December 21, 2003 - Ocklawaha, FL

Continuing our visit to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park:

The hard to find Cara-Cara bird.  Sort of a cross between raptor and vulture.  It'll eat carrion, but when it can't find any, it'll kill its prey.  Neat colors, eh?  And then the black bear.  Today at about 3 p.m., as we were returning from church and running errands, about 2 miles from camp, we saw a nice big black bear starting across the road.  It stopped and turned back into the brush as soon as it saw us.  Largest black bear we'd seen since leaving Alaska.  In the photo, this guy was one of a pair.  The pair had been picked up by a hunter when they were cubs, and raised by hand until they got too big.

The bears were goofing off in the water, knocking a ball around and stuff like that.  And then the pelicans were carrying on over a stick.  Not sure just what was going on here.  We got here in the middle of the dispute/display.  Could have been a parent/offspring thing, or potential mate situation, or just a couple of bored birds.

In the final sequence of the bird pictures, the pelican on the left has picked up a smaller stick, and apparently the egret is acting as referee because it was the end of the display when he came along.  Think your home state has funny names for towns?  We laughed over Weekie Wachee so often we had to stop and take a picture.  It's even spelled differently on some signs.

Meanwhile, back at the home front, Barb was fascinated by the number of shoes we'd gathered by the door--8 pairs.  No wonder we suddenly have room in the closet!  Of course there's an explanation for them all being here...... but I won't go into it.  And one morning while Barb was still in the shower, I noticed a bunch of people outside looking up.  And here came the hot air balloons so close we could yell at the pilots and passengers.  At  this point we're still parked here in the TTN park in Clermont, FL, near Orlando.

Never ones to stay home when we can run away, when son Doug called from their home in St. Louis and said that he and his family were going to spend the Thanksgiving holiday at a hotel on the beach in Naples, we pulled up stakes and parked the motorhome at the Elks lodge in Sarasota, and went to visit the kids.  The guy on the left putting on lotion is one of the guys who works with Doug.  Matter of fact, Paul was the first guy Doug hired.  Wife Kerry and daughters Robin and Holly were out swimming .... and we saw this fin in the water!  And so did those people standing on the beach.  Barb got all excited, I got curious, and Doug just grinned.

Yeah, it's a fin for sure.  But it kept going up and down rather than just running steady.  Not a shark at all, in spite of the several attacks per year here in Florida.  It was a dolphin, and it went within 15 feet of where the girls were swimming, and everybody just looked at each other, and then it went off on its dolphin business.  Or maybe it was a porpoise.  I used to know the difference.  I know it's not a Pacific Bottlenose dolphin, because we're on the Gulf of Mexico.  See that beach umbrella stuck in the sand?  Ever wonder how it got there?  Well, watch that guy with the cordless drill....and the big bit in it.....and the folded umbrella in his other hand.

The bit goes deep in the ground, then the drill & bit get put out of the way, all the time the folded umbrella stays firmly in grasp.  Then it's stick the umbrella into the hole time, and they're off to do something else.  Pretty slick, eh?  And if you knew where to look, you'd see Doug and me up there watching all the action.  Give you a hint.  We're sort of hiding behind the shortest palm tree on the right of center.

The bathing beauties, Robin, Holly & Kerry, and then Doug and me up on the deck watching the swimmers and Barb with the camera.

Just a shot of some ways to enjoy the warm gulf waters.  And then some more wandering.  This time to the largest state park in Florida.  Myakka State Park.  Just east of Sarasota, and not well known even by the natives.  Needless to say, it's full of wild life, and not the sort that's reputed to be on the beach near Miami, either.  This Great Blue Heron is in the process of getting a pretty good sized fish for lunch...and dinner too, from the size of it!  Barb had watched the bird drop the fish in the sand trying to get it turned around, then having to go back into the water to wash it off, catch it again and try to get it turned around again.

Well, the fish was finally consumed, and the heron flew away.  Sort of slowly, I noted.  And the local 'gator doing his thing.  Which was nothing at all that we could see.  Big fellow, and the local people said he has several lady friends, and each year there are several nests in the area.  As you may know, the female lays a clutch of eggs in a mound of vegetation that rots.  The rotting creates heat, and the amount of heat dictates the gender of the offspring.  As they hatch, they make squeaking sounds, and when the mother hears it she goes to the nest, flings the vegetation aside, and carries the babies to the water in her mouth.  Then she hangs around some more, providing protection (mostly from their father, who'd eat them) until they swim off on their own.

We'd avoided airboat rides last time we were in Florida because they're noisy, go to fast to see anything, and all that.  So, this time we decided we'd sort of compromise.  The park has an airboat concession, but it isn't very fast because it's so big.  The picture on the left is one of the tour boats, and on the right (tied up next to the concession boat) is the more traditional air boat.  Usually an old V8 engine with a propeller stuck on, and no mufflers.  Some of the more expensive ones have Lycoming aircraft engines of course.

From one extreme to the other.  The engine of the airboat, and a butterfly about the size of a half dollar that paused just long enough for its portrait.

Since air boats have no reverse or brakes, this one has a unique way of landing and tying up, so it can take off again headed in the right direction.  See the white lines on the gunnels of the boat?  The Captain will drive slowly and have a "controlled crash" landing, hitting the post between the lines, so the hook will steady the boat against the post while it's turned around.  Simple and effective.  Like the cormorant drying itself.  No oil makes for soggy feathers when it has to go underwater for its food.  What a bummer, eh?  Except that it does just fine by drying out on a regular basis.  Like the turtles?