Monday October 2nd 2023

Today is the start of a new weather pattern for this area. It was sunny with a few clouds all day. A medium to strong wind blew out of the northeast most of the day. Overall it was a less humid day than the last week. The temperature peaked in the upper eighties.

During my stay here I’ve been seeing and taking pictures of the multitude of purple water flower blossoms. I thought they were Water Hyacinths, but wasn’t sure so they remained nameless in my blog entries. Today I decided to verify my thoughts using our old friend Google. Sure enough they are Water Hyacinths, but some of the other information I discovered was surprising. They are considered an invasive species that grow very fast and thick. Often they get so thick that they chock out the light and oxygen for other bottom growing plant life. The plant is native to South America, the only continent where natural predators keep it at bay. Perhaps the most surprising thing I discovered is that it is illegal to posses them in Florida without a special permit. The bottom line is their beauty is offset by the danger they represent to the natural balance of things.

The wind kept the water birds in more sheltered areas. Along the side of Upper Myakka Lake there were waves breaking. The birds can’t forage for food in the churned up water. I saw several Egrets back in the woods and up in the branches of trees. The herons were not in any of the places I looked.

During my last walk of the day I spotted two deer again. I suspect it is the same pair I saw yesterday. Today they were in the middle of the road in one of the older campground loops. Earlier in the day, when I was returning to camp in my car, I saw a buck near the same area. It kept moving away from my car, but I tried to get a picture out the window.