Sex on the Prairie…part two

 

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, Okeechobee, Florida

Tuesday, we decided to head out early for a hike.  Of course, before the hike, we had our sunrise drive along the road. That gives us a chance to wake up, drink some coffee, and for the temperature to warm up a bit.

We went to the trail along the pond area where the gators hang out.

It was a beautiful hike.  Clear blue skies, and lots of bird activity. 

If you look carefully on this Eastern Meadowlark, you can even see his little tongue.  His mouth is open because he is singing.  They sing ALL the time.

Although it was bright and sunny, you could still see a trace of the moon.

This particular trail leads you beside some little ponds.  It’s lined with trees, and is a good place to spot wildlife.

You always see gators, herons and Egrets.

We kept coming upon a bunch of birds that obviously were not happy to see us.  They would storm off and would make a squawking sound that sounded kind of like a dog.

We kept trying to get a better look at them.  Al with his binoculars and me with my camera, but they kept flying off.

I finally was able to get a not very good picture of one of them.   I believe it is some sort of Tern.  This was the best picture I could get, and I had to work for this one.

We saw lots of other small birds, most of them were Palm Warblers.

On the way back, we came across these two gators sunning themselves right by our trail.  They are usually in the water and further away from the trail. Al wasn’t concerned, but I’d prefer not have to walk by a gator facing right at me, if I can avoid it.

Not to fear, soon a white truck came by and we knew if we waited for him, he would scare the gators back into the water. 

Sure enough, at the sight of the truck, they splashed back into the water, allowing us to pass.  They kept their eyes on us though.   Vehicles are not allowed on this trail, however I believe these guys were allowed since it leads to their property.  My hero’s!

 

We had such a nice walk in the morning, we decided to go back to the same trail before sunset. 

After we had finished our hike and were back at the parking lot, we kept hearing loud squawking noises and rustling of the palm trees.  We were curious as to what was making this sound, as we had never heard it before.

I searched the palms with my camera and saw a Caracara feeding on something.

They were a LONG way away and it was getting towards dusk, so my pictures were blurry.

I kept my camera pointed up and pretty soon I saw another Caracara, and one appeared to be sharing the food with the other.

I didn’t capture the picture of that unfortunately, but before I knew it, this is what I saw.

(sorry for the bad picture…it was the best I could do)

 

Yep…..more sex on the prairie!

I am upset these pictures were blurry, but at least I captured something.

Bad pictures or not, this was still a very exciting moment for me.  Unfortunately, Al hadn’t quite found them in his binoculars, so he didn’t see this amazing sight!   How lucky was I to have caught this?

It was another great day on the prairie!