Everglades | Boat-tailed Grackle The Boat-tailed Grackle is a strangely colored songbird found in the southeastern USA. It’s just one of over 360 bird species that frequent the Everglades’ warm, shallow water. Notice the tail of this male. Males have very long tails folded in the shape of keel of a boat. For the whole story with all images, see Everglades | a 7 Image Story.
Everglades | a 7 Image Story Everglades NP is impressive not by its majestic scenery but by it’s water. Its landscape is relatively flat. Moreover, the everglades is all about the water and swampy land. What’s under the water. What’s on the water and land. The Everglades spans 1.5 million acres in southern Florida. It has two distinct seasons; dry season (Nov – Mar), wet season (Apr – Nov). These images were captured during the dry season.
Everglades NP is the Florida Outback. Clearly, this environment is a Gator’s playground. The American Alligator remains the iconic animal of the Florida Everglades. It’s the top of the food chain in the glades.
Everglades | Alligator Portrait An American Alligator Portrait gets real up close and personal. The portrait image must be captured down on the ground; meeting the gator at his level. The 70-300mm telephoto lens set at 70mm is still 189mm after the Nikon 1 V1 2.7 crop factor. Yes, that’s still close, but not too close. Gators generally move rather slowly. They can really move fast. Keep a safe distance. And, remember you’re on the ground; maybe on your belly, capturing this image.
Boat-tailed Grackle The Boat-tailed Grackle is a strangely colored songbird found in the southeastern USA. It’s just one of over 360 bird species that frequent the Everglades’ warm, shallow water. Notice the tail of this male. Males have very long tails folded in the shape of keel of a boat.
American Alligator This American Alligator resides in the Everglades near Everglades NP. This 60+ year old gator is one of the largest in the area. He barely moved as we passed by his favorite spot to sun bath in an air boat. Gators must keep their internal body temperature at 82º F so it’s a water and sun life.
Wood Storks The Wood Stork is the only stork species breeding in the United States. Its late winter breeding season coincides with the Florida dry season when its fish prey become concentrated in shrinking pools. During the dry season, many Wood Storks could be seen in the Everglades.
Raccoon Wild Everglade raccoons greeted our air boat. These guys roamed around an old native American house site which is visited regularly. They seemed thinner than the fat raccoons seen around the farms in Illinois. This image is one of the nicer raccoon images I have ever captured.
Black Vulture The Black Vultures in Everglades NP seemed quite comfortable with humans as well as vehicles. This image was captured near a small lake along a road with other vultures close by. Although they have been sighted in Illinois, northern Illinois is not part of the Black Vulture’s range. This encounter was my first with a Black Vulture. They appear to have a bit more character in their face than other vultures. The Black Vulture is a fairly large bird of prey 22–29 in tall with a 52–66 in wingspan and weighting 3.5 to 6.6 lb. Its plumage is mainly glossy black while the head and neck are featherless showing its dark gray and wrinkled skin.
Sunset The Everglades is a land of great contrasts, savage wildlife and serene sunsets. Hope to go back again someday!
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Everglades.
Click any image below for a slide show.
Boat-tailed Grackle It’s a strangely colored bird from in the southeastern USA. This image was captured in Everglades NP.
