Cuckoo Photo—But Not Mangrove

Saturday, February 18, 2017

The weather seems to be warming up again. The night was still comfortable, but it was a good ten degrees warmer than Thursday night. The mozzies seemed to be back and they got worse as the day went on.

Ellen and I went back out to West lake in the morning. She wanted to get a photo of the cuckoo and was hoping for another sighting. It wasn't to be. We looked hard but no cuckoo was to be seen. I think he is on a Mon-Wed-Fri schedule at West Lake.

When we got back to the campground, it had heated up and the mosquitoes were back at the hysterical level. At Harry's excellent suggestion, we decided to go over to the Buttonwood Cafe for lunch on our last day at Flamingo. The cafe is screened and there always seems to be a good breeze on the waterfront. It was a last day for all of us. Harry and Sally, who had originally planned to be here another week, have had it with the mosquito level, which even the full-time rangers have said it the worst they've ever seen it.

It was a good last lunch for all of us. We spent a fair amount of time after lunch sitting on the upper deck of the visitor center where the breeze was good and cooling and where there were no bugs. In addition to the birds and kayakers out on the bay, we got to watch a wedding on the lawn by the bulkhead outside the visitor center. I hope the bride and her bridesmaids were well doused in DEET since they were all wearing strapless gowns and dresses. This was being held in the same area where I was driven away by mozzies on Thursday.

After luxuriating in the bug-free breezes on the upper deck, we reluctantly returned to the campground to hole up in the screen house. We did get together for a group photo ... all dressed in long sleeve shirts and long pants, big hats, buffs covering our faces and sunglasses. What a bunch of bug-crazed cuckoos.

We had one last light dinner in the ThermaCell-scented screen house complete with ice cream bars before retiring for a rather sticky night.