Pulling the swamp plug

The Purple Orchid Tree, another of the staggeringly beautiful bits of flora in the Everglades.  This tree is 30 ft. tall and 20 ft. wide and will bloom for three months . 

If my identification is correct, this is the Queen Palm tree.  I thought it interesting because the picture shows a new branch in the making.  Notice the short, pointed stub under the already developed branches.

White Bottle Brush plant?  6 inches long and about as wide as your thumb. 

Remember father Cane and son Able from a few posts back?  They decided to kill a resident Diamondback Rattler because...well...because they could.  It's carcass was tossed into the swamp behind their place and after a couple of days attracted no less than 50 vultures. 

In a nearby Long Leaf Pine, a Red Shouldered Hawk keeps one eye alert for breakfast and the other on us as we prepare for lift-off from our stay in Ochopee, Florida's Big Cypress Preserve. Six days is enough in the southern swamps for us northern swamp kind of folks.

So, we'll be pulling the plug this morning and head down the road for new adventures....First we'll be stopping back in Crystal River to see our friends Jill and Scoop.