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Joshsnakeman NICKNAME Mampam NICKNAME Webmaster Joshsnakeman NICKNAME TIMSNAKR Joshsnakeman TIMSNAKR Dane_Zoo Gecko boy12 Mampam NICKNAME Gavin583 |
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Joshsnakeman View Profile |
Some pics from florida
I spent the majority of the trip just relaxing and enjoying the weather, but got out a couple times to go herping/birding. I guess I should warn those who only like snakes, there is very few snake content. On the way down, at a gas station just outside of Nashville, I flipped a couple salamanders. I am guessing both are Zigzags?
After a couple nights in Memphis I was eager to get out of the city and go to Florida. As we arrived at our hotel, I observed this Mediterranean Gecko on the wall.
This Southern Toad was hopping across the lawn.
The next morning we did some snorkeling with manatees at a wildlife refuge. It was a neat experience getting up close with these gentle giants. Photo by Dave Vandermeulen.
Photo by Dave Vandermeulen
That afternoon, I drove around and found a state forest to do a little hiking in. Here is a shot of the scrub habitat.
I did not see much in the couple hours I was there, except for a few Green Anoles and some warblers. So when I noticed this Eastern Fence Lizard, I spent a few minutes catching it.
Under a nearby log was this scorpion.
And a shot of some prickly pear cacti that grew in this particular habitat.
My next stop was another State Park nearby. It consisted of some hiking trails, one which circled this large pond.
The only herp content in this area that I found were a couple of turtles basking far in the pond, as well as a couple Ground Skinks under mats of Spanish Moss that had fallen. They are tough to get a hand on!
My last stop was a pond (known as Cooter Pond) with a boardwalk on the way back to the hotel. Lots of birds were around this pond, including moorhens, coots, gnatchatchers, and this great blue heron visible in this scenery shot.
The pond lived up to its name, as dozens of Florida Cooters were around. Here is a different perspective of one of the turtles.
From there we headed south to the keys. On one such day, my family wanted to head to Key West, so they dropped me off at Big Pine Key on the way there, where I had planned to stay for the whole afternoon. Unfortunately I was without a car and the temperatures were in the high 80s, not the best for herping. A lot of the key is covered with this.
I walked a few trails, but even under the largest rocks it was too warm for herps. This Southern Toad, along with anoles and Southern Leopard Frogs, was found.
I walked a different area, and observed a couple of these Six-Lined Racerunners active in the warm weather. Another species that I unsuccessfully tried to catch. :roll:
And of course, the obligatory Key Deer shot.
Later in the afternoon, I walked to a large freshwater pond. An inquisitive Florida Redbelly Turtle? kept an eye on me as I kept an eye on him.
This Peninsula Ribbon Snake was found foraging for minnows near where I was standing. The Lower Keys population is threatened, so I was happy with this find. A smaller one was found later.
After a while, I was alerted to some noise from the bushes. A female green iguana was munching on some leaves. She then climbed a tree and basked in the sun.
This big male was not impressed with me getting to close to the female, and he bobbed his head at me.
A little Ashy Gecko scurried onto the boardwalk then scurried off just as quick.
There are a couple gators that lived in this freshwater pond. In late afternoon, one was alerted to the splashing of a young green heron and went over to investigate. The heron got away after a loud splash.
One more photo of Big Pine Key.
Soon dusk settled on the large pond,
Which signaled the emergence of the local Cuban Tree Frogs.
Unfortunately I did not get to do any road cruising in the keys that week. A few days later, we headed up to the Everglades. A cold front had moved in, and the high of the day was the high 50s with gusts of wind. Nonetheless lots of wading birds were out, such as this Little Blue Heron.
And of course a healthy amount of Alligators were found.
This young Anhinga was searching for fish in the shallows.
We observed this Great Blue Heron catch and consume a catfish of some sort.
And finally, a Florida Redbelly Turtle out for a bask in a sheltered part of the slough.
From there we drove down to Flamingo so I could find my first ever American Crocodile.
That was it for the glades, it was very cold that night and road crusing would have not been productive, so we headed back to the condo. I will finish this post with a few of the animals I found around the condo in Islamorada. The abundant Brown Anoles came in many different colors, including dark brown, almost white, and some with orange caps.
A different one
These little crabs were under limestone rocks near the mangroves.
I discovered a good population of Bark Anoles in a nearby forested area.
A Hemidactylus of some sort. ID please?
These scorpions were common under loose bark.
A Spotted Sandpiper was foraging on the shore.
One of many Greenhouse Frogs found under tiles.
Herp Species - Am. Alligator, Am. Crocodile, Fl. Redbelly Turtle, Fl. Softshell, Fl. Cooter, Peninsula Cooter, Green Sea Turtle, Peninsula Ribbon Snake, Green Anole, Brown Anole, Bark Anole, Green Iguana, Mediterranean Gecko, Occelated Gecko, Ashy Gecko, unIDed Hemidactylus, Six-Lined Racerunner, Ground Skink, Eastern Fence Lizard, Zigzag Salamander, S. Leopard Frog, Greenhouse Frog, Cuban Treefrog, S. Toad. Also saw 82 bird species. Thanks for looking, Josh Vandermeulen |
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| 01/10/08 12:33am |
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NICKNAME View Profile |
Message To: Joshsnakeman In reference to Message Id: 1575204 Some pics from florida
i live in miami. i take it for granted . we see all these animals everyday .even in the winter glad you got to see them too. you did pretty good , did you go into the everglades national parks? you know all the names too , pretty good ....spike |
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| 01/10/08 10:26pm |
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Mampam View Profile |
Message To: NICKNAME In reference to Message Id: 1576132 Some pics from florida
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| 01/11/08 09:18pm |
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NICKNAME View Profile |
Message To: Mampam In reference to Message Id: 1576361 Some pics from florida
you have to out to the everglades or the extreme outskirts we do have alot of other exotics in miami you see everyday . i daily see parrots , macaws , quaker parrots , cockatoos , i`ve seen toucans . alot of peacocks lots of different lizards. but as far as snakes in actual miami , i see mostly black racers. |
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| 01/13/08 03:02pm |
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Webmaster View Profile |
Message To: NICKNAME In reference to Message Id: 1577083 Some pics from Florida
I was going to post earlier on the photos, but then became tied up in the migration to the new server. Great photos Josh! You said you seen the fresh water crocodile at Flamingo. Where about? Nickname, I’m the same. I started taking these things for granted. I see curly-tails, skinks, iguanas, birds everyday. I haven’t seen many snakes though. I have some photos I have taken throughout the last half of the year that I haven’t posted yet. I have a photo of a coral, only the second one I seen since I moved down here. A co-worker caught him...I snapped a few shots and released him. I also have a nice close up of a water snake from canoeing. Maybe I can get some of my photos on this week. I’m hoping to have a better year of going out and about here in Florida. I would like to do more night canoeing, but haven’t found a camera that takes night photos. Thanks for sharing Doug - Webmaster |
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| 01/13/08 03:50pm |
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Joshsnakeman View Profile |
Message To: Webmaster In reference to Message Id: 1577136 Some pics from Florida
Spike - yeah we went to some of the common trails in ENP, but with the cold weather we didnt find as much as we would have liked. Thanks Doug. The Am. Crocodile was hanging around the marina at Flamingo. This is probably the most reliable spot to find them I am told. Apparently close to sunset they start to congregate at the marina. I cant wait to get back down to Florida! Who knows maybe spring break... |
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| 01/13/08 11:58pm |
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NICKNAME View Profile |
Message To: Joshsnakeman In reference to Message Id: 1577994 Some pics from Florida
we have our favorite roads we drive on at night . we have one road that we have seen as many as 20 snakes in a night on. . it`s great .we just drive slow with our high beams on . we have alot of great talks , or we just sit quitely listening to the stereo all of the sudden one of us yells "snake"! we stop jump out . photograph it , and get it off the roa. we d have enough store bought snakes , so we don`t keep anything .( besides , you`ll get arrested on the spot we `ve also seen owls , racoons , deer , a coyote , turtles , gators . just a great time |
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| 01/14/08 07:27pm |
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TIMSNAKR View Profile |
Message To: NICKNAME In reference to Message Id: 1578850 Some pics from Florida
I never had much luck with Florida two and three years ago, maybe cause I didn’t get many opportunities The one unidentified gecko looks like an Indo-Pacific Gecko Hemidactylus garnoti Tim  |
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| 01/18/08 04:54pm |
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Joshsnakeman View Profile |
Message To: TIMSNAKR In reference to Message Id: 1584013 Some pics from Florida
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| 01/18/08 06:15pm |
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TIMSNAKR View Profile |
Message To: Joshsnakeman In reference to Message Id: 1584112 Some pics from Florida
Tim |
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| 01/18/08 09:14pm |
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Dane_Zoo View Profile |
Message To: TIMSNAKR In reference to Message Id: 1584395 Some pics from Florida
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| 01/23/08 09:22pm |
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Gecko boy12 View Profile |
Message To: Joshsnakeman In reference to Message Id: 1575204 Some pics from florida
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| 02/05/08 07:59pm |
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Mampam View Profile |
Message To: Gecko boy12 In reference to Message Id: 1611349 Some pics from florida
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| 02/05/08 09:01pm |
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NICKNAME View Profile |
Message To: Mampam In reference to Message Id: 1611535 Some pics from florida
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| 02/09/08 09:32am |
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Gavin583 View Profile |
Message To: NICKNAME In reference to Message Id: 1616234 Some pics from florida
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| 02/10/08 05:56pm |
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