More sunny days at Kissimmee Prairie. We have bold birds here. Yesterday, Steve and Ellen pish-off an owl, both days Ellen walks and Steve rides and many more Florida Trail through hikers arrive.
We have some cheeky warblers and crows here. There is a Palm Warbler who visits the campsite frequently (a particular one, I think, but they all look alike to me). He isn't tame, but pretty bold, doing things like perching on our little table while we are sitting right next to it and hopping around right at our feet. There are also three crows who hang around our end of the campground most of the day. If someone leaves any campsite, they move in to investigate.
The people next to us have two little dogs and when they leave to walk them, the crows move in and check out the dogs food & water bowls. I was chatting with one of the through hikers this morning and a crow moved in and tried to steal his food bag. We haven’t been hassled but they do strut by often.
Yesterday morning, Ellen and I took a walk along the Hammock Trail, a short trail that starts just outside the campground. It was pretty quiet and we were seeing and hearing few birds in the woods. We entered a little open area in the trees and I decided to try playing my “pishing” recording to see if any small birds would appear. Much to our surprise, a Barred Owl (not a small bird at all) flew up from the base of a palm not more than three feet away. It landed on a nearby branch about 8-10 feet up and stared at us until we got tired of taking pictures and we left. We surmised that it was feeding on something at the base of the tree...we didn't go over and look. We saw 14 species in all during the walk, but the owl was definitely the highlight of that walk. We've seen Barred Owl before and we had heard one in the distance the day before, but we've never had this good a view of one in the wild.
In the afternoon, Ellen took a walk back along part of the Prairie Loop Trail and I decided to take my bike and attempt to ride west on the Military Road, historically a military road, but now closed to vehicles and one of the park trails. We walked part of it the other day returning from the Prairie Loop. I got out about three and a half miles before it got too sandy for my touring bike to plow through. I passed a slough with a fair number of wading birds and saw quite a few Red-shouldered Hawks, mostly on the wing. Ellen’s walk was similar to the morning one, but she saw Wild Turkey, Red-shouldered Hawk and Downy Woodpecker, a change from the many Red-bellied Woodpeckers we've seen here.
This morning was much like yesterday afternoon. Ellen chose a walk in the oak hammocks and I took a bike ride. We got out Ellen's bike the other day, but the rough roads seem to hurt her repaired thumb when riding. That is rather unfortunate in this park, since it is a long walk from the campground to many of the trailheads.
She didn't do too badly this morning though, with another turkey, another Red-shouldered Hawk, a Kestrel, a Loggerhead Shrike and an Eastern Meadowlark among her 16 species. It rode east on the park road to the Peavine trail, another closed sandy road that runs north to the park boundary. I actually wasn't planning on looking for birds, but an American Kestrel flew right in front of me shortly after I turned onto the trail. Right after that the trail passed over a culvert with a water couse on both sides. It was filled with waders, Great Blue and Little Blue Herons, a Tri-colored Heron, Great and Snowy Egrets, Anhinga and a large flock White Ibis. There was also a Belted Kingfisher and three alligators.
I did manage to ride all the way out to the fence line at the park boundary. The road was a bit soft in places, but it was nowhere near as bad as the Military Road yesterday. On the way out and back, I also spotted another kestrel, a Merlin and a Northern Harrier flying out over the prairie...and Turkey Vultures as always.
After lunch back at Speedy, it was time for showers and laundry. Ellen managed to get her shower in before they were closed for cleaning, but I just missed it. The washers were also in use by some of the Florida trail hikers who started filtering in after noontime. After a few days plodding through the swamps, all they wanted were showers and laundry (actually, they were also looking for food and drink, but there is no store or machines here. The closest grocery is probably 30 miles away.
While waiting for the washing machines and for the showers to reopen, we chatted a bit with the hikers. They are a mixed lot. They all seem to have started from Big Cypress National Preserve, just above the Everglades National Park, around January 6th. There was a seasonal kickoff gathering hosted by the various Florida Trails associations, with food and drink at that time, so most of the folks we are seeing started then (13 over the last three days have camped across from us). A few actually started at Key West a few days earlier.
The hikers range from people who have done many of the other big national trails, like the Appalachian Trail, to people for whom this is their first long through hike. One of the hikers we talked with today has done the Appalachian Trail, The Pacific Crest Trail, the Continental Divide Trail and has backpacked in all of the National Parks except two, Kobuk Valley NP, above the Arctic Circle in Alaska, and American Samoa National Park, which is just far away.
Another I spoke with today has done two through hikes of the Appalachian Trail and she is doing what is known as the Eastern Continental Trail (ECT), the collection of linked trails that runs from Key West to Belle Isle, a small island north of Newfoundland which is the last peak in the Appalachian Mountain chain. It is 5,400 miles long and seems to require two long ferry rides at the end (or some very cold long swims).
The experienced folks I've talked to all seem to think this is more trouble than the other big trails because there is so much water. They have spent quite a bit of time, so far, walking through swamp water and muck, some of it getting well over the knees. There are still a few days of that ahead for them. Another problem with the Florida Trail, which is about 1,300 miles long, is that it is incomplete as an off-road trail and there is quite a bit of road walking, which many of the hikers feel is harder on the feet and body than walking on unpaved trails. I feel badly for the first-timers. The Florida Trail seems to be a harsh introduction to long distance hiking. We wish them all well.
Tomorrow, we leave the prairie and join our friends, Ken & Heidi, for a couple of nights at the Indiantown Marina, which seems to have an unadvertised campground. They are staying there for a month, partly working on a Habitat for Humanity project and partly just vacationing. Then we are off to the Everglades!
Still not enough bandwidth for photos.
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