The Heat Is On

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Tuesday started very early for me and due to the configuration of Speedy's interior, for Ellen as well. Early being around 5 AM. It was a warm night and still around 70° inside at that point, and quite humid. I figured the coolest approach was to take my latte outside and sit in the screen house. Ellen wasn't enamored of that idea and stayed behind. That didn't last very long and she soon joined me.

There was a cooling breeze from the east and it was quiet and dark at that point. The stars were very bright as the moon had set, so we sat there sipping our coffees watching the sky gradually lighten and listening as the birds started their morning chorus.

Of course the other campers started waking as well and lights went on and cars started driving by (probably fishermen), so we got our breakfast and prepared for a morning walk to Eco Pond.

We got to the pond early today and pickings were much better than yesterday. It was quiet on the pond when we arrived, with just a Tri-colored Heron and a couple of Snowy Egrets, but soon many more Snowies began arriving. We then spotted the stilts among them and a Belted Kingfisher began zooming back and forth over the pond. Actually, wading bird numbers are way down over previous visits, most likely due to high water in the park. The week we were at Ocala some very heavy rain came through South Florida and the small ponds here all rose at least a foot. We have only seen Roseate Spoonbills flying over heading into the backcountry. They have been in abundance in the past. We've seen no Wood Storks at all.

On our walk around the pond, there was quite a bit birdsong and calls in the bushes and trees, but it was tough going finding them. When we were finished we were surprised to find that we'd seen 30 species including a Painted Bunting.

When we returned to Speedy it was still early, so Ellen went off on her morning fast walk and I decided to ride my bike out to Mrazek Pond, a 10-mile round-trip. I brought along my compact binoculars and wished I'd brought along the spotting scope. There were quite a few ducks at the pond.

They were mostly at the far end of the pond ... it always seems that they are at the far end of the pond. What I could identify were Blue-winged Teal, but there may have been some others. There were also a pair of Pied-billed Grebes, two Kingfishers and two Common Gallinule. After the brief stop at the pond, it was an uneventful ride back to the campground and the needed shower.

After lunch and an afternoon reading in the shade of the screen house, we decided to bike over to the visitor center and marina to upload journal entries and get some more milk at the marina store. The Internet access was a little slow, especially uploading photos, but that mission was accomplished. The milk mission was not so successful. When we stopped at the marina store yesterday, I asked about milk as I didn't see any in the cold cases. They said that it would be in on Tuesday.

It was Tuesday, it was in, it was only in pints. We have enough Parmalat boxed milk to last until Friday when we plan to make a run for groceries. After our weekly 150-mile shopping trips to Tucson last winter, Homestead will be a piece-of-cake. Hmmm ... maybe a stop at the Palm Bakery will provide that as well.

The wind dropped as we rode back to Speedy and it has stayed that way through dinner. It looks like it may be a hot sticky night. We've been pretty successful at keeping the Mozzies out though.