6 February 2017 Carlton Preserve and LaBelle

Our first stop of the day was a visit to Carlton Preserve. We were here for a few lonely caches, one of which hadn't been found in two years. We were also here to explore and enjoy the sights. The wild boar grunts we encountered on the trail were just an added bonus. I was really happy the boar wasn't offended by our presence and stopped at a few grunts.

A Trailside Lizard

Part of the preserve had recently been burned. There was a geocache back in the area. We were happy to see the ammo can was at the edge of the burn zone and had survived.

Walking along the tea-colored Myakka River

The Myakka is at least ten feet lower than this grassy area by a pavillion. Considering the rise needed to even flood the grassy area, the top mark for June 2012 was over my head.

As the day wore on we eventually ended up at Port Labelle. After deciding not to hunt a cache at what may be Florida's sleepiest marina and finding a cache in the parking lot of the Port Labelle Inn, I was wondering if it was time to shut down the day, but we made our way to a nearby virtual. The virtual sent us to a nearby park where we we supposed to make an observation about the island at the park. We arrived and same a number of shore birds along the shore with a quiet island behind.

We were a little perplexed as to why there was a virtual here. The we saw the other island. There were many, many birds. More were arriving as we watched.

They kept arriving...

In the midst of all this frenzied bird activity, we were treated to an egret in breeding plumage.

It was an amazing, memorable sight and a great way to end the day.