Our final stop for this day was the Oasis Visitors Center in the Big Cypress National Preserve. Like the H. P. Williams Roadside park, this is also a good place to see alligators and wading birds.
Juvenile Great Blue Heron
Halloween Pennant Dragonfly
Juvenile Night Heron (probably Black-crowned)
Our next stop after Marco Island was the H. P. Williams Roadside Park along the Tamiami Trail (US-41). This place is usually good for viewing alligators and wading birds.
One of the first things we spotted was an Anhinga nest with mom and a large chick.
Great Blue Heron
On one of our last days in the Naples area, we took a drive across Marco Island and then over to the Tamiami Trail (US-41) to revisit a couple of good wildlife viewing spots.
Marco Island is densely developed with residential housing, much of which is around man-made canals. But Marco Island is also known to have a sizeable population of Burrowing Owls which seem to coexist with the large human population. We managed to find a few burrows with owls outside.
The owl on the left is a juvenile.
The day after our trip to Sanibel Island, we drove over to visit the Audubon Corkscrew Swap Sanctuary.
We spotted this racoon prowling along the shore
Pileated Woodpecker
Little Blue Heron
Female Anhinga drying off
"Oops!"
Great Egrets
Young alligators
Immature White Ibis
Southern Water Snake
Silhouette on a large back-lit leaf
After our stay near Titusville, we headed to the Naples area on the west coast of Florida. From our base south of Naples, we drove north to visit the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island.
A Green Heron waits patiently at the edge of the water.
We drove through Cape Coral on our return to look for Burrowing Owls. We only saw a couple owls, including this one.
On the afternoon of our last day, we made a second loop around Black Point Drive.
A juvenile Little Blue Heron just starting to get its adult color
Watchful alligator
A large crab on the bottom of a shallow pond
A fishing Snowy Egret
A swimming Anhinga
Alligator portrait
A Glossy Ibis catching the sunlight
Little Blue Heron
"Road hazard"
A Snowy Egret hanging out with Roseate Spoonbills
Roseate Spoonbill portrait
