Florida pictures (mainly wildlife)

[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. )