( 'Invisible Wings' song )
( frogs calling )
( thunder )
( 'Invisible Wings' song fades out )
( seabirds calling )
Ranger: Right now, we are in a place called Snake Bight.
And, Snake Bight is a shallow bay. It is part of much larger Florida Bay.
And, this is all in the southern portion of Everglades National Park.
It is really not that common for visitors to see a Flamingo nowadays because it usually takes some work.
Typically, they are going to be a long ways away.
They are going to be out in a place like this, out in Snake Bight which requires a long paddle or a hike down a trail to get to.
And even if you go to that effort to look for Flamingos, you may not see any.
The last time that I saw a wild Flamingo was about ten minutes ago.
We were paddling out here in the canoe. We saw a flock of five Flamingos.
You really have to come to Flamingo to see certain things that you may not easily see elsewhere in the park.
Flamingo lies at the end of the main park road in Everglades National Park.
( 'One Day' song )
You would have to drive about 40 miles through pine forest, cypress swamps, sawgrass marsh, and then eventually into mangrove swamp to get to Flamingo itself.
As you drive your car down the road, there are a lot of things that you can see including Hell's Bay and Noble Hammock.
A little further down is West Lake.
As you continue down, there will be some ponds.
Mrazek Pond and Coot Bay pond can be good places to look for wildlife.
Hiking trails begin along the main park road in that area as well: Snake Bight Trail, Rowdy Bend Trail, Christian Point Trail.
( Osprey calling )
( 'One Day' song fades out )
And then eventually, you will end up at Flamingo and at the Flamingo visitor center in the marina.
The Flamingo visitor center is a really good place to start out to learn about what you can do here:
Different kinds of activities, ranger-guided programs, backcountry camping, backcountry permits, canoe and hiking routes...
...and all of the other opportunities that you can experience here at Flamingo.
It is also a great place to learn about some of the recent wildlife sightings, various conditions, weather conditions, tide conditions.
( phone ringing )
Ranger: Thank you for calling the Flamingo visitor center. This is Andy. How may I help you?
It makes it nice when you think you are only an hour away from one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the country and you see the stars. It is quiet.
Visitor: It is, yes.
So you can get away, but still be close to stuff.
Yeah, this is nice.
That is why I like Flamingo: It is quiet.
Flamingo is a jumping off point to explore one of the biggest wilderness areas in the United States and certainly the biggest wilderness area east of the Rocky Mountains.
And, that includes Florida Bay and the mangrove backcountry.
A good example of that would be the Wilderness Waterway.
The Wilderness Waterway is a 99-mile canoe, kayak and boat route that leads from Flamingo all the way to Everglades City on the Gulf Coast to the northwest of here.
Visitor: Can I get some information about a boat ride?
Ranger: Boat ride!? Boat rides are all taken care of at the green building right next to the gas pumps right across the parking lot.
Concessions employee: We rent different kinds of canoes which is family canoes and then we have tandem canoes. And then we have kayaks that are tandem and singles also.
We rent skiff boats and they take that four hours or eight hours all day.
We offer the backcountry boat tour and we have the Florida Bay boat tour.
Concessions employee: We are gonna start our cruise right here guys on the right side of the vessel.
Along the shoreline, well, we are gonna back up here a little bit.
What we have here is an American saltwater crocodile right here in Flamingo.
For those folks that wanna do a canoe trip around Flamingo, you can bring your own canoe or kayak.
There are canoe rentals at the marina.
We have ranger-guided canoe trips.
Ranger: We have American crocodiles and American alligators. This guy is a crocodile.
So, I would like to welcome all of you. Thanks for joining me this morning.
What we will be paddling today will be an ecotone, two habitats colliding.
( 'One Day' song )
So, we will get to see the edge in between the red mangrove forested area and the freshwater marl prairie.
There is a turtle...looks like some kind of softshell...right down low.
Visitor: There is a turtle right there, he said.
This is kind of the transition zone: We have the red mangroves here. And then over off in the distance, we have the freshwater marl prairie.
( 'One Day' song fades out )
This is a great place for birds.
A lot of birds start coming in here in the winter months.
So, say from about December through around March and into April...that is a good time to come for birds.
The Flamingo area is considered world class fishing.
People come here to catch all kinds of fish: Tarpon, Snook, Redfish, Seatrout, Snapper, Black drum, Sharks...
You name it, there are so many different kinds of fish out here.
It is an exciting place that way.
And, you can go almost anywhere around Flamingo whether it be out here in a place like Snake Bight and other parts of Florida Bay or into the mangrove backcountry...
There are fish everywhere you go.
( Osprey calling )
We always like to share with visitors different safety considerations that they need to take into account if they are going to do a paddling trip...
...whether it be a short or a long trip into the Everglades.
And, things to be aware of are changing tides, wind conditions, severe weather, the sun.
We always recommend people bring sun protection: Sunglasses, sunscreen.
Bring plenty of water.
It is always good to be prepared when you are gonna go out into the backcountry.
The main services that are available at Flamingo include the visitor center.
They provide ranger-guided programs...quite a variety of them.
Ranger: In 1960, Hurricane Donna hit this place.
Hurricane Donna had a 12-foot storm surge.
The waves were crashing through the windows out there.
There is a campground at Flamingo and also a marina.
And, at the marina, there are canoe rentals, boat rentals, boat tours, a small convenience store, gas, bicycle rentals, restrooms.
I think what I appreciate most about the nature of this area...there is two things.
I appreciate the fact that there are all kinds of species here.
( 'One Day' song )
Hundreds of different kinds of plants and animals, birds, fish, insects.
You could spend your life and numerous lifetimes studying all of this life here and marveling at it and discovering it.
But, I also like the fact that it has a tropical character to it.
So, a lot of this life is from the Caribbean.
You will not find it anywhere else in the country but right here at the southern tip of Florida.
And, Flamingo is a great showcase for that Caribbean life.
Animals like crocodiles, White-crowned pigeons...
A variety of different kinds of plants and trees: Orchids, bromeliads, weird trees with funny names like Gumbo Limbo and Manchineel.
So, again, it is just all these different things that you can experience here in terms of the natural history.
It just goes on and on.
( 'One Day' song fades out )
Where are the Flamingos?
It is too bad...
But, it was great to see them anyway.
( 'One Day' song )
( 'One Day' song fades out )