Super Saturday!

Friday afternoon, Matt and Tom arrived safely from London after an uneventful flight. The Orlando airport was another story however, with long lines for getting through customs. In part, apparently, because they have removed the handy machines that allow for quicker processing. Then too, there are a lot of folks coming to Orlando for the holiday. Just ask Nancy who endured a harrowing, traffic chocked driving trip from Atlanta, with an 11 mile backup from I-75 to merge onto the Turnpike. Unimaginable really.

The agenda for Friday evening was for them to begin the adjustment to EST, five hours behind their time.  Mission accomplished, following dinner at Tijuana Flats, and watching a movie at home. Still, they woke very early, before us, and in what was the start of a big birding day, Tom pronounced that he'd seen TWO owls out back. Not that I've seen any lately;  I guess it took a British man for them to grace us with their presence.

Following breakfast, we got off to an early start to Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive with the plan of Matt being able to put his birthday gift from Tom to good use. You guessed it, binoculars! Bird watching runs in the family. We took some lovely roads there, and once in the gates, we began both, hearing and seeing, plenty of birds.

In spite of the heat, not as bad as earlier in the week, (thankfully) there were plenty of other folks making the 11 mile drive to see what they could see. Once before we've been, however, as far as I can recall, we did not see nearly the amount of gators as we did on this go round. We had not gone far on the ground limestone road when we saw our first gator. It became a bit of a sport, with tally marks used to keep track. This guy was, I believe, #2.

Sometimes they were a bit camouflaged, whereas other times, as you will soon see, they were right out in the open.

I've tried doing some research on this red algae, however, I'm coming up short. Found only in one area, I've no clue if it is good, or bad. The above algae, from prior information, is just fine, providing food for fish.

We know that there are fish because we saw one.

You may think I know a bit about birds and you would be right about that. A very little bit is more like it. It gets very complicated sorting out the males and females as well as the age range. Turns out, after Matt consulted his bird application, that the above is a Juvenile Female Anhinga.  Here's another example....I was thinking that I was seeing a new bird, only to learn that these are Juvenile Common Gallinules.

And while I don't take this birdwatching hobby quite as seriously as some, it is always nice to see something you've never seen before, like this Black-Necked Stilt.

Additionally, this duck looks new to me, but the identification escapes me.

Because there are so few big trees, Raptors are few and far between, however, we did see an Osprey. The flying bird is a mystery.

I had a little chat with an English woman who was out with her husband, both with serious long lenses, who visits frequently. She explained that the heat was not helping our cause, with the bird population diminishing as the temperature rises. So, instead of birds, as mentioned earlier, it was mostly about the gators. Bruce pulled over for us to have a better look, although don't worry, we were across the canal!

Uncertain if it were real, I assured Matt that it was, although they do stay mighty still. That is, until they don't!

This huge gator slid right into the water as we watched.

With a speed limit of 10MPH it is slow going with plenty of time to observe the scenery made up of marshy areas, and canals.

And the awesome clouds! That crushed limestone threw up plenty of dust on Bruce's freshly washed car. 😞

And while I miss the mountains of Vancouver, this was pretty nice too.

How many gators did we see? I think this big guy was our final one, with a final tally of 25!

Of course that pales in comparison with a visit to Gatorland, however, seeing so many in their completely natural habitat was amazing.

Because we weren't far from there, and it was something I'd been wanting to do for a while, we drove over to the the Avian Reconditioning Center to check on the baby American Kestral Bruce rescued. If you missed it, the story is here. While the wildlife drive was wonderful, our visit here put icing on the cake. The owner, shown below, gave us a little timeline of their large property, beginning in 1998 as an Audubon alternative.

We learned some things, including it is illegal to pick up downed bird feathers, a fact that blew me away. The hawks were not nearly as cooperative as he expected, but we did see a little bit of action. Astro is the name of one of the hawks, something that definitely caught our attention as that is name of one of Carol's dogs, or I guess now we have to say Hank instead. Who, btw, called us as we were leaving and he is doing well. The Harris's hawks were not as cooperative as he was hoping, but it was still cool seeing them.

Finally we learned what we'd come there for. A very helpful volunteer gave us all the information we were seeking. This little gal,

was Mothered by this big gal for about five weeks before returning to the wild of Lake County!!

Her name is Moira!! All Schitt's Creek fans will love that. Here's a close up,

and here she is from the back, which I just had to show you because of the polka dots!

Another helpful woman came in to the trailer, adding to the story...incredibly, she was in contact with biologists from across the state looking for a nest with chicks about the same age as "ours". With no matches available, it was up to Moira to feed her until she was fit for a more natural habitat. Aren't you just dying over this? So good. All for one little chick Bruce found in the grass alongside Michigan Street.

The coral clad woman was all set to take Moira outside for us, however, stomachs were seriously growling, so we took our leave, stopping at Chipolte on the way home. Later on, Bruce joined David and Bill, along with three other guys, to attend a wrestling show nearby. As some of you know, David is a walking wrestling encyclopedia, owning the largest collection of wrestling cards in the US. Maybe even the world. Probably. Matt and Tom began work on the unopened puzzle I received for Christmas which has been waiting for their expertise.

Meanwhile I walked down to the lake, thinking I detected a bit of color in the sky. Yup...a tiny bit.

Indeed, it was a super Saturday, from beginning to end.

your friend,

Gail