Girls, here is a huge field filled with a vegetable. I couldn't see what it was but there were workers out there picking the vegetables so they can be taken to grocery stores for us to eat. The next picture is of them watering the fields because it is so dry.
This is an example of one of many air plants that live down here. They live on trees but do not harm them at all. All they need to live is the air and moisture in it.
This tree is filled with Spanish moss which is also an air plant.
This is a different looking tree called a gumbo limbo tree. The bark on it is a reddish brown color and very thin and smooth.
These are coconuts growing on one kind of palm tree. There are several different kinds of palm trees and only certain ones grow coconuts.
This is a crocodile. It is a gray color and you can see it's teeth while it is resting. They are difficult to see along the shore because they are about the same color as the dirt. Not many live in the Everglades.
This is an osprey. Ant the next picture is of its nest. They nest close to where there are people. They know they are save in the national park.
There are several different types of trees that are called mangroves. They all can live either in salt water or on land and all have a very different root system. When they grow in the water, they are very short and that type land is usually called a mangrove swamp. We saw a lot of these all over South Florida.
Here is an alligator swimming in the canal. You can see mangrove roots in the background.
The have some West Indian mahogany trees which have been used to make very good furniture. These big things have their seeds in them. There is nothing to eat in them like the nuts in acorns or black walnuts.
Pop and I took a boat ride down a couple of canals and on two lakes. We saw more alligators, crocodiles, osprey, mangroves and more. It was a fun time.
This was a bunch of seagulls!!!!! Actually they are called a colony of seagulls.
Aaron, I think is this Gilligan's Island. We think maybe we saw a smoke signal from where the Captain and Gilligan started a fire to get attention from a passing ship!
Girls, I think this is Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. Actually, it is a cypress tree.
This is an egret.
They have a few turkey vultures like we have at home but most of their vultures are called black vultures. What is the difference between ours and theirs? A group of vultures is sometimes called a venue. When they are circling overhead like they do, they are called a kettle of vultures.
Did you guess correctly? Our turkey vultures have a red head and these are all black or gray. These vultures also like to eat the rubber on cars. They will eat the windshield wipers, the seals around the windows and even the tires. The national park service has some tarpaulins that they let people use to cover their cars so the vultures won't harm their cars.
These birds are called anhingas. The female (girl) has a light brown neck and the male (boy) has a black neck. We walked on one of the trails just before dark and saw many more animals. The last picture shows birds, mostly anhingas, roosting in the mangrove trees for the night.
And last but not least, we saw many alligators at this time of day. Where this picture was taken, there were 10 alligators in one small area. The amazing thing is that there were turtles and many different birds all around the alligators and the alligators didn't eat any of them.
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