After returning to my hotel and getting cleaned up, I spent the rest of the morning having a leisurely breakfast at the local Denny's and packing up. The early afternoon was then spent shopping for my kids at the Miramar Outlet Mall before once again I could concentrate on birding. I drove down to Naples and found my way to the Botanic Garden - tropical plants are another hobby of mine and I had missed out on Fairchild/Montgomery yet again. In short it was lovely if you like that kind of thing, and as ever I combined the two hobbies and essentially birded my way around the gardens. I managed a solid 25 species, including quite a few that were new for the trip list including Ring-necked Duck, Downy Woodpecker, Common Yellowthroat by the lake and Common Ground Dove feeding on the paths. If you have an afternoon it is very pleasant place to while away a couple of hours. Other species seen can be seen on the eBird checklist here.
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| Tri-colored Heron |
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| A section of Philodendron. I think this one could be "Burle Marx", named after a famous Brazilian plantsman, with the one above being "gloriosum" |
After this I went shopping for two essentials. 1) Beer and 2) something to BBQ. I am mostly vegetarian these days, but when in America.... With my evening sorted I drove back to Estero Boulevard and checked into my new hotel, and with the sun setting I plonked myself in a deckchair on the beach and happily watched the sun set over the Gulf whilst swigging a cold beer. The beachfront BBQ was then fired up and I finished the day exactly as I had intended - sat on warm sand listening to the waves and having some nice food and more beer. It's a wrap!
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