South Florida

December 2014

My family and I spent the Christmas holiday, 2014, in south Florida. We drove down—three nights down, three nights back—and stayed seven nights in Homestead. We traveled through ten different states; we visited five different national parks; and we had a generally excellent time; a vastly enjoyable vacation (with one notable exception: a vastly unpleasant experience with Enterprise Rental Car in Miami; it was the single crummiest customer experience of my entire life).

While in Florida, Jack and I managed to spend a bit of time in the Everglades and Big Cypress, herping. Our herp species total for the trip was 29, not bad for a couple of days in late December. We also had the extreme good fortune to see an entire Florida Panther (i.e. Mountain Lion) family group in Big Cypress (alas, no photos). And of course, I made a few bird pics when I could. We found most of our herps after dark, so with—for the most part—pretty lousy lighting (improved night photography lighting equipment is on our list of things to buy).

Our first herp of the trip was this Brown Anole, on 23 December, in a parking lot about 150 miles north of Miami—a common species, of course, but coming from Michigan’s upper peninsula, this was the first reptile we’d seen in months, so it was a welcome sign of things to come. Our first actual herping excursion of the trip was a night run through the Everglades the next night, Christmas Eve. We pulled into the park just after a heavy downpour, and almost immediately found this Striped Mud Turtle (held by Jack) crossing the road near Royal Palm. The Visitor Center was full of geckos, like this (presumably) Tropical House Gecko (and by the way, house geckos are a vastly confusing, and introduced, complex). A little more road cruising produced our only live/uninjured snake of the night, this Florida Brown Snake (held by Jack). We encountered a number of dead and dying snakes (i.e., road kill) on the roads, including this still-living (but just barely) Florida Banded Water Snake near the Park entrance. Owing to the rain, we had huge numbers of toads and frogs that night, including this Southern Toad (held by Jack).

The next day was Christmas, on which the aforementioned worst consumer experience of my life occurred. So I spent the day at Enterprise Car Rental at the Miami airport—all day—on the receiving end of some rather spectacular corporate incompetence, and didn’t get back to our hotel until after sunset. But Jack and Zane helped me salvage the day by doing a quick night run at the Everglades, which produced this Corn Snake (and of course, many frogs and toads and DOR snakes).

The next day, 26 December, after a morning spent finishing up our business at the airport Enterprise in Miami (all of which should have been resolved in thirty minutes, tops; instead, they wasted a day-and-a-half of my vacation), all five us visited Shark Valley. Alligators are, of course, ubiquitous at Shark Valley—here is a pile of hatchlings, and here is Evan (giving a wry look) with an Alligator. The only other herp we encountered on our mid-day Shark Valley visit was this DOR Eastern (Peninsula) Ribbon Snake. Later that evening Jack and I did another night run through the ‘Glades. Highlights included this Green Tree Frog at Royal Palms, this Squirrel Tree Frog (terrible photo), and this hatchling Southern Ringneck Snake (held by Jack) at Eco Pond.

Back to the ‘Glades for more night herping with Jack on the 27^th. Our best find was this large, Florida Banded Water Snake at Mahogany Hammock. Driving from Flamingo to the Park entrance, we had roughly 25 DOR snakes, a sadly large number for maybe two hours of driving. Earlier in the day, we had this Greenhouse Frog at Long Pine Key.

On the 28^th, Jack and I headed up to the Big Cypress, and the famous Loop Road. We arrived at about 3:00pm, and cruised the Loop Road in heavy traffic, which was not an entirely happy thing. But at dusk, the traffic almost instantaneously slowed to less than a trickle, and eventually, during our final hour on the road, we encountered no other traffic at all. Near dusk, we had our encounter with the Panther family group (it is one of my all-time favorite wildlife encounters). We also had this American Alligator crossing the road, an eerie, unnerving sight, as it slowly revealed itself in our headlights, looking, at first, alien or prehistoric, until it came into better light (“Ah, it’s an Alligator!”). Here is a Common Garter Snake (held by Jack). Here is a large adult Florida Cottonmouth; and here is a younger Cottonmouth. On our drive home, we had many DOR snakes along the Tamiami Trail, mostly water snakes of various species. We also caught, and moved to safety, a number of living snakes, including this large Florida Green Water Snake.

On the 29^th, Jack and I made one final night run in the ‘Glades, on which we found our final snake of the trip, this juvenile Florida Cottonmouth.

I close this report with just a few bird pics from our week in south Florida:

Egyptian Goose, newly ABA countable!

Muscovy Duck, in our Homestead hotel’s parking lot.

Wood Stork, Anhinga Trail.

Double-crested Cormorant Anhinga Trail.

Snowy Egret, Shark Valley.

Little Blue Heron, Shark Valley.

Green Heron, Anhinga Valley.

Black-crowned Night Heron, Anhinga Valley.

White Ibis, Royal Palms.

Red-shouldered Hawk, at dusk, Everglades.

Purple Gallinule, Anhinga Trail.

Eastern Whip Poor Will, Everglades.