Birdwatchers

We spent the morning with John at the Circle B Bar Ranch Nature Reserve south of Winter Haven. It was a working ranch until 1994 when the land was donated to the state of Florida for a nature preserve.

There were several nature trails.  We took the one which led to the lake.  We walked through huge live oak trees dripping with Spanish moss...so pretty.

 

This is an anhinga.  It swims underwater stabbing fish with its long needle-like beak.  After fishing, it suns itself with its wings stretched out to dry the wings.  The feathers on this bird does not have an oil coating so the feathers must be dried before swimming again.  We saw several of these birds sunning and drying its feathers.

 

This is an osprey.  We saw several of them in trees and soaring over the lake.

We spent nearly two hours hiking and birdwatching.  Of course, this made us hungry.  John took us to a place where we could eat a Cuban sandwich.  It was called "Soup 'R Cubans."  

It was very small but the food was delicious.  The special of the day was a 10 inch sandwich and large drink.  You place your order, get your own drink and find a table (either inside or out) and your food is brought to you.  When you are finished eating, you throw away your garbage and go back inside to pay for the meal.  It seemed strange to place the order and not pay for the meal then.

This is the Cuban sandwich that I had.  It had a special Cuban bread with ham, cheese, tomato, onion with a mayo/mustard sauce.  It was very good.  I would definitely have another one.

After lunch, we took John back to his house and we returned to the motorhome to relax.  John and family came to the motorhome for supper and some time together.  It was very pleasant outside so we ate outside and spent the rest of the time relaxing.  They left around 7 and we took Sandy for a walk around the campground.  Then we were blessed to see this beautiful sunset.  The last two evening we have been amazed at the colors of the sky at sunset.  It has been a very nice day.