Exploring the Florida Everglades

Everglades National Park is the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States and is designated a Biosphere Reserve, a World Heritage Site and a Wetland of International Importance. 

The Florida Everglades is one of the most complex and most fragile natural systems in the United States, consisting of nine distinct ecosystems. At its heart is the well-known "river of grass," a slowly flowing freshwater river that is both shallow and immense, which merges into wide tidal rivers and then mixes with salt water from the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Bay. It is here that the world's greatest mangrove forest thrives. 

February in the Everglades

February is the most wonderful time to explore this unique ecosystem. With its abundance of birds and other wildlife as well as the variety of interesting wildflowers and other subtropical plant life, we are all in for a special treat. This is the time of the year when many of the water birds (waders and others) are nesting. More troublesome insects, such as mosquitoes and biting flies, become virtually non-existent in most areas of the park.