On the Road with the Birds! See Ya! Day 1
Yep, that’s what he said! See Ya!
We were on the road at last! And wouldn’t you know, it rained for 7 hours straight! We didn’t mind too much, we were just two crazy Birds livin’ in Paradise traveling down the road! No clocks to watch or schedules to keep! The Bird’s nest was empty and we were ready for some R&R!
Destination! The Florida Keys!
We planned to stay in a sweet state park right in the middle of the Keys. Located near Marathon Florida, Curry Hammock State Park is one of our favorites. The park has a lovely day area where you will often find kayaking, fishing and Para-sailing galore. The campground is small, hosting only 26 camping sites which we love! State Parks all over the state of Florida are often fully booked 1 year in advance December through May, filled with “Snow-birds.” Travelers from Canada and all across the United States migrate south for the winter. We were pleasantly surprised to find a 3 day cancellation so we grabbed it!
We finally found the park and settled in for a quick dinner and a good nights sleep. We woke up to a beautiful sunny day! The skies were blue and after a quick walk on the beach, we decided to settle in our beach chairs to enjoy a nice glass of cold juice and a good book. Mr. Bird decided he would first have a quick chat with the peeps nearby….I settled in with my fresh glass of juice.
And then the visitor came calling!
Something moved to the right…
of me. I peeked around the picnic table and oh my goodness! This guy was just as surprised to see me as I was to see him! He/she was about 2 feet long, dusty gray/green with black stripes on the tail, definitely something prehistoric!
I grabbed my camera and snapped a few pictures…I swear he was posing for me!
With a leisurely glance...
to the left he was in no hurry to leave. The park posted brochures asking for help with these unwelcome guests. You see they’re invasive. As vegetarians, they consume large quantities of vegetation and are known to destroy seawalls, sidewalks and landscaping as they burrow and nest. The males can grow up to 5 feet in length while the females are much smaller. Definitely not a welcome visitor! This Iguana appeared quite at home!
And then, he turned and began…
to saunter away.
See ya…he said
And then showing no fear, he stuck his tongue out at me and disappeared into the thick vegetation!
That was the last we saw of this guy
He was not the last of our guests! Poor Mr. Bird missed the whole encounter, luckily I captured it all on camera. It was a beautiful day, time good read and back to the beach! Stay tuned, I’ll be sure to share more! Thanks for stopping by!
And as always, blessings to you all
What a wonderful place to take R&R. Mr. Iggy just didn't much care whether you were working or playing, did he?
We have a few introduced species but nothing like Florida. I have seen our most famous, a Kimono Lizard. There is a slow moving part of the Colorado that somebody turned a pair loose in. They like the temps and there are a few of them around now.
Our snowbirds have just about gone for the season. It'll be close to 100F here today so most are gone or leaving soon.
OMG, the Komodo dragons are dangerous, with a mouth full of bacteria that will kill you! Stay away from those guys @bigtom13. I hope they aren't breeding :) 100 degrees, yikes that's really hot! We have low 90's as a high..so glad the tourists are going home, now the roads will be safer, lol
I agree with the first comment seeing these guys run is so cute isnt it, and you got great shots of it but a bit cheeky poking its tongue out at you before scurrying off
Sure you're having a fun time my friend! I think he smelt your gorgeous food that's why he hung around ;) They do look prehistoric don't they!
Our iguanas look a little different, we call them Leguans. We used to have some young ones visiting our pool daily many yet ago, one even found its way into the house! Was quite a job capturing it, and then we released it near the river!
Posted using Partiko Android
Oh my goodness, in the house? We have small anoles on our back lanai. I'm always worried our little kitties will try to eat one....not a good idea. Leguans, are they scary looking as well? These guys were so quiet, they just showed up, startled me even though I knew they were harmless,. I had just enough time to grab the camera, lol It was indeed fun!
They look a lot like these and apparently can grow quite large. The one in the house was still a youngster, not fully grown but their tails can still hurt one! We leave our big sliding door open all day in summer and it must have come in unseen. Hubby had been re-tiling the bathroom and it slipped in under the bathtub in a plumbing access opening! Was quite scary!
Great shots. We don't have such big reptiles here. Thanks for sharing.
We really look forward to seeing these guys, it's always a treat. They are afraid of us so I was lucky to get photos! It's too bad they're invasive...
🎁 Dear @ikarus56,
SteemBet Seed round SPT sale is about to start in 2 days!
When our started the development of SteemBet Dice game, we couldn’t imagine that our game would go so viral and that SteemBet would become one of the pioneers in this field.
In order to give back to our beloved community, we’ll distribute 4000 STEEM to SPT holders immediately after Seed sale. Plus, investors in this earliest round will be given 60% more tokens as reward and overall Return on Investment is estimated at 300%!
Join the whitelist on SteemBet webiste now and start investing! Feel free to ask us anything on Discord https://discord.gg/tNWJEAD
I love the iguanas. Have you ever seen them run? It’s a trip, I didn’t know they could run that fast. In CR they are protected. In Nicaragua they eat them, or so a local Costa Rican once told us.
This guy only heard that you are the baddest kitchen chef on the east coast… he just wanted a little brekkie 🤷🏼♀️ In our apartment we have geckos. Some are super tiny and they come out at night. Dandays and I name them… we can’t really get a good picture of them to share but they are everywhere. Lizards are much better than snakes and spiders in opinion. I’ll take it. Have a happy Easter celebration with your family Mrs. Bird. God bless all of you 😉
Aren't they fun, but eat them? I know my son in law wanted to catch one when he visited. He said they were supposed to be really tasty. Love the geckos, in fact we had one when we first got married. Their little feet are so cute. We have tiny anole lizards on the back lanai, about 2" long. We have to keep our kitties away from them. We're looking forward to Sunrise Celebrations on the beach this year! Thank you, blessings to you! I hope your move goes smoothly:)
Yuck! I don’t think I could bring myself to eat one. They are just too handsome to consume, much better to enjoy their company :) The geckos are super cute. They kind of wiggle run too. It’s funny
Hey, @birdsinparadise.
Ah, iguanas. I guess they pop up when you least expect them. :)
We've had a few run ins with them over the years. Nothing major, really. The most notable time would have been the first visit I made to Tulum in Mexico. I was with a friend of mine and we were there to visit the ruins that sit on a rise above the ocean. Expensive beach front property now if it were ever to be developed.
The iguanas were inside on the ruins site, and the funny thing was, they got bigger and bigger the farther in we went. There were people all around, and while they iguanas more or less stuck to themselves, they didn't seem to phased by the humans milling around. We also only saw them one at a time. They didn't seem to like their own kind much either.
My wife has eaten iguana. She says they taste like chicken. Go figure. :)
My son in law wanted to catch one last time they visited. He said they were quite tasty but we didn't see any. I think I might be intimidated with a "gang" of iguanas. They move surprisingly fast you know, lol Luckily they're vegetarians right? They do pop in uninvited and make themselves at home :)
Yeah. Surprisingly quick. That was the only thing I didn't like about them. They weren't menacing, they just moved way too fast. :)
I think after the experiences I've had with them, it would be weird to run into a gang of them. I'd wonder what was up, since they don't seem like the ganging up type.
I'd kind of wonder about the health of an iguana myself. I mean, I don't know if they're grown domestically to be eaten, or if it's all caught in the wild, but there's always some kind of disease floating around, and even though they could look healthy on outside, I wouldn't know if they were actually okay for eating or not.
I love iguanas, I lived in the US Virgin Island for a while, and they were everywhere. In the Islands people call them stupid, because sometimes they freeze in the middle of the road and get run over. They get probably very scared, I guess. They run so funny, especially the young ones. They really look funny, they have small undeveloped bodies but very large legs and their color is bright green. Cute! Anyway, I enjoyed your post, thank yo for sharing. 😊
Yes, yes, they freeze in the trees here during January and fall out of the trees, lol They really get around, and you're right their gait is hilarious. I love watching them, it's just when they appear out of no-where....Not sure how smart they are, but they've been around a long time!
they looks so peaceful in the photos and as well in the real life but idk why they always scare the crap out of us when ever we see them. quite a lot of iguanas, lizards komodos here in Asia and they pop up whenever you expect them the least hehe :D
I think they are sneaky, they just pop out of the vegetation and there they are, lol. I know they're harmless but geesh...I found myself waiting for more to arrive :)
What a big belly he has. Did you check your picnic goodies after he left? ♥︎♥︎⚖️♥︎♥︎
hehe, well I was safe since he was more interested in the vegetation around our campsite! I think I was intruding on his turf and he needed to check me out, lol They were so fun to watch, and capture in pics to share!
looks so majestic and old
They do don't they? It's hard to believe they're vegetarians...looking at them you would think they would come after you...they move very fast!