While my wife and I were visiting my folks in South Florida for Thanksgiving, we spent some time at Everglades National Park. We went to Shark Valley on the northern edge of the park, which gets its name from the Shark River Slough, a broad watery plain, which drains into the Shark River. Water from Lake Okeechobee flows through this area from the north-northeast to the southwest into Florida Bay. The Shark River Slough is commonly called “the river of grass”, for the tall sawgrass marsh which covers the Florida limestone. Shark Valley features a 15 mile loop road, open to hiking and bicycling, and a tram tour of the loop.
Shark Valley
The Red-shouldered Hawk is the most common hawk found in the Everglades.
The Great White Heron is a tropical wading bird related to the Great Blue Heron, and in North America is most often found in South Florida. Great Egrets are found throughout the world. The North American subspecies can be found as far north as Southern Canada. [Note: I originally misidentified this bird. See the comment below.]
An Anhinga suns itself to dry its wings. It dives underwater to catch fish. This one is male; female Anhingas have a lighter colored neck.
The Great Blue Heron is found throughout the United States. It is a wading bird closely related to the Great White Heron.
A Great Blue Heron spreads its wings.
Tri-color Herons are a cross breed of the Great Blue and White Herons.
One Comment
Hello there, I was just browsing your page and saw that you had a photo mislabeled. Your second photo on page one is labeled as being a White Heron, a relative of the Great Blue Heron. While it is true that a White Heron is a morph of the Great Blue (Smithsonia Handobooks “Birds of Florida”), your photo actually depicts a Great Egret, a rather common bird here in South Florida. The way I was taught to tell the difference (from a kind gentleman at the Wild Bird Santuary in the Florida Keys) is that White Herons look VERY much like Great Blues (especially), just white, and have fleshy colored legs (also mentioned in the Smithsonian book). Great Egrets, on the other hand, have black legs and much more yellow beaks. The following website has images of both; the differences are easier to see when next to each other. (http://themarksman.us/birdwatching/birdwatching_g.htm)
Seems to be a common mistake though. I wouldn’t have known unless I’d heard it from the Sanctuary, since the differences are so small.
Sorry to intrude…
~Tiff