Tuesday March 26th 2024

Today’s wind was out of the south instead of the east, but otherwise it was a clone of Monday. It was a windy day with fluffy clouds and a high temperature in the low eighties.

In a previous blog entry I commented on not seeing any turkeys or turtles on this visit to Myakka Rive State Park. That deficiency was rectified today. I drove along the park road to the northern side of the park this afternoon. My destination was the boardwalk into Lake Myakka for bird watching. The boardwalk wasn’t open on my last two visits. It was damaged in September of 2022 by hurricane Ian. The first section of boardwalk was destroyed by tree damage near the shore. The temporary solution was to provide a path along the ground to temporary stairs onto the remaining boardwalk. Unfortunately, that path was flooded last fall. Today it was home to a turkey and a turtle.

The turkey was out of place hiding behind trees and bushes to stay away from the people using the boardwalk path. The turtle on the other and was oblivious to people walking by within a couple of feet. The Florida Softshell turtle was digging a nest for her eggs. A state park volunteer was guarding the reptile while she did her thing. I don’t usually see softshell turtles out of the water. Most of the turtles I see are Cooters taking the sun on logs along rivers and lakes. Today was my day to see softshell turtles. Driving back to my RV home along the park road I saw another one along the side of the road. Later I saw one stick its head out of the river before diving deep.

This was also a day that a few more bird species made appearances. Wood storks and Rosetta Spoonbills were among the new arrivals. They seem to have no problem hanging out with the alligators enjoying the sun.