A crying shame and a sheer delight.

We saw the very best and the very worst of Florida on a single day this week.

Sitting within rocking chairs on the deck of a viewing platform we were taking in the dying rays of the warm Everglades sunshine. Staring out over still waters and the endless horizon hugging grasslands behind them we chatted about the coming weeks and watched Egrets and Herons of varying species preparing to roost. A noise in the rafters above us attracted our gaze. There picking out insects amid the spiders webs was a Yellow-throated Warbler. Regarded by many as the pinnacle of avian delight, the Nearctic Warblers are flying jewels and this bird was no exception.

We checked out a site on the way back to our hotel meeting two gentlemen birders in the process. Striking up a conversation with these two articulate gentle folk we learned of their misfortune. They had been robbed of a Swarovski Scope and a top of the range Canon camera. Some £8K of optical equipment. The excellent officer attending the scene was efficient and reassuring but it’s beyond me how people can disrespect others in this way. Being so close to Miami and the drugs that drive crime I suppose it isn’t such a surprise that this happens in the Everglades. However, it’s almost a contradiction that Heaven and Gomorrah can be in such close juxtaposition.

Holding ground

All the warblers locally have now taken up territories and started to breed in earnest. This local Whitethroat has been particularly vociferous over the last few weeks in defending his territory.