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FLORIDA
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December 2002
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Click on any
photo to see a larger version
 2 of 3 
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Headed farther north past the
sawgrass and sugar cane plantations towards the open prairies of cattle
ranches set among pines and palmettos.
Down a dirt road we found piles of junk in a beautiful stand of live
oak where we flipped a couple of Southern Ringneck Snakes and a juvenile
Racer.
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Southern
Ringneck Snake
Diadophis punctatus punctatus
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Everglades
Racer (juvenile)
Coluber constrictor ssp.
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As it got dark we turned to road cruising and
came across another 20 snakes, mostly various types of Nerodia (Water Snakes) and Thamnophis
(Garter and Ribbon Snakes) plus a few more Elaphe (Rat Snakes).
Majority were DOR but we did find a few live ones.
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Corn
Snake
Elaphe guttata guttata
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Peninsula
Ribbon Snake
Thamnophis sauritus sackenii
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Florida Banded Water Snake
Nerodia fasciatus pictiventris
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Temps turned colder the following day so we
found virtually no snakes (only a couple of Ringnecks under cover). However, while hiking a sandy uplands trail
through scrub forest we did add a new herp to our life lists, a Florida Scrub
Lizard. This relative of the common Fence Lizard (Scelporus
undulatus) is restricted to just a few pine and oak scrub areas of
southern and central Florida. A more mobile resident of the same region
is the Sand Hill Crane, seen here foraging on land converted to cattle pasture.
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Florida Scrub Lizard
Sceloporus woodi
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Sand Hill Cranes
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With the cooler
weather throwing a damper on herping we had to content ourselves with
birding. We were really
pleased to see quite a few Crested Caracaras, usually in pairs. Some
were perched on fence posts, some in flight, but most were scavenging
roadkill together with Vultures. These Mexican raptors have migrated to
Florida where they seem to prefer the open
fields and prairies near Lake Okeechobee.
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Crested Caracara with Black Vultures
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The most exciting
spot came when we turned a corner and surprised a group of birds surrounding
a dead raccoon. There were several Vultures and a pair of Caracaras harassing
a larger bird, which then began to lift off with the carrion in its
talons. Only then did we realize it
was an adult Bald Eagle! It got off the ground but I suppose our car
and the Caracaras spooked it into dropping the raccoon. The Eagle flew
to a nearby tree with the Caracaras pursuing it. Unfortunately, by the
time we got our cameras out it had flown away.
We paused by a
roadside rookery, filled with squawking herons and ibises, and watched the
sunset as birds circled and settled in to roost.
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