Ever Amazing Everglades

I work for the Seminole Tribe of Florida in the Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO).  I am their Collection Manager for the archaeological collections.  So far I love my job.  Although at times it has been high stress, learning the ropes and trying to understand what in the world is going on, I feel that I am finally settling in to a routine and remembering everyone's name.  My work is located in the heart of the Everglades which means a commute of 1 hour and 15 minutes to and from my house.  The early morning drive has been quite enjoyable, watching the sunrise and the fog rise over the swamp.

                                                                                           

This is the time when I usually see the alligators slowly drifting with their heads barely above the water. The most I've counted in one drive is 6, but I've heard you can see as many as 200 during the summer!

On the drive I also get to enjoy seeing many different types of birds.  The white herons perch on the bushes and skinny branches and are often standing on the side of the road.  The Ahinga sits in the branches with its wings spread, and the first time I saw one I thought it was a giant bat.  Today on the way home from work we looked to the side of the road and for about 5 miles thousands of birds were in the air, looking for mosquitoes and bugs for dinner. 

One day at work, one of the museum workers came in to tell us a turtle was about to lay eggs in front of the building!  We ran out to find her digging her two holes.  Because one of her legs had been injured she was using only her left leg to dig both holes.  We stood and watched for about 20 minutes and then she started laying her eggs.  There were about 10 eggs total.  Once she was finished she began to bury them, keeping them warm and to hide them from raccoons and other predators.  Hopefully I'll be at work when they hatch!

I'll continue to keep my eyes open for new and exotic animals!  It is still a shock to see an alligator.  I always think I am looking at a dinasour taking a morning float down the river.  I have yet to see the panthers, bobcats, and bears but hopefully when I do they are just as scared of me as I am of them!  I did have a dead frog fall out of the umbrella at the lunch table next to my yougurt the other day, reminding me of just how weird of a place Florida really is.