Tag Archives: shark valley

Shark Valley

Everglades, Must do list, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve just about finished going through the photos from my trip to South Florida.  I ended up  with many images I like – way too many for a single post.  Today, I’d like to complete what I started in the Wild Baby Gators! blog with a few more photos from the Shark Valley area of the Everglades.  Next week I’ll finish my trip report with images from other parts of Big Cypress.

In a couple of spots along the north side of Tamiami Trail a few miles east of the entrance to Shark Valley visitor center, you can cross over the canal and drive along the dirt road on top of the berm. From there you can get a good look at the “River of grass”, stretching farther than you can see.

River of grass 3River of grass – looking north

I tried to stop by Shark Valley on my first afternoon in the area.  But the parking lot was full and there was a line of cars waiting to get in, so I turned around and explored elsewhere.  At 8:30 the next morning I was first in line waiting for the park to open.  I bought a ticket for one of their two hour tram rides and was on the first one to leave.  If you go, arrive early  to make sure you can get in.  I think taking the first tram ride of the day is a good idea too.  Wildlife should be more active / visible and the light is better for photography.

Crowded airspaceCrowded airspace – Glossy Ibis and Roseate Spoonbill in flight.  This was close to a small pond where a bird feeding frenzy was in progress.

There was a lot to see on the ride and the tour guide was excellent.  He knew where to spot things and passed along a great deal of info to everyone.  The tram stops for about 20 minutes at the 65 foot observation tower.  There’s a wonderful view there too.  If you zoom into this next photo, you can see two large alligators floating in the pond.

River of grass 2River of grass 2 – The view looking ~ SE from the observation Tower in Shark Valley

The water and trees around the tower are full of wildlife.  I spotted this Yellow-crowned Night Heron there. I’m going to count this as a life bird (first sighting).  I saw one before, but it was outside the US (in Costa Rica).  I also saw what may have been a  juvenile at Viera Wetlands, but it was an iffy ID.

Yellow-crowned Night HeronYellow-crowned Night Heron

There are lots of turtles and alligators along the way.

Happy togetherHappy together – A pair of yellow-bellied sliders soaking in some sunshine

And you’ll probably see some “circle of life” scenes too.

Lunch timeLunch time – Great Blue Heron with a Florida Gar

We also spotted Cormorants, Anhingas, Great and Snowy Egrets, Tri-colored and Little Blue Herons, White Ibis, Wood Storks, Red-shouldered hawks, a Purple Gallinule, and other birds.  We didn’t see any pythons, but you can tell they’re out there because many of the smaller mammals have disappeared – eaten by these large snakes.

To summarize: Shark Valley is definitely a Central Florida Photo Ops “Must do” location and I’m going to visit again.

You can view my other Everglades National Park photos in this album on Flickr.  And I’ve started to collect photos from the Big Cypress area in this album.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

©2020, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

Wild baby gators!

Everglades, INSIDE FLORIDA, ,

I returned Friday afternoon from several days in South Florida, scouting and photographing in Big Cypress National Preserve and the northern Everglades.  I have a huge backlog of images to go through so I’m not yet ready to blog about it.  Today I’ll just post this teaser  because I know some of you are alligator fans (hi Calvin!).

I see alligators all the time here in Florida and often spot younger ones.  But I only remember seeing babies together with their mother once before, up in Paynes Prairie. Last Wednesday morning in the Shark Valley portion of the Everglades I saw several  different momma gators with their 1 – 2 year old babies close by.

Momma gator 1 with five babiesA momma gator with five babies.

These are wild animals in their natural environment in the Everglades.

Momma gator 2 with six (seven?) babiesA different mom with six (eight?) babies.

I made them from the tram ride in Shark Valley.  Highly recommended!  The guide was very knowledgable and let us know where to spot all sorts of things.  He also knew a lot about these animals:

  • Alligators are one of the few reptile species that care for their young.
  • Only the females take care of the babies – the males aren’t involved (well, except at the beginning!).
  • The female defends the nest from predators and helps the babies hatch and make it into the water.
  • She’ll continue to provide protection for a year or two.
  • The hatchlings are 6 – 8 inches long and grow 9 – 10 inches a year at first, so the ones in these photos are less than two years old.
  • After a couple of years, the juveniles will move away (or get chased away by mom) and it’s time for her to mate again and start over.
  • Alligators normally ignore humans.  But you should always keep your distance and respect the animals.  Our guide said to stay at least 15 feet away (some say 30 – 60 feet is better).  However, alligator moms can be especially aggressive defending their nests and young.  If you see one in the wild,  be very cautious.  Always back off if the animal hisses, starts paying attention to you, or moves toward you at all.  They are  faster than you are, especially over short distances.

The two photos in this post are fairly high resolution and worth looking at a little closer.   But one of my readers (thanks Lynn!) pointed out that not everyone knows how to zoom into them on Flickr. So if you want to zoom in:

  • Click on the photo in the blog, which will open the same image inside Flickr.
  • It’ll probably already be higher res, but Flickr scales it to the size of your display and window.  To see it best, maximize your browser window.
  • Then you should see a cursor with a little + sign inside a circle.  This means you can zoom in a little further.  Click once to zoom and use your mouse to move around inside the photo.
  • Some images are detailed enough to support a second level of zoom.  If so, you’ll see another + and you can click again to zoom in even further.

Take a look!

I need to finish going through my photos from the trip and I’m looking forward to writing about other things I saw.  More to come!

You can view a bunch more of my alligator photos in this folder on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/albums/72157625316066537

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

©2020, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved