1889
March 2
Enterprise,  Florida.
Cloudy in morning & late afternoon. Middle of day
clear and rather warm. Strong S.W. wind all day.
  Started at 8.30 by boat for the Wekiva River.
The Lake was perfectly calm at first. We saw
a large alligator basking on the surface near
the de Bary landing and disturbed several
large gar fish which plunged away from the
bow or oar with mighty & most startling
splashes. Oliver says they fall asleep lying
near the surface sunning themselves.
  Just below the Outlet at a landing where
many shad nets were drying we saw about a
dozen Buzzards feeding on refuse fish. There were
also four Herons, three Louisiana & one Little Blue.
I shot two of the former but one escaped into
the cypress swamp & was lost.
  My next shot was at a large otter which we
saw swimming in mid stream a little below
Fort Florida. He looked like a immense muskrat
but swam much faster & showed a flatter head.
He dove twice going perhaps twenty y[ar]ds under
water each time. I shot at about 30 y[ar]ds
apparently covered him fairly but he did not
reappear.
  Near this same place I shot my first
Anhinga, a fine [female]. It was sitting on a stub
over the river & allowed us to drift within 30 yds.
During the day we saw about eight of these
birds, several of them beautiful males.
  Nearing the mouth of the Wekiva I heard a
Corvus a. floridansis in a belt of palmettos