The best part about Highlands Hammock State Park was the boardwalks, especially on the cypress swamp trail. The first section has lovely corner benches which is followed by a narrow section with only one railing that keeps your shoes dry, but lets you feel a part of the swamp. The unofficial Florida Hikes trail report described sour orange milkshakes from the concession stand in the park. We walked under some wild citrus trees, but all we found listed at the perhaps open restaurant was standard park lunch fair. Perhaps those are seasonal. Several old oak trees were also noted as attractions on the park maps, but these seemed mostly to be large, knarled, dead stumps.

It was Thanksgiving weekend and there were quite a few people, especially later in the day. Though close to civilization, the route that google recommended was over a longish washboardy dirt road. The primary entrance (at the far side of the park relative to us) was paved, but had oddly painted lane lines and speed humps which left it really unclear where especially eastbound traffic was expected to be.

Mike was having more luck with the wildlife. The rest are his. He also converted these pictures for the blog.

“Inglis Island was developed as part of the construction of the Inglis Lock and Barge Canal during the 1960’s.”(FSP) It was intended to be part of a cross Florida canal system that met resistance from environmental advocates, and eventually was turned into a greenway.

This is new land then, and not always public. There are decaying bits from previous uses. Mike took the trees and hunting table picture and converted the photos for this post.

We also noticed several remnants from hunting of the non-human variety this trip. Mike took the jaw bone picture.

Deer moss? by Mike.

While I looked up, Mike looked down. We heard the trumpets of the sandhill cranes first before they came into view. This was the largest flock of them that we’ve seen.

There were fewer butterflies than our previous visit, but still many fluttering about.
Either a long tailed or dorantes skipper.

Buckeye

Satyr with its wings open.

The rest of these are Mike’s.

Gemmed Satyr

Green lynx spider guarding its catch. And watching with many eyes.

Right after sunrise in early November, Mike took this picture.

Wide apertures enable photos in lower light, but in trade for depth of field, Mike’s

cinammon fern fronds

epiphyte, Mike’s

Sleepy orange, Mike’s:

venusta orchard spider, also Mike’s:

We’ve seen turkeys several times now at Brooker Creek. These were in a yard that Mike captured while we were driving to the boardwalk.

(bullfrog?) tadpole

southern water snake I think, Mike’s using the Tamron 70-300

Armadillos are actually difficult to take pictures of because their noses are always under the needle and leaf litter.

Mike took this picture of a brilliantly colored but vicious looking festive tiger beetle, missing part of an antenna.

And here is where the blog becomes mostly Mike’s pictures. He’s still converting pictures. Mid November at Sawgrass Lake Park.

tricolored and blue herons

great blue heron

anhinga

possibly an eastern phoebe

There were a couple of grebes at the park. They often don’t stay still for long, repeatedly diving underwater, but we were having a remarkable amount of trouble getting in focus shots.

And one that I took. There were at least 4 baby alligators around the mother.

From the Florida Botanical Gardens. Mike converted the pictures.

Mike using the new to us Sony nex 5n:

Me using the 60mm:

In early November, more testing of new lenses at Weedon Island Preserve, with Mike doing photo processing.

This gopher tortoise came clambering through the bushes, and across the paved path right past our feet, only minorly interested in our presence, moving fast enough that I was not getting the right focus point.

Both of us had cameras out when we found this green anole. This is Mike’s version.

There are pools in the mangroves that are tinted an intense yellow. There are lots of little fish in these areas.

There are sometimes mosquitoes at Weedon, but on this trip the black biting specks that I think are no-see-ums were particularly bad and drove us back to the car before very long. These bugs hurt when they bite, and seem attracted to Mike and me equally, but neither of us have lingering reactions to their bites afterwards. This is Mike’s picture at the overlook where we see fish jumping sometimes.

Sundog as we hurried back to the car