So … in typical fashion, yesterday we took our guest to that great park known as Myakka. And in typical fashion, it failed to disappoint.
Arriving a little after 5PM, this was our latest excursion into the park to date. First stop: the canopy walkway. Used primarily for research into the forest canopy, a suspended walkway, about 30ft in the air, leads through the tree tops to a second tower that then climbs to almost 80ft and provides the best view in the area. We, however, eventually had to leave before Bob hurt himself … he was having way too much fun on that walkway. Remind me never to take him to the Capillano suspension bridge!
Now … off to find those gators and you know what; they are not that hard to find. We pulled into the boat launch area to check out the fishing pier as we figured that would provide the best view of a gator. It is funny watching “newbies” try and locate them … where ? … I don’t see anything ? … that ? … Are you sure ?? … lucky for us there was one gator just below the pier lazily sitting there waiting for its picture to be taken. But then there is another one … and another … and that one is kinda funny waiting by the fishing line (when the line moved … so did he/she). There were plenty of gators to watch and enjoy. Only then did we noticed the fisherman … 20 ft out into the water (water is only about 2ft deep) in mud boots … a gator not less than 10-15ft away. Man … and we were scared!.
Then the birds came out. First the Herons, then the black vultures (lots of vultures), then a few ospreys – the skies completely filled up. I have not seen anything like it. But there are two things that don’t fly well together: bird … and fishing lurers. It was a poor little Eckel that got snagged. It struggled to pull away but eventually had to land. The fisherman started reeling him in to release the hook – but you guessed it … the friendly neighbourhood gator saw dinner. Within seconds the gator had closed in and snatched up the smaller bird. The Discovery channel brought to life … both the Eckel and the lurer were now gone. Apparently 10 pound test is no match for a gator 😉 Few more pictures of us, the gators, the sunset and it was time to head out for our own dinner … … …
That ended another enjoyable and educational trip to the local state park. We saw tree tops, gators, vultures, ospreys, herons, more vultures, snakes, spiders, even more vultures, deer, and swarms of dragonflies (we are talking hundreds) … dusk seems to be an interesting time in the wild kingdom.
In other news
Apple released a new G4 ibook. I just need to find a way to make a few extra bucks so we can pay off our debts and pick up some toys … unfortunately in that order 🙁
The Canucks managed to squeeze by the St. Louis Blues 3 – 2 last night. King, their star rookie, seems to be a real asset to the team as he grabbed the game winner along with 2 assists on the night.
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