Whereas the Anhinga has a long straight bill, which he uses to spear the fish.

We saw several alligators, many of them very large, but this fellow seemed especially big!  He looks like he just swallowed a pig or something!  Apparently after they eat, they need to lie in the sun to digest their food.

This was another special treat!  A mama heron guarding the wee one in her nest.

Ugly little sucker, isn't he?

This is a Common Moorhen.  Notice his big feet, which he uses to run across the tops of the lily-pads, etc in the marshes.

Not sure what kind of hawk this is.  I don't remember ever seeing one like it.  Any guesses?

If you look closely, you can see that this heron has just swallowed a rather large fish, which is stuck near the top of his neck.  Meanwhile, Mr. Greedy is hauling another fish out the the weeds at the edge of the lake.

And did he take it home to the nest for the Mrs. and the baby?  Nope!  Down it went on top of the other one!

This is the Osprey, which we see lots of up north.

One of the lovely tree-canopied walkways that we traversed.

We enjoyed a yummy picnic lunch under the trees as well.

And finally, the "resurrection fern" which grows in great abundance on the oak trees.  It can die right out during a dry spell, then come back to life after some rain.  Hence, the "Resurrection Fern".  Until next time.....