Our Nature Day in the Everglades Area!

Ken and I drove to the Naples KOA to meet with Deb and Barry for our day of alligator and bird watching!  Barry and Deb drove with us in Diesel and we headed to Ten Thousand Island National Refuge Preserve to be on the lookout for Ken's favorite Florida Bird - the Roseate Spoonbill.  Last year we saw several flocks of them in this area.  Today we only saw about 5 and not nearly as closely as last year.  Saw several alligators too, some additional birds and numerous butterflies.

Our 1st alligator siting today!  A big one!!!!

The pink birds with the flat beaks (hard to tell) are
the roseate spoonbills!  They are unique and beautiful!

The Gecko!!!

These are Ken's roseate spoonbills!

From there we headed to Turner River Road, an area known for the viewing of lots of alligators and we saw dozens.  There is also a small park area where we had our picnic lunch and observed turtles, fish, and more alligators.  We also saw many alligators along Route 41 (the Tamiami Trail) and were fortunate to see 2 bald eagles in a tree along the road.  Good siting, Deb!!!!

What a beautiful site!

A "long necked" turtle!

There are 3 alligators in this photo and the one has its
head in the water and all we could see was the tail!

From there we drove to Everglade City (if you blink, you miss it!) just to see the great views of the Gulf!

Back to Willie by 3:45 and we got busy getting supper ready for the 4 of us.  Deb and Barry arrived at 5:45 and we enjoyed dinner together followed by the playing of 5 Crowns.  They left around 8:30 after another busy day.