J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel Island, Fl.

We took the drive through the J.N. "Ding" Darling Refuge, on Sanibel Island.

The charge was  $5.00, for the four mile drive through the refuge. We had Mallery with us, so we didn't visit the Visitor Center and all it's exhibits. You can do that free anytime. Do you see the bird?

Is this better. This is the best I can do with my camera.

All the birds are so far away for pictures.

American White Pelicans and  maybe Double-Crested Cormorants.

Great Egret (Joe said this bird is worth 50 cents of the five dollars entry fee. Four fifty to go)

Love the green around it's eye.

This is a spot where you walk on a boardwalk over the water.

Red Mangroves reflected in the water.

And a snake swimming below. ( Joe said the snake is worth 75 cents)

Sure glad I am up here.

You can't see it, but there were a bunch of holes in the mud and little pinching, what looked to be crab claws waving out of the mud. Very weird looking. At first I thought there were a bunch of white wiggle worms in the mud. ( Joe said they were worth $1.00, even though you can,t see them. We are at $2.25)

Not sure what kind of snake. Best, I could come up with was maybe a yellow rat snake or mangrove salt marsh snake, from my research.

The snake was under that boardwalk.

Farther down the road we come to the lookout tower.

Birds were too far to get pictures.

But just up the road I could get a better view than from the tower.

More American White Pelicans.

You tell me!

I looked down and saw this snowy egret right below me, from the road.

I know it's a snowy egret because Joe's sister Renee told me snowy egrets have yellow feet. ( I'd say he is worth at least 75 cents. Joe didn't see him because he is still in the car. It is in the low ninety's, so he is enjoying the air).

This is the last trail, about 1/4 of a mile.

The trail is on the boardwalk all the way.

A pretty red flowering bush.

Shady Hammock Tree. Mallery knew where the shade was!

Looking back at the Shady Hammock Tree. There were informational  postings along the trail, but we had to read them quickly as we had an appointment to see a motor home that was for sale on Sanibel Island.

This is a midden at the base of the information post. A midden, also known as a kitchen midden, or a shell heap (when they contain a large number of shellfish remains),^[1] is a dump for domestic waste. The word is of Scandinavian via Middle English derivation, but is used by archaeologists worldwide to describe any kind of feature containing waste products relating to day-to-day human life. They may be convenient, single-use pits created by nomadic groups or long-term, designated dumps used by sedentary communities that accumulate over several generations.

The Calusa were the name of the people who first inhabited Sanibel Island.
We did not see our $5.00 worth, according to Joe. I guess you have to be a real birder, who has a great camera, or who likes to counts birds. Oh well, I guess we can say, " seen that, done that!
We saw the 4 slide 36 foot motor home that was for sell. It does not fit our criteria. The floor plan just didn't work for us. After you have been full-timing for 2 1/2 years, you know exactly what you want. Every time we compare them to what we have for the money, we leave appreciating our Nest.  Newer motor homes depreciate very fast, worse than cars, so we prefer to stay with an older model. It is hard to find a nice older model.