We trekked away to Busch's Wildlife Sanctuary on the Loxahatchee River. They specialize in rescuing injured wild animals and birds plus wildlife-type pets that people can no longer handle.
Nancy, Dylan, Jana, LaurieTouring the enclosures, we saw bald eagles, golden eagles, wood storks, bobcats, and panthers. They had the panthers in small enclosures because there are 2 new baby cougars in the large space, and they don't want to chance a disaster by putting the large and small cats together right away.
We walked past a cypress swamp and had a good view of the cypress knees. At 3 o'clock in the amphitheater there was a really good presentation of 5 different animals. We learned about the history of each animal, a little bit about typical characteristics of those animals, and we had a chance to touch or pet all of them except for the red-tailed hawk. The animals we saw today were the alligator, the rat snake, possum, skunk and hawk.
Here's Dylan with the ratsnake.Florida bobcats are smaller and thinner than our River Road bobcats. The foxes, on the other hand, were fluffy with lush and shiny coats. Dylan's favorite animal is the albino raccoon which he calls Marshmallow. The raccoon is really a lot more beige than he is white - he looks like a toasted Marshmallow. Overall, I think we all liked the wildcats the best: cougars, panthers, and bobcats.
Meanwhile, back home in Summerfield, we found a different kind of wildlife right in our neighborhood!
Summerfield Sandhill Cranes!
