After our single night in Miami, on 13 February we had an early breakfast at the Denny’s diner near our hotel and drove the short distance to the Everglades National Park.
We’d been to the Everglades NP during our 2014 tour of Florida and really enjoyed the park so we were keen to revisit on this trip. Thanks to some jetlag, we arrived early to have good light for photography and headed straight to the excellent Anhinga Trail.
Perhaps not surprisingly, one of the first birds we saw on the Anhinga trail was an Anhinga. But very soon after we had the remarkable sight of another Anhinga spearing a Bluegill and then trying to work out what to do with such a large fish.
Along the Anhinga Trail the birds are used to the many visitors and sit just a few metres from the boardwalk offering great photo opportunities.
Our visit was well before the start of spring migration but we enjoyed seeing some of the winter resident birds.
As well as birds, there were plenty of other animals to photograph in the Everglades.
We next moved to the Pa-Hay-Okee Overlook, which has a boardwalk that gives views over an extensive area of grass and also passes through a wooded area. There weren’t as many birds on the Anhinga Trail, but we did have close views of a pair of White Ibis.
By mid-afternoon we had reached the Flamingo Lodge resort at the southern end of the park. Here the walk along the edge of the lake in front of the accommodation buildings was particularly good for birds. We also saw a Great Southern White butterfly.
We also saw an Osprey and numerous Turkey Vultures flying over the lake.
As we drove towards the park exit we called in again at the Anhinga Trail since the late-afternoon light was so good for photography. We were surprised by how busy the trail was at this time of day, but were glad we returned since we got some of our best photographs of the day on this second visit.
After a very satisfying end to our day in The Everglades we drove the short distance to Florida City where we spent the night at the Holiday Express Inn.