Gators everywhere

Or The Everglades, Part 1.

Well, I have been very busy with my dissertation of late, and have put the blog on the back burner. But I was meaning to post about the visit my family paid us this March. It had a decidedly Everglades theme to it, and I must say I found a new appreciation for this hotbed of biological diversity. Of course, everyone thinks of alligators as synonomous with the Everglades. In fact, while travelling along the Tamiami Trail (Highway 41) back from Naples, David and I had some hot, tired-looking tourists enquire where they might spot one of these magnificent carnivores. I wondered, had they been looking in the canal along the road at all, where they should of seen dozens of the reptiles basking on the banks? My answer to them was Shark Valley, one of the public entrances to Everglades National Park, where you are absolutely guaranteed to see gators, to the point that they seem positiviely passé.

I have absolutely fallen in love with the bike trail at Shark Valley, although I probably won't be visiting again until fall, when the mosquitos are less ubiquitous and the weather isn't so hot. The trail is a 15 mile loop, starting at the Visitor's Center. Out at the far end of the trail is an observations tower, from which you can see all sorts of birds roosting in the trees. I love listening to them chatter and squawk. They could be called the Everglades Symphony. You can rent bikes at Shark Valley for around $8/hr, or bring your own.

For those of you who can't or don't want to bike the loop, you can take a tram ride around the trail. The best part of this is that a ranger guides the tour, and so you learn about the biology and ecology of the sawgrass prairie, as well as its natural history. The tram rides make the park accessible to everyone. You can even walk along the trail for a bit. Right out by the Visitor Center is where I have seen some of the most wildlife, including a Little Green Heron and an Anhinga nest.

I've now done the trail by bike and tram, and the place never fail to strike a sense of wonder in me. It is thrilling to watch the anhinga, the herons and egrets, the ibises and storks, fishing, roosting, relaxing. When you drive through the Everglades at 70 mph, it looks like a flat see of sawgrass, and seems like it doesn't hold a candle to the national parks out West. In the Everglades, you have to slow down and look a little more closely to really appreciate its beauty.

For the next post, we'll stay in the Everglades, but travel to the mangrove estuaries...