Lake Okeechobee

After a trip into the Post Office in Moore Haven to pick up the fat box of mail forwarded to us by Daughter MM, we headed for our planned trip around Lake Okeechobee. We'd seen a bit of it last week, but today wanted to drive all the way around it. We headed east towards Bella Glade, then north on 78/441.


We saw this Double-Crested Cormorant sitting on a power line. The orange bare skin on its face make it an easy one to identify --

These big turtles - the big one a good foot long - were sunning themselves on logs floating in this weed-filled canal --

This absolutely gorgeous Osprey was keeping watch on a power pole near the lake --

It's hard to see much of Lake Okeechobee from the highway. It is surrounded by a huge dike (Herbert Hoover Dike built in 1938) that averages 30 feet high. The dike does have a walking/biking path atop it, and there are occasional approaches like this one with boat launching ramps. The lake doesn't look very big as it is very shallow (averages 9 feet) and much of it is covered with vegetation.

These stately Royal Palms line the streets of Pahokee. I don't know how old they are, but they must have planted hundreds of them many years ago.

We came up on this flock of adult White Ibis a few blocks from the city center --

Their curved red bills and legs are quite distinctive --

They're about two feet tall -- the same size as snowy egrets -- which it's easy to mistake them for at a distance until you see the beaks!

You can barely see the black wingtips tucked back against their tails --

By the time we made it around the lake (the 2nd largest fresh-water lake totally contained in a state in the US), the sun was starting to set. This cormorant was taking advantage of the last rays of sunlight to dry her wings --

I took this final shot of a Great Blue Heron silouetted along the bank. It's amazing how they tuck that long neck back and in --