December Days
a Florida photo story
Fully recovered from my gallbladder surgery and eager to see a Roseate Spoonbill, I was ready for a photo road trip. So, last Thursday, my friend Gina and I went birding. It was a gorgeous sunny day with temperatures that crept into the high 60s.
Our first stop was a large retention pond behind an apartment complex where Spoonbills were recently spotted. We found two, as well as a colony of Wood Storks, a Great Blue Heron, a Belted Kingfisher, and a Great Egret. I wrote about them here:
From there we went to Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park. Although I often take photos from the boardwalk that juts out into the Prairie, I’d never been to the official park, which consists of many walking trails, an Observation Tower, and a Visitors Center.
Since the Prairie at the boardwalk is a huge body of water, I was surprised that the land I saw from the observation tower was mostly dry. I say “mostly” because the soil was very mucky in places — muddy enough for us to see the tracks of wild horses, deer, armadillos, and cattle.
Also, the foliage colors were amazingly autumny for Florida.
Besides being home to a tremendous variety of birds, amphibians, and reptiles, including many alligators, the Praire has wild horses, cattle, and buffalo, none of which I’d seen before. Although we didn’t see any buffalo, we did see a wild pony and some cattle far in the distance.
Do you see the Sandhill Crane in the pony photo?
We chose not to go to the top of the observation tower for two reasons: we could see perfectly well from one of the lower platforms and there were too many visitors, including a crying baby, at the top.
We also skipped the Visitors Center. With a new Covid variant circulating and no mask mandates or virus mitigation laws in Florida, Gina and I always choose to be abundantly careful and avoid groups of people, especially indoors.
After Paynes Prairie Park, we visited a lake to the south, hoping to find more Roseate Spoonbills. Not only did we not see any Spoonbills, but the only large bird we did see was this Cormorant:
But, the scenery was autumn-gorgeous!
And, the weather could not have been better. Cool but not too cool.
I hoped to spot a gator sunning on the shore or a log but none were around.
Our next photography road trip is on the calendar for December 21st. If the weather cooperates, we plan to head over to the west coast — perhaps, Steinhatchee or Cedar Key.
After my recuperation from surgery, it was wonderful to get outdoors beyond our neighborhood. I meet with my surgeon on Monday and expect to be given a clean bill of health and released from his oversight.
I want to say thanks to all those on Medium who wished me well and inquired about my health over the last few weeks. Your concern meant so much to me.
© Dennett 2021
Dedicated to James Knight who, I am sure, visited Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park when he was a student here.
