Jan 9-16

Cold front is still here in South Florida.  The heat comes on at night, I have to wear my winter hat, gloves and coat for our morning walks.  Even wearing our coats at the campfire.

We had a meeting on Tuesday at the Welcome Center.  It was their (Permanent employees) monthly meeting.  Our Midway campground volunteers were recognized for helping with the accident that happened last week by our campground.  We received a very nice medallion, One of the victims in the accident had sent a very nice note to our superintendent about our helping them out in their time of need.

We headed back into Miami to find a few elusive birds..  the

Grooved Bill Ani

we did not get a picture of the Rufous Hummingbird but we got really good looks at it!  We looked for this bird in South Texas 4 years ago!

We also seen a Chuck-Wills-Widow, we have heard them in the past

We finally found the Western Spindalis (female) after looking for over a month

we also found some Peafowl!

assuming this is a female

and a Snail Kite

Sunday we were planning on taking the kayak out but the weather was not perfect.  We hiked a few places between our camp and Naples. We did find the

Smoothed Bill Ani!

Eric grilled chicken while we watched the Packers and Cowboys play.  Go Pack!!  2 more games this season....

Our final day off we headed to Collier-Seminole State Park to go kayaking.  The water was much lower than last year, very peaceful and beautiful.  We only went about 4 miles in 2 hours.  Great day to relax and enjoy nature.