The Everglades is a remarkable place with a vast expansion of coastal wetlands that provides homes to numerous species of birds, fish, reptiles, and more! We began and ended our tour in Fort Myers, Florida. We spent six days exploring different parks and wildlife refuges, both on land and on a boat. If this is a trip that interests you, then check out this trip report for the Birds and Wildlife of the Everglades tour held on December 1- December 6.

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

We kickstarted the trip with a morning stop at Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary just outside of Fort Myers. This sanctuary contains a 2-mile boardwalk that loops through a few different environments, including a cypress swamp. It usually takes us about 4 hours to walk the loop. You can complete the trail at a faster rate, but when photography is on the mind, it’s good to take it nice and slow so you can make sure you don’t miss any hidden treasures among the dense foliage.

Starting out, it was a slow morning. This made me wonder if the recent hurricanes had anything to do with it. Luckily, the hurricanes didn’t damage any of the places we visited on the tour. While in the sanctuary, we got lucky with the sighting of a couple raccoons: a mom and baby who were climbing around the vegetation eating berries. We can usually expect to see raccoons peeking through the leaves at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary but this time, the raccoons were more exposed, allowing us to get great shots as they walked along the tree limbs or hung from the skinny branches. Aside from the raccoons, we saw other species as well, such as woodpeckers, ibises, and even a couple alligators.

Boat Excursions

These excursions are my favorite part of the trip. These boat rides consist of three, three and a half hour tours in Ten Thousand Islands, which is an estuary consisting of thousands of mangrove islands that provide a safe haven for birds, racoons, and other marine animals.

Two of our boat rides took place outside of Chuckaluskee. One of the best parts about this boat tour was the local rookery where you can find species such as snowy egrets, white ibises, brown pelicans, tricolored herons, cormorants, and occasionally little blue herons. Our first boat ride took place in the evening after visiting Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. This provided a great opportunity to photograph birds as they flew in to roost for the evening. As the sun went down, the Venus Belt created a nice hue of pinks and blues in the sky allowing us to photograph birds in flight with beautiful pastel colors in the background.

Two days later, we returned to the rookery at sunset to photograph the birds as they took flight. This time, instead of the cool colors of the evening light, we captured the warm yellows and oranges from the sunrise. Within this limited period of time, we focused on photographing a silhouette shot of any bird that flew across the golden light. Once the birds left and the sun rose higher, we spent the rest of the morning cruising around the mangroves, watching dolphins and photographing birds.

The final boat ride took place along the coast of Marco Island. As we cruised around, searching for ideal subjects to photograph, we spotted a roseate spoonbill across a shallow channel. The captain then began calculating ways to get closer to the bird. Right as the captain began to initiate his plan, the bird took flight. There was a fleeting moment of disappointment before we realized the bird was flying right toward us. Excitement triggered our muscles to lift our camera and began photographing the bird in flight. To our surprise, the spoonbill landed on a sandbar right next to us where it began dabbling in the water for small fish and other aquatic animals. This was the best spoonbill encounter I have ever had in a photography workshop.

Ten Thousand Islands Wildlife Refuge

On day three of our trip, we spent the evening at Ten Thousand Islands Wildlife Refuge. This piece of land is part of the largest expansion of mangrove forests in North America. After pulling into the parking lot of the Marsh Trail, we walked the quarter mile, paved path that cuts through the marsh. Along the trail is an observation tower which is a great place to capture birds in flight. This is generally one of my favorite places to take folks for an evening shoot. As the sun goes down, flocks of white ibises begin returning to their roost near the observation tower. The golden sunset is great for capturing silhouettes of birds. Aside from ibises, other species such as great egrets, wood storks, and cormorants can also be photographed wading in the water or flying over the mangroves.

Everglades National Park

After spending two nights outside of Naples, Florida, we drove to Homestead to stay for two nights so we could spend more time in Everglades National Park. To start off, we cruised southwest, straight toward Flamingo. Located within the park, Flamingo is a designated visitor area with a general store, boat dock, campground, and a visitor center. The campground is located along the coast. Nearby is an osprey nest that sits in a tree right next to the parking lot.  One bird sat in the nest while its mate remained perched on a nearby tree. Both birds studied our movements as we shifted around the tree, trying to find the best angle to photograph the raptors. Lucky for us, the birds have become complacent to human activity so they were not threatened by our presence.

Near the boat dock we photographed the largest reptile in North America, the American crocodile. Crocodiles are not as common as alligators, so it is always a special treat to witness these large predators. There are only a few areas in the Everglades where crocodiles can be observed, and Flamingo is one of those areas. The largest crocodile in the area, who the locals refer to as Fred, is approximately 15 feet long. Upon arrival, we saw Fred basking on the concrete boat dock next to one of the smaller females. Another visitor informed us that this prehistoric giant recently killed a smaller crocodile hours before our arrival. The dead croc, which was floating near the corner of the dock, was only a fraction of the size of Fred.

The following morning and evening were spent on the Anhinga Trail. This is an .8 mile self-guided trail near Royal Palm Visitor that is great for photographing great blue herons, alligators, and anhingas. Near the visitor center, a paved trail follows along the slough before transitioning into a boardwalk that loops over the three-foot-deep marsh with crystal clear water. Purple gallinules are commonly seen prancing across the water lilies while several species of fish can be observed beneath the surface. As we walked the boardwalk, double-crested cormorants perched on the railing. We patiently waited to capture a shot of the birds leaping off the boardwalk, but the cormorants barely moved when visitors walked past them.

On our final day of the trip, we visited Shark Valley which contains a 5-mile paved loop where visitors can take a tram ride to the other end to an observation tower. However, because of our time constraints, we simply walked the path along the slough photographing birds and gators. It was a final opportunity to add to the portfolio before returning to Fort Myers. What I love about Shark Valley is that the trail is nearly at the same level as the slough. This is great for getting down low on your stomach to photograph gators swimming in the water or basking on the bank. After a couple hours at this remarkable place, it was time for one last meal together before concluding the Birds and Wildlife of the Everglades photography workshop.