Tag: cypress dome

Everglades National Park Scouting Trip

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For Presidents Day I decided to take a day trip out to Everglades National Park to explore a few trails and Cypress Domes I have not been to in a while. The weather was great, not to hot, and there were little to any bugs to speak of.

I started my journey in a well known Cypress Dome called Double Dome. Most of the dome was dry except for the deep hole in the middle and few deeper spots here and there. However, dry is relative when talking about Cypress Domes. During the wet season Cypress Domes typically are full of water, anywhere from shin deep to waist deep. Therefore, dry means no standing water. However, there was plenty of squishy mud. Between the wet season and the complete dry season is a time period where the ground is mushy and soft. This was one of those times. Some of the Bromeliads were in bloom and the resident large gator was there guarding his watering hole and female. I saw a few Water Moccasins but none wanted to be photographed. There were also a good number of birds flying around and feeding in the few water holes remaining, including a couple of Great Blue Herons.

My next stop was a smaller less well know Cypress Dome that was full of blooming yellow flowers. I tried to capture the scene but found it to be pretty difficult. The scene was just to busy with all of the flowers, cypress trees and branches and then the grass. I am sure that printed very large it would all seem proportional, but shrunk down on a computer screen or at low resolution it is just hard to not be overwhelmed by complexity and overabundance of details.

After photographing the Cypress Dome, I then hiked a few other trails but did not find anything of interest to photograph. I finished the day by hiking a trail I had never been on but had spotted from Google Earth. On the trail I came across an alligator that had died some time ago. All that was left was some bones and the skull. They had all been bleached white by the sun. I took a few photos of it just for fun. It appeared to be a fairly good sized gator when it was alive.

I could envision capturing some good photos from this new trail given the right conditions. I will definitely hike it again.

Eco Pond, Cypress Dome and Pine Glades Lake Sunset

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Had a free day and decided to get up early and head down to Everglades National Park.  I decided to start at Eco Pond in the morning to see if the birds were active and then work my way back north.  Today was a good bird day.  Eco Pond was full of Roseate Spoonbills, Snowy Egrets, Great Herons, Tri-Color Herons, Pelicans and the ocassional overflying Osprey.  They were also very active foraging around in the shallow water for fish and other food.  One thing I noticed was how low the water in Eco Pond had gotten since my last visit.  The East Side of the pond is almost completely dry.  I got a few good shots of some landing Roseate Spoonbills.  The one I captured was a juvenille spoonbill.

After the birds left Eco Pond I walked around and found a some osprey nests but they were not very active.  I left Flamingo and started heading back north.  My next stop was Snake Bight.  I brought my bike and rode the path down to the end of the trail.  I saw a few birds along the way but nothing motivated me to stop and get out my camera.  At the end of the trail is a boardwalk.  The tide was out exposing a large mudflat.  A few birds were around but nothing better than I had already shot.  I did note that this might be a good sunset location and may come back to try it out before summer officially arrives.

After Snake Bight I stopped by Mahogany Hammock to look for some barred owls but not were willing to show themselves.  I kept driving north to a Cypress Dome I found a few weeks back.  I hiked into the Dome and took some photos of the blooming Bromeliads.  They were everywhere in the dome.  I also came across the same water moccasins I saw during my last visit.  One of the moccasins was not very happy and tried to bite me.  Luckily I was out of his reach.  I still got a few good shots of him before I left.

My next stop was another cypress dome farther north called Movie Dome.  Last time I hiked into it the water was still about a foot deep or so.  This time it was completely dry except for a shallow pool in the middle of the dome.  I walked around the dome but did not take any pictures this time.

My last stop was Pine Glades Lake for a sunset.  I captured some sunrays that were streaming from the sun giving the shot a unique look.  Pine Glades Lake is one of my favorite sunset locations in Everglades National Park.  After the sunset I headed home.  On the way home I got a suprise panther sighting.  This was my first panther sighting since I started coming to the park almost 8 years ago.  The panther was walking the main park road and slipped into the bushes when he saw me coming.  It was too dark to try and use the camera but it was still great to witness a free roaming panther.

Everglades Sunrise, Birds in Flight and Cypress Dome Walk

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I went out last week to capture a sunrise down in Flamingo, Florida.  I took a few reflection pictures across the water as the sun came up.  After the sunrise I went to Eco Pond to try and capture some bird in flight pictures.  The birds have started to thin out after reaching a peak a few weeks ago.  There were still a good number of Roseate Spoonbills, Egrets, Heron’s and other birds but not like there had been the last few weeks.  I ended up with a few I liked.

After the birds stopped performing, I started heading back toward the park entrance.  I made one last stop to explore a cypress dome I had never walked into before.  It was a great find and I plan on going back to try and take more pictures there in the future.  Inside the cypress dome, I found resident gators, birds, and three water moccasins.  I also found numerous orchids of different varieties including some very large and rare cigar orchids.

 

Everglades National Park Photography

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I finally got some free time to take a dedicated photography trip.  It has been almost four (4) months since my last photography trip.  I chose to run out to Everglades National Park to catch a sunrise and then see what other photo opportunities I could find.  I was hoping for some dense fog in the morning based on the weather forecast the night before, but alas no fog was present.  I did find a little layer of fog across a lake but not the dense fog I had hoped for.  Either way I was able to capture a few decent shots across a nearby lake.  I captured one before the sun came up and then a few sunbursts as it broke the horizon through the trees.  I would have preferred some more dramatic skies but it was still a productive shoot.

Once the sun had gotten to bright to shoot, I packed the truck and headed to the Anhinga Trail to check on the wildlife.  I have not been to the Anhinga Trail since last March and wanted see if I could find a few animal shots to add to my collection.  I succeeded in capturing a Great Blue Egret eating a catfish and an Anhinga in Mating colors drying his wings.  When I left I encountered about five (5) vultures eating various parts of my truck.  Luckily they did not cause any major damage.

From the Anhinga Trail I went exploring to find a place called Movie Dome.  It is a cypress dome in Everglades National Park within walking distance of the main road.  To get there you have to traverse the wet and muddy saw grass for about .25 mile or so.  Once there you are surrounded by cypress trees and shin to knee deep water.  The Cypress Trees are covered in Bromeliads and other air plants.  This time of year only a few were in bloom.  Later in the year it will be much better.  In the middle of the cypress dome is a deep gator hole a couple of feet deep in which no trees grow.  It looks like a lake in the middle of the trees.  I captured a few shots of some blooming bromeliads before heading back to the truck.

I left around noon to head home.  I plan on heading back to the cypress dome when the bromeliads are all in full bloom.

Gator Hook Cypress Dome

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I recently took a trip to Big Cypress National Park to visit a place called Gator Hook.  Gator Hook is a trail off of Loop Road that is about three (3) miles in length one way.  There are many side trails off of the main trail.  One of these side trails leads to a magical place called Gator Hook Cypress Dome.

Inside Gator Hook you will find large Cypress Trees more than 100 hundred years old covered with air plants such as Bromeliads.  The entire area is surrounded by water that ranges from ankle deep to chest deep.  In the center of the Cypress dome is a large pool where it is too deep for the cypress trees to grow creating a small lake.  This lake is the deepest part of the dome and is also called a gator hole.  I have seen a few very large gators swiming around in this area.  In the dry season when the water recedes you can see the alligator drags where they have left Gator Hook to visit a neighboring cypress dome.  On this trip I captured one of my favorite shots showing the large cypress trees, air plants and blue reflections off of the deeper water.

Gator Hook is a great place to visit and has a unique aura that surrounds you when you walk into it.  It is very calming and peaceful while under the Cypress Canopy.