Cherry Creek State Park

This is a travel blog, so I blog about travel. But, sometimes I forget that I don't have stay away overnight to travel. So, I am going to give some space to local spots in Colorado.

So, my first topic is Cherry Creek State Park, a wildlife-packed park that happens to sit right on the eastern edge of Denver in Aurora, just an hour and a half from my house.

As with many of the places I have gone recently in Colorado, Caty and I were attracted to the CCSP because we saw other peoples' pictures of Eagles posted on the Front Range Wildlife Photographers Facebook page. When we went in 2015, we got some very nice close-up shots of both a mature ...

Mature Bald Eagle

... and a juvenile Bald Eagle ...

Juvenile Bald Eagle

The 4,200-acre park and campground are open year-round, with day-use hours from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. There is a large dam and reservoir, bicycle and hiking trails, a shooting range, a model airplane area and lots of animals. And, at the top of our list is Bald Eagles. There are several residents and from nine-20 regular winter visitors. Recently, we couldn't get any up-close views because the Eagles like to sit on the frozen lake. When we spotted one and hiked close along the trail at the base of the dam, the Eagle just flew off. But, it was a pretty good show.

Mature Bald Eagle

Recently, I have become obsessed with getting a good photo of an American Kestrel. I thought I had never seen one until recently. But, then, when I recognized one in a tree on NORAD road, I realized that I just didn't know how small they are. They are easy to mistake for a Robin unless you look closely. Obviously, their beautiful markings are one clue. Another (and this is one that Caty noticed) is that they tend to twitch their tails when the perch. Songbirds tend to sit still. When we were at CCSP, I caught one in a tree and on some mulleins at CCSP. Still, not perfect pictures, but better than my last try

American Kestrel

And, with the beautiful blue skies, I managed to get some great shots of two Red-tailed Hawks. As I have gotten increasingly interested in photographing wildlife, I have also come to realize just how many Red-tailed Hawks we have in the area. They come in many shades -- ranging from very light to very dark, but they do tend to stay in an area better than lots of other Hawks, whether sitting or soaring.

Red-tailed Hawks

These two gave a very good visual on they identifying markings on the bottom-side of their wings. You can see how the coloring is slightly different.

Red-tailed Hawk

I use the Hawks to practice my birds-in-flight photo skills, but, seriously, I may have to stop photographing every Red-tail I see. 

I used to have only a passing interest in birds, except for the spectacular ones such as Eagles, Hawks and Owls and the adorable ones such as Hummingbirds.

Now, I need to talk a little about how three factors have converged to turn me into a (gasp!) birder. Yeah, I said it.

First, I live in Colorado and have big windows that look out onto trees and sky. So, I see lots of birds without really trying. In the summer, we have four varieties of Hummingbirds that come to our feeders and their behavior is always interesting to watch.

CW: Broad-tailed, Broad-tailed and Rufous Hummingbirds in my yard

Second, Caty and I took two classes focused on photographing birds of prey (still and in flight). So, I started looking at more birds and practicing my skills on them.

Captive Barn Owl from on of my classes

And, finally, I started casually compiling a Facebook photo album featuring every different animal I have ever photographed. Because I am a compulsive list-checker-offer, the album has become a compulsion in itself. Note: the album isn't yet published; I use the pix for my Facebook cover everyday.

Lots of photos

So, what started as primarily mammals has expanded to cover birds. So, now I am on it!!

CCSP is a great spot to feed the compulsion. So, now starts my quest for birds and ducks and herons and cranes and geese.

Common Mergansers: female, left, and male, right

Male Common Merganser diving for fish

And, although you see them everywhere ... and I mean everywhere --- even the Canada Geese can be entertaining ...

Canada Geese coming in for a landing

... and beautiful ...

Canada Geese flying

And, CCSP is also known for having lots of Coyotes. I mean, with all the birds, why wouldn't it? We've seen a few there. This one was the last thing we saw when we were getting ready to leave. It was fairly dark, so it was tough to get a good picture. But, he was a beauty.

Coyote

I am sure that Caty and I will continue to visit CCSP on a regular basis. It's great to have such an oasis right in the middle of civilization

Big Cypress National Preserve

American Alligator

Our final stop was Big Cypress National Preserve, which is just north of Everglades National Park. When Everglades National Park was established in 1947, Big Cypress was originally intended to be included; but, because the land had not been purchased from its private owners, Big Cypress was released from the Park system. It didn't become a National Preserve until 1974.

The most biologically diverse region of the Everglades area, Big Cypress While comprises wet cypress forest and mangroves. It is home to orchids, Alligators, snakes, birds, Manatees, Florida Panthers, Black Bears and the Florida Sandhill Crane.

Our first stop was the Oasis Visitor Center, which has a canal running in front of it. The diversity of wildlife in that one stop was amazing.

We saw several large alligators up very close ...

Big Cypress Preserve, Oasis Visitor Center: American Alligator

... and, some smaller ones, too (and, all the Gators seemed attracted to Caty; they followed wherever she walked) ...

Big Cypress Preserve, Oasis Visitor Center: American Alligator

We got a good view of a Green Heron with its neck extended.

Big Cypress Preserve, Oasis Visitor Center: Green Heron

It really looks different in this pose than it does with its neck tucked in, like the one we saw along the Anhinga Trail in the Everglades.

Everglades National Park, Anhinga Trail: Green Heron

We also saw a several Great Egrets ...

Big Cypress Preserve, Oasis Visitor Center: Great Egret 

... the Great Egret's smaller cousin, the Snowy Egret (with breeding plumage) ...

Big Cypress Preserve, Oasis Visitor Center: Snowy Egret

... and a magnificent Tricolored Heron, also with breeding plumage ...

Big Cypress Preserve, Oasis Visitor Center: Tricolored Heron

... that showed off ...

Its striped neck ...

... and its lovely wings

We also got very close to a rare Great White Heron ...

Big Cypress Preserve, Oasis Visitor Center: Great White Heron

We saw lots of Anhingas airing their wings ...

Big Cypress Preserve, Oasis Visitor Center: female Anhinga

But, a really big treat was an overhead view of a male anhinga fishing. You can see why the anhinga is often called the snakebird (its head looks like a snake sticking out of the water) or the water turkey (look at that tail!) ...

Big Cypress Preserve, Oasis Visitor Center: male Anhinga

In some places the canal were so clear, we could see fish, including an armored catfish ...

Big Cypress Preserve, Oasis Visitor Center: Armored Catfish

... and an Everglades Oscar ...

Big Cypress Preserve, Oasis Visitor Center: Everglades Oscar

We also stopped at the Big Cypress Swamp Visitors Center in hopes of seeing the manatees that normally congregate there. But, alas, we were not to see any manatees on this trip! Then, we headed on to Everglades City, which I already covered in my Everglades blog.

As rich as our wildlife sightings were at Big Cypress, we were disappointed (but not surprised) that we didn't see a panther or a bear. But, we did see lots of gators ....

Big Cypress Preserve, Oasis Visitor Center: American Alligator

And, that is what it's all about.

Trip date: December 27, 2015-January 3, 2016

Cape Florida Lighthouse

Our final day in Florida had two very different parts, so I am splitting it into two posts.

The first half was primarily dedicated to brunching with Caty's high school friend (and an all-round great person), Robin Dunlap, who just recently moved back to the Miami area. Caty's only other visit to far south Florida had been to Robin's wedding in the Keys.

Cape Florida Lighthouse

Since we had time in the morning and we were meeting for brunch on Key Biscayne, we went to see the Cape Florida Lighthouse in Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. Constructed in 1825, the Cape Florida Lighthouse warned mariners of the Florida Reef, which starts near Key Biscayne and extends south to the Keys.

The 65-foot-tall tower was supposed to be solid brick, five feet thick at the bottom tapering to two feet thick at the top, but the contractor scrimped on materials and built hollow walls. In 1835, a major hurricane damaged the lighthouse and the keeper's house. 

Caty at the lighthouse

In 1836, a band of Seminoles attacked and severely damaged the lighthouse, resulting in a 10-year shutdown. It was rebuilt using the old bricks from the original tower and house plus new bricks from Massachusetts and re-lit in April, 1847. 

In an 1855 renovation, the tower was raised to 95 feet and the old light was replaced with a Fresnel lens to extend the light beyond the off-shore reefs. 

Historic

After Confederate sympathizers destroyed the lighthouse lamp and lens in 1861, it was repaired and relit in 1866. But, it was still insufficient for keeping ships away from the offshore reefs. So, the Coast Guard built a lighthouse on Fowey Rocks, seven miles southeast of Cape Florida and, in 1878, took the Cape Florida Lighthouse out of service. 

Looking very, very "old Florida"

From 1888 to 1893, the Cape Florida Lighthouse was the headquarters of the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club. In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, it was briefly made a signal station to provide an early warning of an approach by the Spanish fleet. By the time the lighthouse was restored in the 1920s, a quarter-mile of beach in front of it had washed away. Engineers discovered that the foundations for the tower were only four feet deep, so it was given a new concrete foundation with steel casing for the tower, which helped it to survive the a major hurricane in 1926.

In 1966, the State of Florida bought southern third of Key Biscayne and established Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, named for the editor of the Miami News, who had helped arrange for preservation of the land. The state restored the lighthouse tower, and in 1969, constructed replicas of the keeper's dwellings.

Keeper's House

In 1978, one hundred years after it was decommissioned, the Coast Guard restored the lighthouse to active service. Then, after twelve years of service, the light was permanently decommissioned. A joint project with the Dade County Historical Society restored and relit the lighthouse in time for the Miami Centennial celebration in July 1996.

In addition to the lighthouse, we saw a few interesting (and alarming creatures). Just as we were discussing potentially coming back to the beach to swim, we saw what originally appeared to be a plastic bag but turned out to be an Atlantic Portuguese Man o' War Jelly. 

Atlantic Portuguese Man o' War

Also known as the Man of War, Bluebottle or Floating Terror, the Portuguese Man o' War is actually a colony of specialized tiny creatures called zooids that attach to one another and function as a single organism. The name comes from the Jelly's resemblance to the man-of-war, an 18th-century armed sailing ship, at full sail.

The Atlantic Portuguese Man o' War has a gas-filled bladder that floats on the surface of the ocean like a sail and supports a mass of 30-160 foot-long stinging tentacles. Detached tentacles and dead Jellies, including those that wash up on shore, may remain potent for days. I am glad we didn't step on it or touch it. And, we decided not to come back to swim.

We also saw a large lizard that turned out to be a small Nile Monitor lizard. An invasive species to Florida, a Nile Monitor can grow to 5 ft. long and weigh 15 pounds. The one we saw was about 2 ft. from nose to tip of the tail.

Big ol' lizard

They are semi-aquatic and are often found basking or foraging along canal banks. They can swim swiftly and stay submerged for an extended period. Current populations in Florida likely came from escaped or released pets. The Nile Monitor can no longer be acquired as a pet in the state. They eat mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and eggs. State officials are assessing whether they may have a negative impact on Florida's native wildlife.

We enjoyed our visit, but as the day progressed, it became very hot and humid. So, we were glad to head off to the air-conditioned Rusty Pelican for brunch with Robin.

Me with the light

Trip date: December 27, 2015-January 3, 2016

Biscayne National Park

Biscayne National Park is primarily water

Located just 20 minutes east of Florida City, where Caty and I opted to stay for the rest of our trip, Biscayne National Park is somewhat difficult to experience because it is 95 percent underwater. Preserving Biscayne Bay, its mangrove shoreline and its offshore barrier reefs, the park includes Elliott Key, the first of the true Florida Keys. The islands farther north in the park are transitional islands of coral and sand. The offshore portion of the park includes the northernmost region of the Florida Reef, one of the largest coral reefs in the world.

Map: NPS

Originally proposed for inclusion in Everglades National Park, Biscayne Bay was cut out to ensure that the Everglades proposal would be approved. In the 1960s, a series of proposals were made to develop the keys like Miami Beach and to construct a deepwater seaport for bulk cargo, refinery and petrochemical facilities. Plus, four power plants, two of which were nuclear, were built on the bay shores. The Turkey Point plant is right across the channel from the Visitor Center. Backlash led to the 1968 designation of Biscayne National Monument, which was expanded in 1980 and re-designated as a National Park.

When I visited in 2014, I could only take a brief walk along the shore by the Visitors Center because the Park had terminated its boat tour concessionaires. This time, the website indicated that no boat tours would be available until “winter 2015/2016.” 

When I emailed the park to ask about this (after all, it was winter 2015), the response was the exact same line as was on the website. When we stopped at the Visitors Center the day we arrived, we were told that they had just hired an operator, but it was all booked. We checked the website anyway and were able to book a tour.

Before I talk about that, a few words about the brief shoreline hike. It’s a nice view of water, islands and mangroves (marred a bit by merciless no-see-ums). We encountered Black Vultures ...

I don't think of Vultures as shore birds

... Ruddy Turnstones ...

They are easily mistaken for Killdeers

... and a Heron too shy to be photographed.

The “boat tour” on the Island Dreamer turned out to be less of a tour (no narration) and more of a pleasure sail aboard a 41 ft. Morgan. We had difficulties leaving the dock because the water is exceptionally shallow. We technically ran aground within 10 feet of the dock, requiring a formal Coast Guard report and over an hour of waiting for the tide to rise enough to re-float the boat. The captain told us that he had been trying to switch to the outer dock to avoid this problem and, indeed, we docked there when we came back to port.

Tight quarters

As we pulled out, we passed an area crammed with a wide variety of birds, including Double-crested Cormorants, Brown Pelicans …

More birds than you can count

... and a beautiful Great White Heron ...

A specifically Florida bird

It was a beautiful calm warm day, and the sailing was delightful. But, like our trip to Dry Tortugas, we saw very little sea life — no Turtles, no fish and, although two Dolphins passed by, we didn’t see them.

The bay is exceptionally shallow — averaging 7-15 feet, which required our sailboat to stay in the channel (after all, we had already run aground once).

Our trip took us first to Adams Key, which was once home to the Cocolobo Club, a retreat for wealthy people including Presidents Harding, Hoover, Johnson and Nixon. Before we reached the dock, we had a nice view of an Osprey nest on a channel marker.

A nice glimpse

Now a day-use area, Adams Key has trails, a picnic pavilion, a restroom and lots of Mosquitoes. Two Park Ranger families live on the island

Maybe Mosquitoes ate the sign

Another magnificent Great White Heron greeted us ...

Wow!

As did a Brown Pelican ...

It posed ...

... and flew ...

... giving us a nice close-up view

Then, we headed out to snorkel, which was one of the reasons we had wanted to take the trip. 

Unfortunately, the planned snorkeling was to in mangroves, not coral reefs (we had been planning on reef snorkeling). We were giving paddle boards to hold onto while snorkeling and then use to get back to the boat because the current was strong. Unfortunately, the water was cloudy, the board and paddle awkward to manage while in the water and the current too strong to fight. Snorkeling was a bust.

Also, because it was a weekend, we didn’t go near the Boca Chita lighthouse, a major Biscayne landmark, because it is “too crowded.” I think an actual boat tour would go there. Interestingly, the lighthouse was built as part of a retreat for the rich, rather than as a navigational lighthouse.

We didn't get to see it; Photo: National Park Service

On the way back we were completely becalmed and had to motor in.

We really enjoyed the trip but felt that there were lots of kinks to work out before it could actually be billed a “boat tour.” It was their first week, so I think they will work it out.

Trip date: December 27, 2015-January 3, 2016