Florida pictures (mainly wildlife)

[Miss Z]

Hello Pet Talk!

I got back from my trip to south-west Florida early Tuesday morning, a little worse for wear (NEVER doing connecting flights again), but so happy that I'd had such a great two weeks in the USA. The weather was lovely; I didn't find it particularly too hot; when you've sizzled in Turkey and Cyprus at 45 degrees C in a nasty dry heat, the humidity is quite a relief!

Everyone is so friendly over there. Anyone and everyone will speak to you and service in restaurants and public places was almost always with a smile. It makes us Brits seem positively miserable!

We visited quite a few places - The Everglades and Big Cypress reserves of course were what I really wanted to see, but Sanibel and Captiva as well as the Bonita area were lovely too. My dad loved driving over there, my, what wide roads you have . When we returned home, we kept thinking the cars on the opposite side of the road were going to scrape our car.

Anyway, here are some of my pics. I ended up taking mainly pictures of wildlife, in fact two hundred and thirty of my two hundred and forty seven pictures were of animals and nature! I think I've improved my wildlife photography a bit, lol. I'm sure though that isn't a problem on these boards!



Well, this was home for two weeks. I love American style housing. The villa backed onto a very pretty lake where we always had birdlife visiting throughout the day.





We were so lucky to see these beautiful manatees. We got a tip off that some were sighted just offshore from Captiva the day before. When we went looking, we found them right up by the harbour - they were pretty much within touching distance. They even had a little baby with them. Such a memorable moment.



Look at the teeth on this croc! This one was in an animal park - unfortunately didn't get to see one of these in the wild, but....



We did see quite a few alligators. This was probably the only decent shot I got of one though, mainly you only see eyes and a nose before they disappear under the water. We did however, stumble upon one in a restaurant carpark , but I didn't have my camera with me then!

Many more coming!

[Miss Z]

Insect life is so colourful (and big!) there, I had good fun getting shots of butterflies.





I've never seen so many ospreys in my life! If you want to see one of these magnificent birds in England, you have to go into the Lake District and watch tv screen of a nest of one of the very few pairs here, as you cannot know the exact location of the nest because it could be targetted by egg collectors. In Florida, they could be seen sat on the road crash barriers on the way to Sanibel.



This turkey vulture posed nicely whilst we took an airboat ride.



This red-shouldered hawk took us by surprise when he swooped down from a tree and landed about a metre away from us whilst we were walking on a nature trail boardwalk. The pictures I took of him didn't turn out that great, and by the time I got the video camera on him, he flew off. Still, a very beautiful sight.



On the same boardwalk, my brother almost trod on this otter as he was sleeping on the trail! He did hang around long enough for a couple of pics before he slipped back into the water.



When I said, whilst on another nature walk, "Oo, there's a terrapin over there", lots of very confused Americans nearby turned and said, "Well, I can see the turtle, but nothing like what you saw." (In the UK, we tend to call freshwater turtles 'terrapins', or at least I always have. 'Turtles' to us means those in the sea.)

More!

[Miss Z]

I enjoyed the visit to Cabbage Key and Useppa islands, they were so idyllic. Maybe I'll end up retiring there.







And on the way to Cabbage Key, we got dolphins riding the surf. They are wonderful creatures.



I really wanted to see a spoonbill, and when I didn't see any for 12 days I thought I was out of luck. Then, day 13 (lucky for some!), there were about 15 of them roosting on Sanibel island.



I was very, very happy with this picture of a cormorant, as I have to be the slowest camera-button-presser in the world and I almost always miss shots like this!

Still some more...

[Miss Z]

You can't ignore all the amazing species of herons and egrets in Florida, they are pretty much everywhere you go and so beautiful.

















I liked this picture - a great blue heron and an anhinga chlling out on a hot day together.



Still more....

[Miss Z]

These tree crabs were very abundant around the mangroves.



I thought I was lucky to see an ibis, until I ended up seeing them nearly every day! They are very graceful birds. And so were these pelicans, even though they were such big birds!







Common animals, but I thought these pics were very sweet, especially the pair of doves.



How cute is this little guy? He hopped on our airboat, probably for a bit of relief from the heat - riding an airboat is a great outdoor air conditioner! The airboat was a highlight, they were very noisy and a lot faster than I expected, but chasing flying herons along the trails, seeing alligators slither in and out the reeds, and gliding over the reeds as if they weren't there was amazing.



Well, there's my good pictures, hope you enjoyed!

(Oh, I must say how lucky you all are over there with concern to shopping. Everything is so cheap! I got a complete outfit, including shoes and hat, for about $170, from Guess and Calvin Klein. Over here, I could expect to pay the equivalent in £s for just the shoes! Also I could get my shoes in a narrow fitting, which is so hard to find here. I would do all my shopping in the states. )

[Ginger's Mom]

Everyone is so friendly over there. Anyone and everyone will speak to you and service in restaurants and public places was almost always with a smile. It makes us Brits seem positively miserable!

I loved your pictures, Zara, and even more than that I loved seeing things through the eyes of a foreigner. I really had to chuckle at the comment you posted above. A girl from another forum I belong to visited New York (she is from Hertsford?) and she said almost exactly the same thing. I think it is partially your charming English accents that bring out the best in Americans (and the fact that you are both young and attractive).

[Daisy and Delilah]

Beautiful pictures, Zara!!! Breathtaking. You got some excellent shots for sure.

I'm with you Joyce. I think it was the charm and good looks that got the friendly treatment and I'm happy to hear that. We Floridians complain constantly about how rude everyone here is. I guess I should be 20 and gorgeous and I'll have a different outlook It warms my heart to hear how successful your vacation was.

[Taz_Zoee]

Those are amazing photos. I'm also awed by the fact that you know all your bird species. I would have to ask my co-worker for help. LOL

[RockyRoad]

Wow, looks like you had a blast! I love the pics, they are beautiful. And the house that you stayed in is gorgeous. Glad to hear that everyone was friendly - I`ve always thought Floridians were very friendly when I went - and that you had a great time!

[Alysser]

Zara, New jersey has plenty of wildlife too. What AWESOME pictures, I'm really impressed. The dolphin and crocdile ones are my favorite. Me trying to get pics of dolphins on our beaches= impossible. Those are great!!! What a blast. I love airboats, I went on one last December down there in the everglades. It's really nice. That house is gorgeous!

[jennielynn1970]

Those are amazing photos. I'm also awed by the fact that you know all your bird species. I would have to ask my co-worker for help. LOL

I was thinking the same thing, lol. I would have been posting "here's a bird. here's another bird. this is a really big bird." LOL! I have no idea what the species are. Never heard of a tree crab. That little guy, and that little frog on the hand, were cool!

The friendly part made me laugh too, lol. It's gotta be that you are stunningly gorgeous and have that fabulous accent! I'm sure I could go down there and be ignored... "eh... chubby girl with a northern accent. blech!"

[Miss Z]

I think it is partially your charming English accents that bring out the best in Americans

Hee hee, well, I dunno if my accent is that charming. My parents; perhaps; because they are both from more southern regions of England where speech is a bit gentler and more refined, but my brother and I had to often repeat ourselves when talking to some locals because they found it difficult to make out words in our slightly harsh accents. One clued-up Floridian however did say, "You're from the north of England, aren't you?" when I said, "Look at them luvly 'ouses over thur" whilst looking out a restaurant window at houses overlooking the sea. Still, I suppose it's all a matter of perspective. That reminds me that maybe we need a 'Let's hear you' thread sometime soon.

LOL Alyssa, still working on convincing the parents that NJ should be our next holiday destination.

Thank you so much, everybody! It is great to be back here after two weeks, I did miss PT quite a lot! Also, it was a good feeling knowing that I was on the same continent as the majority of PTers, even though I didn't get to meet any. Living in the UK, it often feels like I'm very far away on a secluded little island.

[chocolatepuppy]

Great pictures Zara! I'm happy to hear you enjoyed your stay here in the US!

[I_luv_rusty]

Very nice pictures, Zara! Those pictures of the dolphins are fantastic

Love the house you stayed in, I love Florida homes. They're all so pretty.

[BitsyNaceyDog]

I loved seeing your pictures. I think I appreciate the nature that surrounds me more than others around here, but still your pictures and captions have shoen me that I don't appreciate it nearly as much as I should.

I've never been down as far south as you were and some of the things you posted we don't have up here (I'm a little north of Orlando). I loved seeing the tree climbing crab!

I'm so glad you enjoyed your trip.