3 Mar 2017
Florida Nature

The two ladies are wearing blue with floppy wide-brimmed sunhats Elsa and Rita

We moved down the Western side of Florida, through Tampa, stopping at Fort Myers, where our friend Rita joined us; she would be visiting her sister shortly.

On our first sightseeing day we drove into Fort Myers and found Centennial Park where we walked around, watched people launch boats, talked to a photographer for Facebook (an independent social media entrepreneur), enjoyed a fountain and chatted. The large white wood home has wide porches all around Edison home

We bought combined tickets for the audio tour of the Edison estate and the boat ride on the Colusahatchee River (Colusa is the name of the local tribe, hatchee means river) which is a mile wide but mostly less than 5 feet deep.

Edison stayed 2-3 months each winter, Ford (who once worked for Edison) The old pal trees have straight trunks, forming a path between two lines of trees; in the distance is a clump of tall bamboo. Palm trees stayed just two weeks including Feb 11, which was Edison's birthday. Originally Edison had to take a train to Tampa and then a coastal steamer to Ft. Myers. Years later when the train crossed the river to Fort Myers, it knocked many days off the trip.

Edison experimented with tropical plants (carbonized bamboo provided The green mangrove island is dotted with birds nesting. Rookery filaments) and enjoyed the weather. He was a big Fort Myers booster. He put in a swimming pool, which was a big deal at the time.

In the brackish tidal river which connects to Stuart on the East Coast through Lake Okechobee, the tarpon will be running soon, but we saw porpoise, many boats, and birds too, including wood storks and roseate spoonbills nesting The flats at low tide, with two little blue herons and one white (egret?) Little blue heron on the mangrove rookery island.

On our second day we drove to Sanibel Island, went to the visitor center at the Ding Darling wildlife refuge, saw some of the videos, and drove the trail, which was free to us with our Golden Age passports.

We made several stops, looked at ibis and spoonbills and great white egrets and little blue herons all feeding on the flats at low tide, most far The picture focuses on the downward arcing mangrove roots. Mangrove tree away, but some up close for photos. We got a good view of the curvy roots of the red mangrove trees, saw a roseate spoonbill up close through the installed binoculars, and saw an osprey in a nest and an eagle in a high tree far away; we saw mullet jump two feet out of the water and later a school of mullet swim by under water and a sea otter swimming, coming up for air and diving back The bird steps gracefully across the bank. White heron down. All great watching.

Then we drove out to Captiva Island and saw the big houses and estates and found a nice seafood restaurant for lunch. Inside the women's room was a statue of a boy apparently peeing against the wall, and inside the men's room was a luncheon table set for two!

The next day we visited the Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium. It's a privately-owned and managed facility set in a beautiful forest of palms and other plants. Just outside the museum, an alligator basked in the sunshine.

The center is supported wholly by members and friends and donations from The nest rests upon a platform atop a high pole, and the osprey sits to one side. Osprey in nest visitors and is a bit shabby, but it is clearly well used, and they are building a new aviary, having outgrown their current one. (many of the birds normally in their aviary are being held by volunteers who are housing and feeding them till the construction is finished; all the birds and animals are The statue depicts a teenage boy with a backward facing ball cap and black pants and a black shirt. The hand is incomplete, but the position appears as if the boy were urinating against the wall. In the women's room wounded or disabled and could not survive on the outside).

After a short walk around the grounds, as the day grew hotter, we went to the planetarium and saw a delightful presentation of material which has been created by other planetariums in their network. We hadn't been to a planetarium for over a decade, probably, and were very happy to sit back and enjoy the show.

The climax of the day came as we stopped for snacks on the way home. As we left the supermarket parking lot a large bird flew over our truck -- it was an osprey with a fish in its talons. Bob, who had been reading our bird book just moments before, observed that it was exactly the behavior described in the guide - held by the head, belly down. (Sorry, no pic here!)