Thursday, January 31, 2013

Sleep in and Miss This?

 

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, Okeechobee, Florida  (high 71, low 38)

Our run of hot weather is over (thank goodness).  We’ve had afternoon temperatures in the mid 80’s for the past few days, and that makes it a bit too warm for afternoon hikes. 

A cold front came through last night, bringing a little rain, and now we’re going to get back to high temps in the 70’s.  Much better!  Of course it’s also going to bring in some cold night time temps, so we’ll have to have a little heat at night.

Our pattern while on the prairie always  start out with us getting in the truck before sunrise and driving the main road in search of wildlife.

We always see deer.  In fact we saw some sleeping yesterday right in the campground.   No pictures since it was pretty dark.

We love watching the sun rise over the prairie.  Some mornings are better than others.  This one was one of the best.

The full moon is waning, but still very pretty.

moon

 

If you sleep in, you miss this!

 

sunrise over prairie

After the sun rose, we went on to discover a few more interesting things.

These deer were huge and probably the biggest deer we’ve seen in Florida.  It was a bit foggy, so the picture wasn’t great.

two deer on prairie

The Eastern Meadowlark really are active in the mornings.  There were a lot of them out nearby the road, and each one singing.  It’s quite lovely with the early morning sun and hearing  many, many  Meadowlark, all  singing their own little song. 

Eastern Meadowlark

Here is the infamous Ms. Hawk waiting in the exact same place for her man!   She seems to know me and doesn’t even bother to fly away.

IMG_7794

A turkey vulture posing nicely.

Turkey Vulture

After our morning sunrise drives, we usually take a morning hike on the prairie.

Lots of pretty flowers.

IMG_7681

The past two nights we’ve had happy hour with fellow bloggers Tricia and Dan from Down the Road with T & D.  They are staying here for a few days before heading over to Jonathan Dickenson State Park.

It was nice to get to know you two!   See you down the road.

Dan and Tricia 

Our two weeks here are going by much too quickly.  We both love it here and will hate to leave……except that we have a trip to the Keys to look forward to!

 

and to borrow a phrase from Judy.

 

The end.

 

rabbit leaving

Tricia and Dan just stopped to say good-bye on their way out and said they saw the missile launch.  Cape Canaveral is not that far and with the dark prairie skies, it was very visible.  Bummer…we missed it.  They said it was incredible!   Oh, well.

11 comments:

  1. You missed the missile launch but at least you got the deer and the sunrise.

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  2. I don't think you would catch us sleeping in either with a view like that.

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  3. I want those 80 temps. But I would settle for 70's right now. Too bad about the missile launch that would be cool to see. But look at all the great pictures you got and those beautiful natural views.

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  4. Nice that you met Dan and Trica, they are lots of fun. Amazing the RV family out there and how we all meet each other.

    Super pictures of the prairie, certainly worth getting up early for, even for me. :c)

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  5. Cool photos! Lots of those wildlife things around here in KS now, but not the flowers for sure! Last night we had several deer in the back yard and they tried to get sunflower seeds out of my birdfeeders! Desperate measures I guess!

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  6. I'm new to your blog and love your bird pics

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  7. Great photos...again! I will miss them when you leave. But can't wait to see the Keys through your lens!

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  8. That is just a gorgeous sunrise picture. Better send that off for publication somewhere for sure. So glad the Prairie didn't disappoint. You definitely have great photos from there. But you can't have been there two weeks already have you???

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  10. It was great meeting and chatting with you two! Hope to see you "down the road"! Enjoy the last few days on the prairie...a wonderful spot for sure!

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  11. Love to watch those missile launches. We used to be able to see the shuttle go up from our backyard.
    That is a great picture of the meadowlark

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