26 April 2023 - Bonita Springs to Key Largo

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Bald Eagle, Roseate Spoonbill, Great Crested Flycatcher, Pileated Woodpecker, Common Grackle, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Mottled Duck, Chimney Swift, Northern Cardinal, Brown Thrasher, Green Heron, Tricolored Heron, Killdeer, Palm Warbler, Red-shouldered Hawk, Wood Stork, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Anhinga, Cattle Egret

A walk around the digs at Bonita Springs before packing up for Key Largo produced the now regular Brown Thrasher singing from a nearby garden, a slightly better view of Great Crested Flycatcher, and a Pileated Woodpecker that landed on a telegraph pole across the road. A Bald Eagle and a Roseate Spoonbill passed overhead, as did a few Chimney Swifts, and three Mottled Ducks were on the river.

After packing up we decided to hang around in the area with a view to getting in touch with the police to hopefully get my wallet back. They had it somewhere in their evidence system but it wasn't available just yet. If we could collect it today it would avoid a big detour on the way back. We visited a couple of parks in the Bonita Springs area, encountering Green Heron, Tricolored Heron, Killdeer, Palm Warbler and Red-shouldered Hawk, along with a couple of Gopher Tortoises, but by 11am or so, when we contacted the police again, the wallet still wasn't available to collect so we decided to head for the Keys.

En route we stopped for lunch in the Everglades area where a couple of Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers were perched on a stone in the layby, one nymph stage and one adult. A little further on we noticed a couple of Wood Storks flying over the road and there was a picnic/rest spot nearby so we pulled in. A small boardwalk overlooked a pool area that contained half a dozen or so Alligators loafing and swimming around in close proximity. Quite a few Wood Storks were dropping in from overhead, into an area just beyond some trees, but eventually we carried on our journey towards Key Largo. The rest of the journey was fairly uneventful although we did encounter a couple of Swallow-tailed Kites a little further on, and there were plenty of Great and Snowy Egrets and Anhingas in the channels by the roadside.

We arrived in Key Largo late afternoon and after unloading our luggage, went to do some shopping, so didn't see much else. As we sat outside the digs having a cool beer in the evening, a possible Nighthawk sp. flew over but I only caught a glimpse as it disappeared.

Brown Thrasher, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 800 (view full size image)