Shorewoods Photography-Boarding Group 2 Travel Blog

We met up early this morning to travel to Green Cay Nature Center and Wetlands. There are 100 acres of created wetlands, and we could not appreciate the great diversity and scale of what was waiting for us when we first stepped out onto the boardwalk.

There is a luscious quiet about the wetlands, sprinkled with bird calls wafting through the grasses and echoing from the trees. With the gently rising sun and emerging light, making photos and hiking atop the boardwalk was a practice in discovery.

We would like to share some of the birds and wildlife we discovered during our hours in Green Cay. Clicking through the slideshow will bring you along on our walk.

As the sun rose to its higher point in the sky, we said goodbye to our bird friends in the wetlands, climbed into the van, and headed to Butterfly World. We were not quite sure what to expect. We walked into the center, parted the screens keeping the butterflies inside, and stepped into a truly magical space. The space is filled with beautifully flowering plants and it feels like we are walking through a flowered jungle. All about us, between us, above and below us, are butterflies! There are so many, it takes us a few minutes to learn how to look at them, as they flit and float like breezes. If you could see breezes, they would be butterflies.

I soon decided to lite on a bench in a corner, and soon butterflies were landing on my hands, and arms, and to my delight, on the end of my camera lens. This one butterfly seemed to be studying me from the other side of the lens, literally, gently pressing its wings up and down as we shared a moment. It soon floated off to find another to study. I learned to stay in one spot, and wait for the butterflies to join me.

While I was butterfly watching, a family came in with a young girl who was about 4 years old. She was terrified. She was crying and hid her head in her elbow each time a butterfly came near her. Her parents were trying hard to comfort her. I invited her and her family to come and sit on the bench. She ran over and poured herself into the corner. I told her this is a good place to sit, because the butterflies can only come to you from the front, as your back is to a wall. As she wiped her tears away, a butterfly came and seemed to float in front of her. With wide eyes she reached out her hand, and that butterfly landed on her arm! She giggled and laughed as the adults looked at each other in disbelief. I saw her several times throughout the gardens, skipping and excitedly yelling to her parents “another one”!

There were not only butterflies, there were aviaries with a wide variety of birds. The unique plants and other animals added to an exotic feeling.

We left, truly feeling we had stepped into another world for a few hours. After a meal, and reflecting on what we had experienced, we excitedly headed off to look for nesting owls at Riverbend Park in the Northeast Everglades Natural Area.

As we rode to the park, the children’s book “We’re Going On a Bear Hunt” by Micheal Rosen and Helen Oxenbury came to mind. If you haven’t read it, go to your local library find a chair, and discover it. (If you can’t wait to get to your library, click the link and it will take you to the book online to read, but please do go to your library to read it too!) In an atmosphere of adventure and fun, we set off on the Indian Head Trail with our cameras and began our owl hunt.

There was good news and bad news. Bad news: the owls were gone, we believe they fledged! The good news? The owls were gone! They had fledged! That means the population of owls has grown, and aren’t we all the better for knowing that, even though we may not see them. The owls had repurposed an osprey nest from last year to raise their owlets.

We then headed to Juno Beach Pier to catch the full moon rise over the ocean. Magnificent clouds rolled in, and the waves built upon each other as they thundered onto the beach. The full moon, like the owls, was out there somewhere, we just couldn’t see it.

We went on an owl hunt. We didn’t see a big one. What a beautiful day.