Heading down to see our son in Miami, we crossed Alligator Alley, the hundred-mile stretch of I-75 between Naples and Greater Ft. Lauderdale. A toll road, the highway makes a beeline across South Florida, crossing (from west to east) the Big Cypress Swamp and the Everglades. As usual, I saw the journey as an opportunity to do some birding along the way.
If you don't count the ubiquitous grackles, the most common birds were vultures (black and turkey), which soared above the tropical landscape, roosted in trees or wrestled for roadkill along the Interstate. Double-crested cormorants and anhingas were also very common, dotting trees above the roadside canals. Of course, herons and egrets were well represented and a flock of wood storks was a highlight of the trip. Ospreys were the dominant raptor and were especially common above the tree-lined waterways of the Big Cypress Swamp. Cattle egrets, sporting their orange breeding highlights, foraged on the grassy medians and belted kingfishers surveyed the canals from the Alley powerlines.
For those travelers with the time and inclination to stop, several rest areas provide an opportunity to observe the smaller and less conspicuous wildlife of this fascinating region. Some of these rest stops overlook waterways which, as the road's name implies, often harbor American alligators.
