Jordan-Jaguar97
Well-Known Member
Enjoy Mr Maguari - will be nice to here back from you when you can, also I expect some weird animals of the days. 
Hi guys!
Finally got some solid web connection!
Having an excellent time so far - first day we got free of the gravitational pull of Miami airport at about 4pm and headed along the northern edge of the (closed!) national park to our lodgings in the Clyde Butcher Swamp Cottage in Big Cypress, from where we have spent the last two days exploring the western Everglades. The Big Cypress National Preserve is also, technically, closed - but despite all the boardwalks and viewing areas being taped off and marked as closed they all have people parked up on the entrance road and looking round as normal so we have been joining in! We've also been to a couple of non-federal sites such as Fakahatchee Strand and Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.
Mammal star so far is the Big Cypress Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger avicenna) that was putting on a great show right in front of the cottage - a very local but pretty distinctive subspecies with a black head. We've also seen Eastern Grey Squirrels, a brief roadside view of a Marsh Rabbit, and a raccoon at Corkscrew.
Alligators are all over the place, of course, and we've had some fantastic views - but the most pleasing reptile of all was a large Everglades Racer at head-height in a tree at Fakahatchee.
Butterflies are everywhere, with large numbers of Palamedes and Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, Zebra Longwings, White Peacocks, various Danaus and today a large number of Ruddy Daggerwings at Corkscrew. Dragonflies and Lubber Grasshoppers also ubiquitous.
Bird-wise, we're on about 40spp., including Anhinga, Double-crested Cormorant, Tricoloured Heron, White Ibis, various egrets, Great Blue Heron, Belted Kingfisher, Wild Turkey, American Redstart, Great Crested Flycatcher, Grey Catbird, Worm-eating Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Snail Kite (briefly), Red-shouldered Hawk, Turkey and Black Vultures and a whole pile more - often quite common US species but fascinating to the visitor (I spent ages today photographing mockingbirds!).
We're now at a friend's house in Punta Gorda and will be hanging around the Gulf coast for the next few days so I will keep you posted!
Finally got some solid web connection!
Having an excellent time so far - first day we got free of the gravitational pull of Miami airport at about 4pm and headed along the northern edge of the (closed!) national park to our lodgings in the Clyde Butcher Swamp Cottage in Big Cypress, from where we have spent the last two days exploring the western Everglades. The Big Cypress National Preserve is also, technically, closed - but despite all the boardwalks and viewing areas being taped off and marked as closed they all have people parked up on the entrance road and looking round as normal so we have been joining in! We've also been to a couple of non-federal sites such as Fakahatchee Strand and Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.
Mammal star so far is the Big Cypress Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger avicenna) that was putting on a great show right in front of the cottage - a very local but pretty distinctive subspecies with a black head. We've also seen Eastern Grey Squirrels, a brief roadside view of a Marsh Rabbit, and a raccoon at Corkscrew.
Alligators are all over the place, of course, and we've had some fantastic views - but the most pleasing reptile of all was a large Everglades Racer at head-height in a tree at Fakahatchee.
Butterflies are everywhere, with large numbers of Palamedes and Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, Zebra Longwings, White Peacocks, various Danaus and today a large number of Ruddy Daggerwings at Corkscrew. Dragonflies and Lubber Grasshoppers also ubiquitous.
Bird-wise, we're on about 40spp., including Anhinga, Double-crested Cormorant, Tricoloured Heron, White Ibis, various egrets, Great Blue Heron, Belted Kingfisher, Wild Turkey, American Redstart, Great Crested Flycatcher, Grey Catbird, Worm-eating Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Snail Kite (briefly), Red-shouldered Hawk, Turkey and Black Vultures and a whole pile more - often quite common US species but fascinating to the visitor (I spent ages today photographing mockingbirds!).
We're now at a friend's house in Punta Gorda and will be hanging around the Gulf coast for the next few days so I will keep you posted!
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Really? I was in Florida for two weeks and in two days you've already completely blown away the animal numbers I saw during my time!
Well I'm really glad you're having a good time and seeing lots of interesting wildlife! I look forward to continuing reading yet another travel thread (lots of us traveling this year!) and hearing about your trip!
~Thylo
Well I'm really glad you're having a good time and seeing lots of interesting wildlife! I look forward to continuing reading yet another travel thread (lots of us traveling this year!) and hearing about your trip!~Thylo
As such, they're often low density in FL and it might be worth focusing more on some of the 'real' specialities: Southeast U.S. specialities and not least the scrub jay. Anyhow, this all depends on how serious you are on bird watching. Whatever the case, it sounds like you're in for a great trip
We have a solid plan A for scrub jays, and I have a backup plan B for later in the trip just in case. Fingers crossed!
Really? I was in Florida for two weeks and in two days you've already completely blown away the animal numbers I saw during my time!
~Thylo
Staying in the Swamp Cottage really helped with the species diversity - the birds in particular would be about a third lower if we hadn't been able to watch the cypress swamp from the huge picture windows right from dawn the last two mornings - and we'd never have seen the Big Cypress Fox Squirrel. Can't recommend it highly enough if you want to get into the wild while remaining entirely civilised in accommodation!
Depending on where you are in Punta Gorda, there's the chance of seeing West Indian Manatees and Bottlenose Dolphins. They sometimes swam in the canal in the back of the condo I stay at when I go (despite the fact that I've never seen them!) There's also a Bald Eagle nest in the center of town, I believe.
Clyde Butcher http://www.clydebutcher.com/ is one of my favorite photographers. I knew he was based in the South Florida wilderness, but I had no idea he also has cabins for rent!
hey you've already seen almost more mammals than I have on my trip!!Maguari said:
Day four update:
Today we had the first significant captive collection in the form of the Aquarium at Mote Marine Laboratory. Not a huge aquarium but a very pleasant one with a strongly educational and scientific ethos and several significant firsts for me: Flamboyant Cuttlefish, Dwarf Cuttlefish, Kemp's Ridley Turtle and Pantropical Spotted Dolphin the biggies, as well as the trip's first sharks and manatees. We also called in at the adjacent Save our Seabirds centre - a rescue centre with a few interesting birds (my second ever Yellow-crowned Night Heron being the best), and saw our first wild pelicans of the trip nearby.
After Mote we called in for birding at Celery Fields, Sarasota - a very happy hunting ground for us. New species for the trip today included Wood Stork, Glossy Ibis, Red-winged Blackbird, Spotted Sandpiper, Roseate Spoonbills and (by far the best!)... Limpkin! And nearly double-figures of Limpkins at that. Brilliant stuff.
Today we had the first significant captive collection in the form of the Aquarium at Mote Marine Laboratory. Not a huge aquarium but a very pleasant one with a strongly educational and scientific ethos and several significant firsts for me: Flamboyant Cuttlefish, Dwarf Cuttlefish, Kemp's Ridley Turtle and Pantropical Spotted Dolphin the biggies, as well as the trip's first sharks and manatees. We also called in at the adjacent Save our Seabirds centre - a rescue centre with a few interesting birds (my second ever Yellow-crowned Night Heron being the best), and saw our first wild pelicans of the trip nearby.
After Mote we called in for birding at Celery Fields, Sarasota - a very happy hunting ground for us. New species for the trip today included Wood Stork, Glossy Ibis, Red-winged Blackbird, Spotted Sandpiper, Roseate Spoonbills and (by far the best!)... Limpkin! And nearly double-figures of Limpkins at that. Brilliant stuff.
Nice!
What species of pelican was it?
Also, when I was down there we stayed at a place near Sarasota called Manasota Beach and there there was a place called the Manasota Scrub Preserve that supposedly has Scrub Jays, though I couldn't go and confirm that for you unfortunately. If you're looking for Gopher Tortoises, the actually beach themselves proved an easy place to spot them up really close. I even spooked one that took off into his burrow!
~Thylo
What species of pelican was it?
Also, when I was down there we stayed at a place near Sarasota called Manasota Beach and there there was a place called the Manasota Scrub Preserve that supposedly has Scrub Jays, though I couldn't go and confirm that for you unfortunately. If you're looking for Gopher Tortoises, the actually beach themselves proved an easy place to spot them up really close. I even spooked one that took off into his burrow!
~Thylo
Eastern Brown - the third time I've seen wild P. occidentalis and the third different subspecies I've seen wild! (the previous occasions were in Santa Barbara and in Dominica so unless something very odd's gone on they would be the Californian and Caribbean subspecies respectively)
As I say, there is a plan for scrub jays.
Give my love to the Manatees and the Roseate Spoonbills. And the Wood Storks....
Two down in the wild, all three if captive included!
Would the Brown Pelicans in Florida be of a separate subspecies than the ones in the Caribbean?
~Thylo
~Thylo
Would the Brown Pelicans in Florida be of a separate subspecies than the ones in the Caribbean?
~Thylo
Yep - P. o. carolinensis in Florida, P. o. occidentalis in the Caribbean (and P. o. californicus in California).
Today was a rather sedate day by this trip's standards, almost entirely given over to an excursion out to Cayo Costa. We met four separate groups of bottle-nosed dolphins on the way out and back, and huge numbers of terns (mostly Sandwich, but a few Royal and 'to be identifieds'!) and cormorants. On Cayo Costa itself the waders (shorebirds) were the biggest draw - Willet, Sanderling, Turnstone, Black-bellied Plover and Wilson's Plover - but Mangrove Buckeye butterflies were everywhere and I even managed to spot a Southern Stingray, and watch feeding Brown Pelicans. The island was stunning and the boat trip a welcome opportunity to relax on a busy trip!
A quick call in to Ponce de Leon park afterwards yielded Mangrove Tree Crabs aplenty, as well as Five-lined Skink and (in a canal nearby) several Mottled Ducks.
A quick call in to Ponce de Leon park afterwards yielded Mangrove Tree Crabs aplenty, as well as Five-lined Skink and (in a canal nearby) several Mottled Ducks.
Today was a day of pottering around Punta Gorda taking in birding and butterfly sites - full report to follow later but just wanted to share a picture of my arm... there seems to be something on it...
(and yes, that is wild, it just really wanted a peanut!)
(and yes, that is wild, it just really wanted a peanut!)
Well how very lucky for you then!
Just for future reference for when I try once again to find this bird, what time was it and where exactly were you? I will note that they like peanuts!
~Thylo
Just for future reference for when I try once again to find this bird, what time was it and where exactly were you? I will note that they like peanuts!
~Thylo
Well how very lucky for you then!
Just for future reference for when I try once again to find this bird, what time was it and where exactly were you? I will note that they like peanuts!
~Thylo
They were just in suburban Punta Gorda - to be honest I was driven there and couldn't say exactly where it was. It was about 9.30-10am.
And they were stunning!
Today we were, as I say, pottering - stopping off at various sites around town briefly to see what we could see. Despite several potential sites, wild Gopher Tortoises were not to be found, though we did see Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Common Tern, Great Horned Owl, Blue-winged Teal, Pied-billed Grebe and Mangrove Skipper, alongside more views of many species we had already seen and, of course, some very friendly Florida Scrub-jays - an amazingly attractive species.
We also toured the small Peace River Wildlife Centre; a rescue centre (with a rather more pleasing atmosphere than Save our Seabirds, I thought) at Ponce de Leon park. This allowed us to see a number of species that have evaded us in the wild so far, including a number of new species for me: Brown Thrasher, Sora, Eastern Meadowlark, Cooper's Hawk and Eastern Cottontail among them. There was also a very interesting leucistic Eastern Screech Owl, and we did get to see some Gopher Tortoises (albeit captive!) and a wild Sandhill Crane - which was flying in and out of the enclosure of the rescue birds.
Early start tomorrow for a strange geographic shift - a couple of days which would in some ways make more sense towards the end of the trip but for various reasons have to be included here. We have an early flight from Tampa (a city I shall return to next week) for a zoo-dominated day - destination: Jacksonville...
(and back into a land with no guaranteed Internet access for me!)
We also toured the small Peace River Wildlife Centre; a rescue centre (with a rather more pleasing atmosphere than Save our Seabirds, I thought) at Ponce de Leon park. This allowed us to see a number of species that have evaded us in the wild so far, including a number of new species for me: Brown Thrasher, Sora, Eastern Meadowlark, Cooper's Hawk and Eastern Cottontail among them. There was also a very interesting leucistic Eastern Screech Owl, and we did get to see some Gopher Tortoises (albeit captive!) and a wild Sandhill Crane - which was flying in and out of the enclosure of the rescue birds.
Early start tomorrow for a strange geographic shift - a couple of days which would in some ways make more sense towards the end of the trip but for various reasons have to be included here. We have an early flight from Tampa (a city I shall return to next week) for a zoo-dominated day - destination: Jacksonville...
(and back into a land with no guaranteed Internet access for me!)
I'm interested as to why you'd want to visit Jacksonville before Lowry Park, which is in Tampa.
~Thylo
~Thylo