Pere tO De Us baO Nee bewels Tobe Len 
Or 
Two station wagons with about fifteen bird nuts made this trip under the 
leadership of Mr. Brookfield and his assistant George Burroughs. As we 
drove south toward Homestead they told us the scientific and common 
names of the many flowers, trees and shrubs, and told us the story of 
man’s unforgivable exploitation of this beautiful land. Someone the week 
before had discovered a smooth-billed ani in a particular field a few miles 
from the highway, picking ticks off the back of a particular cow. Did we 
want to take the additional time on the chance that it might still be there? 
Of course we, did, and our good luck stayed with us. There on the same 
cow was the same ani, which graciously permitted us to have an excellent 
view of him. 
From Homestead the road goes southwest into the boundaries of the new 
Everglades National Park. Here were the birds of the Okeechobee region 
in still greater number, in a more tropical setting. Alligators dozed in the 
Photo by Allan D. Cruikshank 
Sandhill Cranes 
thickets along the road. When we got out of the station wagons we were 
warned to watch for snakes. The road is bordered on each side by a deep 
ditch, so walking is impossible, and the danger of snakes is negligible. 
The objective of this trip was a remote rookery in West Lake, deep in 
the heart of the mangrove swamps. It lies just west of Whitewater Bay 
in the maze of swamps at the southernmost tip of Florida’s mainland. We 
lunched on Coot Bay where the station wagons were left, and set out in two 
boats. From Coot Bay we wormed our way with idling motors through a 
narrow passageway arched with mangroves, into a second lake. To get 
from this lake into West Lake the boats are anchored, and one group at a 
time proceeds by row-boat. While the leader poles the boat, the passengers 
pull at branches to help work the boat through the tangled waterway. 
Barnacles on the trees are a menace to hands. Snails cling to the branches. 
Air plants and orchids reach up to the light above the gloom of the thicket. 
