Everglades National Park is famous for birds and wildlife, if you know where to look. Just avoid the alligators, crocodiles, panthers and snakes. Don't touch the poisonous plants. Be prepared for insects and sunburns.
Very enjoyable video. Bob has a nice way of talking with us as he goes; good cadence, informative and just a lot of fun. Enthusiasm is contagious with Bob leading the way ! Must say that "Christian Point" was heartbreaking. Looked like Nature just sort of "gave up" on any recovery. Hope it becomes something beautiful once again......
I live in Homestead, so I visit Everglades Natl. Park quite often. Photography in the style of Ansel Adams and Clyde Butcher is my hobby so I like to get out there in late summer and early fall when the sky explodes with clouds and thunderstorms. I've hiked the Christian Point trail to the end two times and both times it was fascinating to see and photograph all the dead trees bleached white by the sun. The last time I attempted to hike in there I had knee-high boots, a long sleeve shirt and a generous dousing of repellent but still didn't make it very far. The salt marsh mosquito is ferocious and unstoppable. Anyway, great video.
I remember going down to the Redlands Baptist Church every Sunday and Dad taking the back way would drive us by Oolite pit mines then just past there was a grove of the darkest pine trees that i had ever seen. The kids that lived across from Oolite would tell us some scary tales about the "forest". But my Dad always told us to stay out of those trees because they weren't safe. We got to go to work with him on Saturdays because it was one day that the boss wasn't working at Oolite pit mines. There were some interesting things around the lakes that were being dug out for the shale dirt. Like the black peoples cemetary that was being covered over with mine tailings. It was scary to walk through the grave stones that were still standing at the back of the 3rd lake. My Dad told us we were never to talk about them but the local kids knew they were there but didnt understand the signicance of the headstones. It took me until i was an adult to figure it out.
Great video! I live in Miami and see many of these birds in my neighborhood. The mockingbirds love eating berries from my Simpson stopper tree. Tons of blue jays, one snatched a Gulf fritillary caterpillar from my passionflower vine. We also have cardinals, hummingbirds, hawks, white ibis, woodpeckers, and even a bunch of peacocks. But one bird showed up recently I've never seen down here. It looked a lot like an Oriole. It stood out a lot with his bright orange chest and black and white wings. Thanks for sharing your video!
I've been dying to do this one for a long time. I didn't even get to half the secrets I wanted to. Could have stayed twice the time and not done it justice.
We live in N Delaware and back on the Christiana River. We are under a migration route for birds and have so many beautiful song and water birds…it’s a joy to see and hear them. There are some pairs of birds who nest in the marsh across from us that we actually recognize from year to year. Shortly after we moved in 20 years ago beaver returned. I doubt it will happen in my lifetime but I hope for otters. They have been seen in other areas around us. Wonderful video.
@@Bob_Duchesne I look forward to it! I’m disabled so can’t do much anymore unless there’s wheelchair access. I look forward seeing other the videos and the one on Bombay Hook, a place I love.
Great Very good video, you are very right when you say that each trip is different, I go very often but it has been a while since we have even seen the alligators, I don't know what has happened to the birds, recently we were able to see a Great Horned Owl, but Most of the birds that frequent the Everglades during migratory times are no longer seen, it is really very sad, and also many people very close to the Osprey nests, even bothering them. Thank you very much again for such a good narrative.
I do that every visit is different, even when I see less than I am expecting. I really wish I had more time to linger. It's been years since I camped on a chickee. I saw spoonbills flying over Flamingo, and I know they're in there somewhere. I worry less about the ospreys. They seem comfortable with people. I'm more impressed that they're so comfortable with each other - nests in such close proximity to each other. No apparent rivalry. That's a testament to how plentiful the food is that they don't compete much.
Holy cow, I will be in the area the next few days and so this video couldn’t have come at a better time! So informative and I love how Bob shows the map as he travels along, I can’t imagine a better produced video of this great Nationally Park, outstanding.
Last Summer and this Winter, we have had a tremendous amount of rain. Winter is typically our dry season, but not this Winter. At 4:19 on your map, Hidden Lake is due north of where you marked Hidden Lake. It is that little road that goes to it. The lake that you are calling Hidden Lake is the newly restored area. This area was the last 400 acres cleared of Brazilian Pepper. The bird at 4:47 is a Great White Heron or a white morph of a Great Blue Heron. The ducks at 4:53 are Ring-necked Ducks. At 11:04 you mention that Strangler Fig is a vine but it is a tree. Bird droppings with Strangler Fig seeds are dropped on branches often high up. The Strangler Fig then sends roots down to the ground. At 12:04 the water levels of Paurotis Pond show how high the water levels are. The herons, egrets, and Roseate Spoonbills won't nest until the water levels are lower and concentrate the fish needed for the young. Snake Bight Trail and all of the trails from there towards Flamingo, can have hoards of mosquitoes. Typically Winter and Early Spring the numbers will be lower. I enjoyed your video!
This is GREAT! Thanks. I learn so much on every visit, despite how often I've been there. As to your point, my wife also disagreed with where I marked Hidden Lake...and she's always right. I confess, I looked twice (thrice) at that heron, but ultimately caved to egret despite my misgivings. The strangler fig I knew about, but explained poorly. I've never seen Paurotis Pond so empty. I feared for the worse. And Snake Bight owes me one. On my very first visit, when mosquitoes were horrible, I got back to the gate in time to see a pair of cuckoos in the tree above. It NEVER occurred to me 52 years ago that they were lifer mangrove cuckoos. It took me another 35 YEARS to get one over near Naples - my longest grudge bird ever. (Boreal owl is catching up.) Thank for the help. I already want to go back.
I sometimes get them around Pa-hay-okee, but not this year. I most often get them around Shark Valley on the Tamiami Trail - both near that part of Everglades NP and also near some of the dikes where water crosses the canal. Just look up. They can seem a little like vultures and be overlooked.
I remember going to the Everglades in the mid 80's and seeing skinny raccoons in the trees near the Anhinga Trail. Not like fat Maine raccoons. The pythons got them? That is pretty sad.
@@Bob_Duchesne It was years ago. I e also seen them down by where they built the eco tents. I also remember all those marsh rabbits on the drive in to Flamingo to launch, all gone! We used to stay at the cabins, wiped out by hurricane Wilma, you couldn’t leave anything edible in your coolers or the raccoons would get it. They’re all gone too. I’m In Australia now, you would go nuts here with the bird life. A few days ago we saw 5 Cassowaries! I could listen to the Kookaburras all day.
It's a Canon Vixia HF G50. It's such a versatile workhorse. I don't even bring along my SLR anymore. The only problem I have with it is that it is way smarter than I am, and it's taken me a little while to bend it to my will. I think Canon is now up to the G70, but I still haven't outgrown this one after two years. It goes everywhere with me. However, some credit has to go to Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. I spend a lot of time steadying shaky footage.
