Saturday, January 26, 2013

A Day on the Prairie

 

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park

We hit the ground running as soon as we got here and haven’t stopped since.

We’ve been done a lot of hiking since the weather is now cool enough.  The last time we were here was June and it was hot and humid.

We’ve seen a lot of wildlife.

I haven’t had time to identify this guy.  I’ve seen this bird before but darned if I can remember what he is.

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We had to search a while but we finally spotted a Crested Caracara.  This one of my favorite birds.

It was windy and he was having a bad hair day.

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We spotted this large flock of birds.  Haven’t had time to identify them either.  Any ideas?

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We sat outside last night, had happy hour by a campfire and watched the sunset.

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The moon was full.

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This morning we went on a swamp buggy tour of the prairie.  This time it was given by one of the park volunteers.  He was very knowledgeable and did a good job.  It cost $17 per person for a 2 1/2 hour trip.

 

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The last time we were here we got to do the tour with the park biologist and we were searching Swallow Tailed Kite nests.

We didn’t see as much wildlife as we had hoped, but it was a great chance to cover a lot of ground in the prairie.

Some of the prairie is wet.

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and some of it is dry.

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More pictures later. We have internet service, but just barely.  It’s a little slow posting with too many pictures and I’ve probably already exceeded my limit.

9 comments:

  1. Amazing there is so much water on the prairie, you'd think it was all dry. That water looked deep, too. Good thing the swamp buggy has such big, floating tires.

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  2. The Crested Caracara is quite interesting.....
    The swamp buggy ride looks like so much fun!
    What a nice, restful way to end the day....the moon is beautiful!

    Looking forward to next time!

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  3. Loved that crested bird, too, Karen. Looks like a lovely day.

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  4. Looks like a great time and you are not disappointing with the photos, as I anticipated on fb! Are these taken with the Canon you mentioned having awhile back? I looked at it online then and asked my son, t.h.e. photographer about it, but he talked me out of it at the time. He's all DSLR, but I just don't want to have to learn that. I'm too old now, you know!?!

    Have fun!

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  5. Your first photo of the crested caracara is priceless. It looks so melancholy. You caught it at just the right time for that "look."

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  6. Terrific caracara picture. Full moon on the prairie sounds wonderful. That camera sure takes good pictures. I've never gotten a moon shot like that.

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  7. That first bird looks like an Eastern Phoebe to me, and the flock is female red-winged blackbirds. :)

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