Florida – March 23 to April 1, 2007
(note: I am trying this as a single post, I am hoping that most viewers have broadband internet by now but if you think I should break it up into smaller segments please email me and let me know!)
Well, my time to Florida finally came! I have wanted to go to Florida since I was a kid reading about all of the great snakes and lizards and alligators and birds etc. The Everglades, Lake Okeechobee, Big Cyprus, etc. And it took me until my 48th year to get there! The trip would not exactly live up to my expectations but then, they seldom do, in particular when you have waited so long... However there were plenty of highlights and some high points which I will attempt to share with you in chronological order along with my usual commentary and pictures so, here we go!
As I said, Florida has always been one of those desired destinations for me, sort of like Costa Rica or Australia or Madagascar… I got to Costa Rica and Australia a couple of times before I got to Florida but here I was! Again, business was what finally got me here, the big CTIA (Cellular Telephone Industry Association) show was going to be held in Orlando and I needed to be there for a few days so what better time then to plan a trip around my business trip so we did! I had to be in Orlando on March 27th, 28th and 29th so I took a day off on either side of that and mixed in two weekends to get as much time as possible in the field. I will tell you right off that I was too aggressive in my planning! We ended up driving nearly 2,000 miles on the trip and that was with two full days and part of another staying put in Orlando.
I think having dual interests in birds and herps is getting to be a bit of a problem! Not only is it hard to look up AND down at the same time but often the best areas or animals of interest are in quite different locals! Anyway, on a whim, and after reading some literature on the Cornell University search for Ivory Billed Woodpecker’s in the area around the Chatahoochee River we decided that we should at least check out the area and see if we could get lucky… extremely lucky that is, if you get my drift… Well, I’ll tell you up front that we didn’t however there were some interesting things, but I am getting ahead of myself.
We departed San Diego on Friday, March 23rd and flew into Jacksonville, Florida (NE part of the state). The first two days of the trip were to be in and around the Chatahoochee River drainage system before heading down to Orlando for the business leg of the trip. Unfortunately, there isn’t any real good way to get there from anywhere other than to drive. Tallahassee would be the closest city but I couldn’t find an easy way to get there from San Diego without multiple plane trips and quite an additional expense. I am sure there are plenty of ways TO get there but it really doesn’t matter now. Anyway, we drove across the northern part of the state on Saturday morning, arriving at our destination in the early afternoon. Unfortunately as well, my wife (Lynn) had developed a real bad cold/flu a day or so before we left on the trip and it was having full impact on her. She was able to drift in and out of sleep most of the day and we did make some brief stops along the way but she was truly miserable and would remain so (in terms of her health) for most of the trip.
Our first stop was one of the many rest areas along route 10. One good thing about Florida is that they have top notch, grade A-1 rest areas, at least in the northern part of the state. This one was complete with a one mile loop trail into some swamp and a small pond with Alligators and Turtles…
Red-bellied Woodpecker from a rest stop outside of Tallahassee
Yellow-belly Sliders and a Florida Cooter from another Rest Area
Closer look, Same Area
And what would be the most common herp encountered, the Brown Anole
As I stated earlier, we arrived at our destination in the early afternoon, a dirt access road that goes to an Oxbow lake along the Chatahoochee River, about 20 miles west of Ponce de Leon Florida. We drove to the end of the road and then hiked a long trail that I had mapped out earlier looking at the area from the satellite imagery on Google Maps. We hiked about 5 hours through a mixture of old-growth swamp and heavy mixed woodlands, tying to stay as close to the Cyprus swamp as possible. First, let me tell you that this is hard going, the trail petered out and we spent some time walking around in the swamp, VERY easy to get lost in here so I was extra careful to stay aware of direction, etc. The area was extremely inaccessible and also remote, I have no doubt after experiencing just a brief time in there that it is certainly feasible for a shy, rare animal such as an Ivory-billed Woodpecker to remain unseen, no doubt at all. I also noted that even though the area was remote and certainly not very well traveled, there was not an over-abundance of wildlife, I would take this to mean that we were probably seen and heard long before we would be aware of anything although we did find a few animals as pictured below. I’ll also state for the record that on three separate occasions we both heard distinctive double-rap sounds in the distance, the sounded just like the ones that are recorded on the Cornell University website on Ivory-billed Woodpeckers however I have no clue what the sounds actually were as we also noted that the swamp itself makes all sorts of sounds that are “unusual” AND they certainly could have been Pileated Woodpeckers or even made-made noises from a distant source, it was exciting however! In any event, as the sun started to get lower and the shadows longer, not to mention the insects hungrier, we retraced our steps back to our car and drove back to our hotel for the night in Ponce de Leon. I was able to add a couple of herp lifers, a Southern Toad, a Florida Mud Turtle and we found a DOR (dead on road) Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake on the way back to the hotel.
Road leading into area around the Chatahoochee River
Found several interesting flowering plants in the area including this one which was very popular with the insects.
Southern Toads were foraging in the leaf litter which was THICK with small spiders which I assume the toads were dining on.
First Green Anole of the trip, trying to go unnoticed.
This Swainson's Thrush sat quietly for many minutes while we photographed.
Lynn looking out at the swamp that just about ate both of my hiking boots...
Another Southern Toad showing off how much he looks like a leaf...
Me, walking through a patch of open ground... thinking, did we come this way?
This Mud Turtle was in a small drainage culvert that ran along the access road to the river.
The next morning (Sunday, March 25) we had planned on revisiting the same area but now both of us were feeling a bit under the weather, Lynn much more so than me so we decided to slightly deviate from plan and take a more rural route toward Orland (where I had to be Tuesday morning) and make stops along the way. Our destination tonight would be an area called “The Lakes” in central Florida, about an hour outside Orlando, so with 280 miles to go, we left the hotel around 8:00 AM and were on our way, slightly re-tracing our steps back to Tallahassee before veering southeast and crossing over into central Florida. I will let the captions from the pictures below explain what you are seeing and where but in general, we made a lot of short stops during the day, Lynn slept quite a bit and the cold/flu was getting the best of her, I think this was her worst day. Near the end of the day there was a sign pointing to the Suwannee River National Wildlife Refuge so I decided to make that the last stop of the day as it was getting late. We pulled off the road about a half hour later on a dirt road that led down to the famed Suwannee River. I glimpsed something out of the corner of my eye right after turning down the road and was very pleasantly surprised when I stopped to find a live Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake!!! One of the highlights of the trip for sure for me, a species I have always wanted to see up close and in person and here it was and a nice specimen to boot! It was also VERY feisty! For such a tiny creature it sure was brave and boldly held it’s ground striking wildly at me as I approached. I am not sure what purpose the rattle serves that’s attached to this tiny rattlesnakes tail! You sure can’t hear it! After a minute or two he settled down and let me take a multitude of pictures of him however. Lynn was starting to feel better now after resting most of the day, I could tell as she found a small patch of wild Iris and asked me to dig up a few bulbs… We searched the area until the sun was very low on the horizon and then back on the road, arriving at The Lakes, Florida well after dark.
In a small field directly behind our hotel in Ponce de Leon, Florida, a bit of dew made the spider webs quite interesting.
A bee busily going about his business...
Northern Mockingbirds were just about everywhere
A small tributary to the Suwanne river
An angry Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake
I was actually quite glad that this guy was so small, he was quite agitated with my attempts to "wrangle" him into position for photography, repeatedly striking at me while his tiny rattles, barely audible were vigorously buzzing! He was quite quick with the strike as well, but his range was minimal, all of 3-4 inches or so and I was able to get relatively close while still maintaining some degree of safety. Even though they are small, a bite can still be quite painful albeit usually not life-threatening.
Quite a striking snake (pardon the pun), the color pattern of this species varies greatly, this one was, in my opinion a beautiful specimen!
You can see how they could blend in to the leaf litter quite well. Certainly one of the highlights of the trip for me and a long-targeted species that I wanted to add to my life list!
Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake Habitat
A view down the Suwannee River
Along the banks of the Suwannee River at dusk, thinking about all the driving left to do!
Monday, March 26th was a day to explore the area between The Lakes and Orlando, about 80 miles away. The area held several parks and areas of interest and we made the most of it by stopping at a multitude of different destinations. I was able to add a couple of new herps to my life list early with a Five-lined Skink under a piece of plywood and a couple of Florida Scrub Lizards, sunning themselves on pine tree stumps. Also added Bald Eagle to my bird life list when an immature Bald Eagle tried to mix it up with an Osprey that was returning to the nest with a fish in talons. The Eagle lost the battle but I was able to observe it quite well in my binoculars. The highlight of the day however was a Barred Owl that we flushed as it was eating a squirrel. We were able to chase if from tree to tree for a short while but it was quite wary and we never got close enough to get any super good photos. See highlights from the day below. We arrived at our hotel in Orlando after dark and hit the sack, the next couple of days were going to be jam-packed business days for me so I had to shift gears, get the suits ready and back to work…
White Ibis in the Hotel parking lot! Now things were getting more interesting...:o)
Lynn photographing one of her favorite subjects from the Darter family!
I loved the way this Anhinga turned out against the background of palms
You can see why they sometimes are called Snake-necks. Anhingas were well represented everywhere we went in Florida.
We ran into a group of nesting Red-winged Blackbirds and Grackles at one of our stops, they were quite interesting and photogenic!
This Grackle was trying to tell Lynn something... probably "BACK OFF!"
Osprey were very common, we saw over a dozen nesting pair over the course of the trip, several here in the Lakes region of Central Florida.
Female Red-winged Blackbird
Great Blue Heron
Another Red-winged Blackbird, striking a fairly threatening pose!
And, I promise, the last Red-winged Blackbird photo!
This quickly turned into a brawl as both of these girls decided that this piece of straw would be a great addition to their nest!
Nesting Osprey returning with some home improvements!
Back at the nest, which was on top of a microwave relay station.
Five-lined Skink, found under a piece of plywood. He hung in there for me for several minutes making the photography easy! One of several that were observed, several others were found in the open foraging in leaf litter and fallen bark.
Palm Warbler from "The Lakes" Florida. These guys were extremely common in some areas however, in typical Warbler fashion they were difficult to photograph. I literally threw away over 100 bad/blurred pictures of these guys! The male is a very striking bird however!
Little Blue Heron trying to scare up some lunch!
Another Green Anole, this one from another area along the Suwannee River (which we seemed to keep finding on our way south and east.)
A view along the Suwannee River in East/Central Florida
Here's the Barred Owl that we chased for a while. He never let us get too close and finally flew away, carrying with him a large grey squirrel in his talons!
Notice how well this member of the spiny lizard family blends in with it's surroundings!
This pair of Sandhill Cranes were walking around inside a closed plant nursery! In California, I have tried to get a shot this close (around the Salton Sea) and never even gotten half as close as I was able to get with this pair. We would see small groups of these cool birds throughout the remainder of the trip.
This is in a McDonald's parking lot, just outside Orlando. This Great Egret attacked a Brown Anole that was foraging along the grass line and had a quick meal!
Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were fairly common and got more so the further south we went.
Me, wandering aimlessly looking for the next "lifer" bird or herp... As I said, it gets a little challenging when you are torn between looking up for birds and down for reptiles. I tend to use my ears a great deal when I am out looking for stuff, more often than not that is how I discover my next subject, either from a rustling sound in the leaves or the chirp of a surprised bird.
One bad-ass squirrel, telling me to back off or she will let me have it! Actually, she was waiting for a sunflower seed...:o)
Nothing of note for the next couple of days other than two Wood Storks that I spotted early in the morning foraging around a pond that I could see in the distance from my hotel room, too far away for any sort of photos but I was able to get some later in the trip anyway and a few subjects from the hotel parking lot on the morning we were leaving. As a side note. The day we were leaving the show, George Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton were the keynote speakers at the conference I was attending, they also stayed at the same hotel. Imagine if you will for a moment what happens when secret service and hotel security see some dude, dressed in a bit of military-looking clothing stalking around the hotel parking lot with a large, 400mm lens... Lets just say that I was very happy to be allowed to leave, these guys are serious and had absolutely no sense of humor and even asked for the address to our website when it was explained what we were doing... anyway, it was time to go, so after finishing up on some business early in the day on Thursday, March 29th, we were again on the road. Here are a few shots from the hotel parking lot before getting kicked out.
These squirrels were all over the hotel parking lot in Orlando, foraging in the trees and quite acrobatic!
This Tri-colored Heron was busy foraging early in the morning in the swamp/pond next to our hotel. I also was able to spot two Wood Storks working the same area but was not able to get any clear photographs of them, luckily later in the trip we would encounter many more!
Gray Catbird, again in the hotel parking lot. I was photographing him when the hotel security/secret service folks decided that my behavior was suspicious enough to detain me for a few moments and then suggest that I leave as quickly as possible.
Today’s destination was one that I was waiting for with much anticipation as we were going to explore the fabled “Loop Road” in the Big Cyprus Swamp National Preserve. The Big Cypress Swamp lies just north of the Everglades National Park, Big Cypress covers over 700,000 acres and differs from the Everglades in that it has a slightly raised terrain with standing water covering most of its swamp. The Everglades, on the other hand, is famous for its wetlands and constantly flowing ‘river of grass’. Together, the Big Cypress and the Everglades cover most of the area between Miami and Tampa and the tip of Florida.
We arrived at Loop road mid-afternoon and after driving through a small Indian reservation we were in the preserve. Almost immediately wildlife started to be seen with a myriad of birds, turtles, alligators, etc. I’ll let the pictures start to do the talking from here…
Many butterflies were seen taking advantage of the early spring bloom.
Note the leg, or lack thereof... In the pond over which this White Ibis perched were about a dozed alligators, I would assume that at some point in the past, Mr. Ibis had been quite lucky to survive!
The aptly named Swallow-tailed Kite, an almost constant companion while we were on Loop Road in the Big Cyprus Swamp area.
Another White Ibis foraging in the swap.
Alligators were quite common, it was hard to find a section of water that did not hold at least one. This one took special interest in my photography, swimming right up to the shore and watched me as I was photographing a Green Heron.
Green Herons were very common, I probably saw more in a few hours than I see in a year back in California.
Here's another one, trying to be stealthy!
Several miles of Loop Road follow habitat very similar to this.
Another cool life-list bird for me, this is a White-eyed Vireo that briefly posed for me before moving on.
Next to the Anhingas, Cormorants such as this beauty were probably to second most common bird in the swampy areas, perhaps Great Egrets would be a close second but there were many cormorants perched on branches like this one above.
There was also quite an array of bromeliads growing off the side of Cyprus trees and other hosts.
An American Alligator striking a pose for me on top of a slab of limestone.
And another one, showing off his dental work!
This Great-crested Flycatcher was found not by sight but by this very loud smacking sound I kept hearing. He was really chomping down on the insects and you could hear his bill snapping from quite a distance as he would swoop down to flycatch his prey, a loud click if you will then he'd perch again in typical flycatcher fashion looking for his next meal.
Fish Crows such as this one were very common as well. Mostly distinguishable from the American Crow by it's higher pitched call.
We saw several deer in the park foraging along mowed areas.
I thought these Grasshoppers that Lynn photographed were really cool looking, reminded me of a race car with their pinstripes...
I flipped a few rocks here and there, opportunistically as opposed to an real concerted effort and under probably the second or third rock I flipped I found this Brahminy Blind Snake. The first Blind Snake I have ever found or seen in the wild!
You can barely make out the vestigial eyes in this picture, they are covered by scales but can still detect the presence of light. They spend their lives in subterranean habitats searching out ant and termite larvae which is their principal diet. This particular species is actually introduced and can be found in a variety of locations around the world now. Usually hitching a ride in commercial ornamental plants that are imported. They have adapted quite well to the environment in Florida and have a sustaining, breeding population established.
This Yellow-shafted Flicker sat still just long enough for me to snap a couple of quick photos before moving on.
Another American Alligator resting along the bank of the swamp.
And yet a couple more!
Tufted Titmouse trying to be unnoticed
Another interesting plant...
