The south part of Florida is a really big wetland. Hollywood films and pictures had created an image of this part as a deep, dark and moist marshland with alligators, snakes and funny looking animals everywhere and it would require a boat to make any kind of transportation.
As I started to do more research before going there I realized that it was nothing like that. But still when I got there I was still amazed of how it big and open this area is. Everglades is a very wide area and its main part is the slowly moving water over the grassy prairie. Big open flat areas with the main part consisting of grass and with small islands called hammocks with brushes and trees. But again if you leave the tourist areas you will probably find more dense jungle like areas. That is still to find out someday :-)
Anyway, my first goal on this trip i along the road from the eastern entrance from Florida City down to Flamingo. According to my research on the web, this is the area where there is loads of wading birds gathering during the winter months especially in a small pond far down to the south that is called Eco pond. It was quite a bit to travel from the motel in Homestead and I wanted to get at least a glimpse of the morning light so an early start was on the schedule. There is the possibility to camp out down at flamingo but that was not a real option during this trip. So it was up real early and drive straight down the approximately 80 km to Eco pond. Once there it was plenty of parking space and the pond was only about 50 meters from the road.
I was really hopeful of what I was going to see there, but it was a real disappointment. Just a handful of birds was at this location and activity was down to almost zero, deserted almost. Well the ospreys where there, as they are everywhere in Florida.
Someone said that during some tropical storm there had been a lot of salt-water flushed in to the pond and thereby shifting the the balance. Someone else said that it had been raining a lot during fall and that the birds had not arrived yet. Still disappointed I went to the visitors centre and they gave me a tip where to see an American crocodile. So I went there, but the area was restricted for visitors but I got a glimpse of this, as I understand it, endangered species.
On the drive back towards the entrance area I had only one eye on the road. The other one was constantly checking out ditches and water-areas, but with a poor result. This day it was really warm up to about 32 degrees Celsius, which is quit warm for a northern European like my self :-) The humid air did its best to drain my body from any kind of powers as soon as I left the cosy air-conditioned car.
Before leaving I stopped at Anhinga trail that is in close proximity to the eastern entrance. Anhinga is by the way the name of a bird that looks like an cormorant but with a pointy beak. Along this trail it was much more activity and several photo opportunities than down at Eco Pond. Unfortunately it was now mid day and the light was hard.
The Anhinga trail is mainly a board-walk out in the wet area which makes it easy to see wildlife but difficult to get down to eye level. Well that was ok since there where several alligators lurking in the water even if this particular one was a tiny one :-)
So to round up this area:
South Everglades in December can be a bit early in the bird season at least to photograph birds in big amounts. Eco pond has gently sloping sides which makes it easy to get down to the water level an dat least a 300 mm lens is needed.
Anhinga trail should be the first stop mad the use of a 300mm lens is no problem even considering the rails of the board walk. I had a 500 mm and it was sometimes a little to much to handle around other people as the board-walk could sometimes be a little crowded. A bean bag or a small tripod is quite enough here.
If you want more information about national parks in the USA there a plenty of good information at their website. here is more about Everglades: http://www.nps.gov/ever/index.htm
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