Alligators Mating and a Mahogany Hammock

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Anhinga Trail, Long Pine Key, Mahogany Hammock, Everglades National Park, Florida

After three full days of seeing the Everglades, we pretty much thought we were done. There was one section, though, that we hadn't explored and that is the central section, right at the main entrance to the park (and the one part that pretty much everyone sees when they come here). We drove the 40 miles back up to the Ernest Coe Visitor Center. The movie here is a very good introduction to the park and covers the overall ecology of the thing (as a water processing machine) without getting very technical. It was a nice way to put the whole picture together after we had seen most of the pieces. They also have a kid-level picture of the largest alligator ever seen in the park which should scare the pants off most adults.

We left the visitor center and proceeded back down the main park road to our first stop, to Royal Palm. The Anhinga Trail is less than a mile long and more or less completely flat, so there isn't much of a challenge here. And if you are only going to do one hike in the entire park, this is probably the best one.

Just to the left of the trailhead is a large marshy pond. It doesn't take long to spot alligators and birds doing their business. We saw blue herons and beautiful examples of anhingas, the birds we had first seen at Shark Valley. The males dive into the water and, swimming underwater, are finding fish. After a successful venture, and bringing the food back to their beautiful mate, they then dry out by spreading their full black wings and shaking them in the sun.

But the real show here isn't the birds, it was the alligators. We had been told about alligator mating behavior by the tour guide on the Shark Valley tram. He told us how the male will arch his body by bringing up his head and tail into a U-shape. Apparently this act is a way of showing off his physical prowess. And there is the alligator mating call which he said was sort of like a lion growling, only more so.

Well, we had hardly started our walk when we started hearing these rumbling noises more like a bellow, but very low in the register. And they were remarkably loud - the guide said they can be heard as far as 2 miles away. It didn't take us long to identify where it was coming from because the huge male about 20 yards into the pond began to form the foretold U shape. It didn't look exactly easy and he didn't hold it very long, but he was clearly doing something unusual. Then we heard a return bellow which, honestly, scared the crap out of me because it came from right under my feet. I was on a bridge over a short waterway and, unknown to me, the female was making the passage and returned the male's call. Soon we saw her swimming towards the male. There were a couple more bellows, but the last thing we saw was the two of them headed into the marsh. Perhaps for some needed privacy! I have to say that the experience, totally unexpected, made the day.

After that, the rest of the walk around the boardwalk was sort of anti-climactic. But Joan did get pictures and a video even of another one of those purple gallindrules (or whatever they are called). And there were a lot more alligators, although they weren't in the romantic mood. But a big part of the beauty of this walk is the freshwater marshland with the tall grasses, the palmettos, lily pads, and, in this part of the park, palm trees. There's a second short trail here, the Gumbo Limbo, which takes you through a stand of those trees. They are fascinating because their bark peels looking a lot like sunburnt skin.

We grabbed some snacks and moved further on down the road to the Long Pine Key Picnic Area. All we did here was eat a quick lunch, but, if we were a little less tired, we would have taken a hike here as well. This is a fascinating part of the park because it is mostly a Florida Slash Pine forest, the only real concentration of pine trees in the park. Unfortunately, because it is so close to the main entrance, it is an impression that a lot of Everglades visitors leave with - that the Everglades is pine trees.

In fact, this stand of pines is on the highest part of the park, sitting on an extension of the Atlantic Coastal Ridge. The pine trees are here only because that extra few feet of difference means that this part of the park is always above water (except maybe in a hurricane situation.) This reminds me of a cute sign on the main road which identifies that the road has reached the highest elevation, Rock Reef Pass - elevation 5 feet. Who says park rangers have no sense of humor.

So we left the nosebleed mountains of the Everglades and descended backdown into the prairie area. And we caught the road to our final destination, Mahogany Hammock. I'm still trying to understand the difference between a hammock and a 'tree island', but I think the latter are what you call the former when they occur in a slough - but don't quote me on that. Anyway, Mahogany Hammock is a small hardwood forest, slightly elevated above the surrounding prairie (we are talking maybe six inches here, but inches make a huge difference in water levels and hence, ecological systems).

This hammock is another good sight if you only have limited time to spend in this park. 'They say' that the largest mahogany tree in the U.S. Is located in that hammock - its big, old and interesting. There are also two excellent examples of strangler figs which actually start at the top of the tree as seedlings and, as their roots extend downward, they end up literally strangling and replacing the tree they started on. Its a dense stand of trees and would be impossible to get through if it weren't for the boardwalk.

Exhausted and a bit overwhelmed by this park, we ended our day after the Mahogany Hammock, returned to the trailer, and took a nap followed by a hot shower. This sightseeing stuff is hard... (17.1.29)

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Photos

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There's a Couple in there

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Mracez Pond

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Beginning of the Anhinga Trail

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Turtles in the Pond

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Anhinga in the trees

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Another Anhinga

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Prairie Grass

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The Alligator Pond

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Joan Studying the Wildlife

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Ferns Invading a tree trunk

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Pinelands

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Pinelands

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Through the Marsh towards Mahogany Hammock

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That stuff is called Periphyte

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Boardwalk into Mahogany Hammock

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Strangler Fig

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Gumbo Limbo Tree

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Hurricane Damage

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The Big Mahogany Tree

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Another Shot of Mahogany Tree

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Yeah, and a third one of the biggest Mahogany Tree in North America