The Wild Side
In Sawgrass Lake Park again. Can you tell I like to go here to explore and adventure.
The Wild
We encountered a gentleman on the boardwalk and he introduced us to Mama Gator. He stated she has about 24 babies. I saw one of the babies.
Mama Gator
Mama Gator
The Flora
Holly
Lantana
These are Beauty Berries
The Unusual
I could not figure out what species of bird this was, so I sent a picture of it to the local Audubon Society to help me identify.
Let me introduce you to a Limpkin. Looks like a cross between a crane and a rail. However, this wading bird does not have any close relatives. I got to see not 1 but 2 Limpkins! These birds are usually solitary.
An unusual bird of southern swamps and marshes. These birds like to eat apple snails hence the shape of their long bill to extract the snails from their shells. This bird enters into Florida and Southern Georgia to satisfy its dietary requirement for apple snails.
I encourage you all to do an internet search for the “Limpkin Call”. Its screaming call is like a haunting banshee wail. This bird was too busy searching for food, so it did not make any noise when around it. In my research I found out these birds mainly call at dawn or at night. I cannot imagine traipsing through the swamp at night and hearing this bird scream – gives me goose bumps writing that!
The Fauna
The Birdlife
Egrets
Heron
Ibis
Moorhen
The Exotic
Do you see the snake?
(Photos by RSheridan)
CRAVESAdventure 
October 28th, 2015 at 9:10 AM
I love it there too! Great photos!!
October 28th, 2015 at 10:43 AM
Thanks so much! Happy Day – Enjoy 🙂
October 28th, 2015 at 10:10 AM
This is so much fun to discover a new region of the country via your postings. So different from Minnesota in types of birds, plants and, of course, those gators.
October 28th, 2015 at 10:52 AM
So different from the Midwest as well as the West Coast. Fun to explore and discover this diverse ecosystem though. Happy Day – Enjoy 🙂
October 28th, 2015 at 12:09 PM
This was my very backyard growing up as a child in the late 50’s & all of the 60’s. They say you can never go home, but with Sawgrass I can. This is what most of Pinellas County looked like before the developers hit.
October 28th, 2015 at 3:12 PM
Love the birds–and those berries are an awesome purple!
October 28th, 2015 at 3:39 PM
Love the birdlife down here. Those beauty berries just POP out at you with all the shades of green! Happy Day – Enjoy 🙂
October 28th, 2015 at 3:20 PM
OMG when I saw that gator, I thought hey go over there so I can enjoy the rest of the scenery lol. I am so in love with this place. Then again you never post something I don’t love.
October 28th, 2015 at 3:38 PM
Happy Arm Chair Traveling 🙂 She is a BIG Mama – have updated photos of her that I need to share – she was taking a mud spa and sunning herself – ha!
October 29th, 2015 at 1:55 PM
Such a cool place. I love the mama gator.
October 29th, 2015 at 8:03 PM
It is and seeing mama gator is a sight to see! Happy Day – Enjoy 🙂
October 29th, 2015 at 8:29 PM
Beautiful photos – I love all the birds and I’m happy to see there are still wild places like this. That’s a lot of babies for the mama gator too!
October 30th, 2015 at 9:19 AM
Thanks so much! Happy Weekend – Enjoy 🙂
October 30th, 2015 at 11:46 AM
I am thinking that is a Mama not to be messed with!
October 30th, 2015 at 1:17 PM
As the posted signs say no harassing the gators! Happy Weekend – Enjoy 🙂
November 9th, 2015 at 10:47 AM
Gators are scary in my opinion. Nice post. On an air boat one year I held my daughter close when someone told me they like bright colors. I imagined them jumping ahead and snatching her up.
November 9th, 2015 at 11:38 AM
Once in a while while I am out and about I see a pretty good sized gator and it stops me in my tracks. Yes I am up on platforms, but gators can jump their body lengths. I keep that in the back of my mind as well as the respect that I am in their habitat. Gators are scary and fascinating and strike a whole lot of emotions in each and every one of us. Happy Week – Enjoy!