Wildlife in South Florida

     The final destination in our Florida Trip was Miami. We stayed in Coral Gables which has a park that's part of the Great Florida Birding Trail, but our sights were on the Everglades. Over three days, we checked out 3 different places: Everglades National Park, Key Largo, and Biscayne Key.
     We might be the few people who visit Miami and barely hang out in the city itself. As for Miami proper and learning about the city, I recommend HistoryMiami, a museum all about Miami, past and present. They have a really cool Miami Street Tradition Exhibit that I enjoyed and a comprehensive permanent collection that takes you back to Miami when it had direwolves living there to the Native Peoples who settled here before Europe arrived through present.
      We visited South Beach by night... on a weekday, if you like restaurants hawking at you to come eat there, I guess that's fun. To be fair it was also September, it's a lull in Tourist season. I also bought Tim some tickets to see Jerry Seinfeld at the Performing Arts Center. That venue was fairly impressive. A hop over to the Winwood neighborhood made us feel like we were in a gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood as it seemed to be up and coming and held the local population of hipsters. The buildings all have eye-catching graffiti and there is a whole set of walls that invite artists to create a graffiti installment. That was a lot of fun, looked like a place to do some serious instagramming, as most were.
     But anyway- enough with my very few Miami recommendations- onto the wildlife:

Some mating Eastern lubber grasshoppers.
These are massive grasshoppers and notorious pets that can be hard to control. I'm glad I didn't try to pet them, because when disturbed and distressed they can expel a noxious spray and smell through their spiracles.
You can find these grasshopper on blades of grass, clinging tight and eating.

On the Anhinga Trail, this gator was resting on land, drectly below us, standing on the boardwalk.

Saw lots of snakes, anoles, and tadpoles on the Gumbo Limbo Tree Trail.

At the Royal Palms Center, right outside the bathroom, a crowd gathered. Mom and her Brood!
These babies were so fresh and tiny.

These babies even gave a few chirps, to contact their mother, and stay together. Just FYI, baby gator chirps melt my heart, to the max.

My guess is that mom takes her babies close to the center. People are near it keeps predators away. The area they were sitting was in a thicket, probably to avoid the sun. But herons would devour these babies, no problem, if given the chance. Seems they had a good spot.

Loggerhead shrikes were easy to spot, while driving. Takes a perch up on signs, the car acts as a perfect blind. These birds always seemed super shy, so stay in your car if you see one and put on your flashers and enjoy a little butcher bird.

We drove all the way down to the Flamingo center, the southernmost part of the park. It had a lot of storm damage from Hurricane Irma nearly a year ago, so it looks a bit worse for wear. The ranger in the center was helpful in that she filled up our water bottle for us with cold fresh water and she told us where to look for manatee and American crocodile. We saw a manatee, but no crocs- the heat of the day even gets too intense for reptiles who seek shady cover. I think that was the case for when we arrived there.
But upon arriving and parking turkey vulture, waddled like turkey across the lawns and cattle egrets perused the freshly mowed grass. This young turkey vulture was about as cute as they come.

Presuming the bird it was associating with was a parent. A mature bird with that characteristic pink turkey head that gives them their name, I personally have a big adoration for vultures and their ecological role.

White ibises (pictured) and little common ground doves also hung out on the lawns surrounding the Flamingo Center and parking lot.

On the recommendation of the ranger at the Flamingo center, we drove down to the Eco Pond before the camping area. Saw a mature bald eagle before the pond, then heard it calling later, while walking the pond.

The Eco Pond was a short walk (and thank goodness it was), about an 1/8 of a mile. It was also covered in biting flies and mosquitoes. But, it did have the only roseate spoonbills of the trip!
The mosquitoes were never bad, if you were in an open area, especially if exposed to wind. But once you had wind breakers like trees, shrubs and thicket-- all bets are off, you turn into some good mammalian eating!

We drive back north from Flamingo, stopping at point of interest along the way to spy what we could. To be honest, the heat and mosquitoes got to us and any trails seemed not super interesting after getting assaulted in the Flamingo area by biting insects. And then the typical afternoon rain rolled though.

My recommendation when leaving the park, stop at Robert is Here, pet an emu, feed some goats, (wash your hands!), and get a delicious fruit milkshake!!! That made all the heat and biting insects worth it! I am so glad, my good friend Amy recommended this to us.

Another trip took us underwater. We visited Key Largo and did some snorkeling at the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. The Park has sandy beaches and reefs just offshore, past the mangroves.
It also has another exotic species- the African Red-headed Agama. We saw a male in his red head and indigo bodied glory, but we also saw some females that resemble baby beaded dragons in their appearance. They look similar because these too are in the agama family with beaded dragons.

I like those blues in her face- remind me of the waters we snorkeled in!
While we didn't pack the underwater camera, now having worked in an aquarium for almost 5 years, I was able to identify many of the fish! 2 Species of parrot fish, Spanish hogfish, doctorfish, porkfish, yellow goatfish, yellowtail snapper, trumpetfish, barracuda, spotted eagle rays, among many others were spotted! The reefs themselves look like they are not doing as well as they should, beyond each little bit of reef is just dead and crumbled corals, bleached and lifeless.

On Key Biscane, which is just a short drive from Miami and has some super fancy real estate has a park on its southernmost end. We walked there, hiked up the light house and walked the beach. We spotted small needlefish in the shallow water. But on land, we spotted these black spiny-tailed iguanas. Some were quite hefty and threw their weight around. Those who were the smallest, minded their business and stayed out of trouble, but those in the middle size range, really liked to push the buttons of the bigger individuals.
On our drive back I spotted a magnificent frigate bird over on the the bridges that connected us to the mainland.

If heat and humidity is your thing- then Florida is your place. In winter many of these places would probably be even more fun to bird, as many use these parts as wintering grounds. If you do go in the heat, water is your friend, but also, so is a salty snack. I have never sweat so much from just turning head to look at something. But Florida is a fun place to bird and observe wildlife, especially if you enjoy going for a swim after!