A Visit to the "Leverglades"

Kara says Everglades so cute. I will add the link of the video soon.  Brent's parents came for a visit this month.  It was wonderful to have them here.  We loved to be able to share in what we have seen.  They spoiled us rotten and we enjoyed just being with them.  We took them down to the Everglades on our way to Miami (see next post).  It was interesting to see the different "seasons" here.  We went last year in April.  It was more brown and more dry this time.  Summer is known as the wet season and winter as the dry.  I see now.  We were blessed to see a lot of different animals on this trip.

Kara refused to walk.  Luckily she had Grandpa to give her a lift.

Erin taking a break from all that walking.

Wesley taking a picture of a rare moment when Kara was walking.  She weighs as much as the twins do.  She is getting heavy to carry.  I think she might be spoiled?  She is the baby after all.

Kara as the monkey in the tree and Wes as the spotter.

This is a huge Cypress tree base.  In April, the water covered a lot of the base.



This is an Anhinga. It has a pointed beak which it uses to spear the fish it hunts.
This bird does not have protective oils on its feathers and does not retain air in them either, allowing it to swim underwater and even dive when it fishes. To warm itself when it comes out of the water, and to dry its wings, it can often be seen perched on a branch with its wings spread in the sun.

 

A turtle sunning on a log.

This is a green heron.  I guess it does have a longer neck, it is just tucked in.

 

These birds are actually walking on water.  This is known as the Lettuce Lake.  The birds just walked along, hardly disturbing anything.  The top one is a Snowy Egret and the bottom one is a White Ibis.

  

This is a Strangler fig.  It starts it life germinating in the crown of another tree. As it grows, its roots travel down toward the earth. Once rooted, it quickly grows into a large, sprawling Banyan tree and literally grows around its host, strangling the life out of it.



Ashleigh wanted to take a picture of "the junk of leaves".  Erin said, "No that is a bush!"



We were lucky enough to see an alligator sunning in the river.