Floridian Nature

Florida's coastal ecosystems are one of the greatest assets that Florida has. With more coastline than any other state in the contiguous United States, they are a source of both economic, environmental and recreational benefit. People come from all over the world to visit the beautiful Florida beaches. In addition to people sea turtles also come from all over the world to lay their eggs on Florida's Atlantic coast, one of only a handful of places in the world that they come. Mangroves are one of Florida's true natives. Three types of mangroves are found in Florida: red, black, and white. They cover south Florida with a verdant and life-giving shield that nurtures marine organisms of all kinds, provides nesting sites for shore.  Mangroves are one of Florida's true natives. They thrive in salty environments because they are able to obtain fresh water from saltwater. Some secrete excess salt through their leaves, other...

A Car accident this weekend at Big Cypress Indian Reservation resulted in three people losing their life and others injured. Unfortunately the accident occurred when an SUV hit a a 300 pound bear on Snake Road during foggy conditions. The bear did not survive the accident which caused a chain reaction. According to the report after the SUV hit the bear they pulled over to the side of the road and the car following them did the same. Because of the fog, an oncoming vehicle did not see the people on the side of the road. and it plowed into them. There have been more and more black bear sightings in Florida. According to the FWC You are more likely to see a panther or a black bear today in Florida than someone here 40 years ago! There was a total of 2,257 Florida black bear sighting reports as of June 2014, with more than 500 of those reports containing uploaded photographs. Sightings of bears were reported in 59 of the state’s 67 counties. As the Florida bear popul...

  Everglades National Park contains the southern 25 percent of the original Everglades marshland region of southwestern Florida. The park visited by one million people each year and has been declared an International Biosphere Reserve, a World Heritage Site, and a Wetland of International Importance, only one of three locations in the world to appear on all three lists. The Everglades is a slow-moving system of rivers, flowing southwest at about .25 miles  per day, fed by the Kissimmee River and Lake Okeechobee. Unlike most other U.S. national parks, Everglades National Park was created to protect a fragile ecosystem instead of safeguarding a geographic feature. Floridians hoping to preserve at least part of the Everglades first proposed that the area become a national park in 1923. Five years later, the Florida state legislature established the Tropical Everglades National Park Commission to study the formation...

Everyone living in Florida should already know what a true blessing it is to live in such a beautiful state that abounds in nature. T he word Florida  comes from  the Spanish Pascua Florida , meaning “feast of flowers” and it lives up to its name. Florida has some of the most beautiful and diverse plants in the country. Florida's plant life includes approximately 450 species of native trees and shrubs. From fall through spring Florida not only enjoys its best weather, this period also furnishes the year’s prime birding and wildlife viewing opportunities.  As other states are trapped in November snowstorms, we are enjoying warm temperatures across the state. The climate has always been one of Florida's most important natural resources, which is reflected in its official nickname, the "Sunshine State." Florida is famous for it's generally warm climate. The climate of Florida is partially controlled by the fact that because i...

As the weather cools we get to manatee season here in Citrus County. If you have nor experienced manatees up and personal, you should make plans to do so this year. They are truly a pleasure to behold. Manatees are very gentle, slow-moving, graceful swimmers. A manatee uses its flippers and tail to steer itself through the water and moves its tail up and down to propel itself forward. Manatees are quite agile in the water. They can swim upside down, roll, do somersaults or move vertically in the water. Manatees emit sound under the water. They make these sounds when they are freighted, or interacting with another. Sound is not the only form of communication that a manatee will use there are sight, taste, touch, and smell. Citrus County is currently the only place in the US where you can interact and swim with the West Indian manatee without that act being viewed as harassment by Law Enforcement. This endangered species makes Citrus County...

Wild hogs , often called feral hogs are common in Floridian nature . These hogs started as farm animals but once they escape they quickly turn feral and it doesn't take long for their looks to change. First brought to Florida in the 1500's when Hernando de Soto brought swine to provision a settlement he established at Charlotte Harbor in Lee County, wild hogs are now found in every county in the state. While hunters love the opportunity to hunt a large hoofed animal, homeowners and especially golf course owners are not as happy to find them in the area. Unlike coyotes that may live in your area and seldom be seen, wild hogs make their presence known by rooting up everything in site.  Wild hogs are omnivorous, opportunistic feeders. However, they consume far more plant than animal material, and may occasionally consume carrion. The list of foods eaten by hogs is diverse and includes grass , forb, and woody plant stems, roots, tubers, leaves, seeds, and fruits, ...

When I woke up this morning the outdoor thermometer read 37 degrees. This picture was from a few years ago when I awoke to some Florida snow. It certainly wasn't that cold this morning but wasn't typical a Florida temperature for November. With no clouds  to be found the day remained cool but that Florida sunshine felt great on the skin and I wasn't the only one who seemed to notice. I opened my back door and saw a black racer sunning in the grass but he didn't stick around long enough for a photo. Black racers are large, active snakes with smooth, shiny scales. Adults average 23 to 50 inches in length, while young are about 15 inches long. Racers prefer dry open fields, meadows, forest clearings and prairies. They are active in the daylight hours and can be relatively easy to spot in the field because they often forage with their head and neck raised above their body. Racers often bask in the sun in low brush and can quickly disappear from ...

All of us had been driving down the road and got a sudden whiff of a dead skunk in the area. There are two varieties of skunks found in Floridian Nature . The most common is the familiar looking striped skunk. Striped skunks are easily recognized by their characteristic colors and pattern. The fur is black with a white stripe that begins as a triangular shape on the top of the head, forks into two stripes that travel down the sides of the back, and usually merges again near the base of the tail. Another white stripe runs from the base of the snout between the eyes and ends on the forehead. Stripe width and length vary with each individual. Stripes sometimes occur on the tail, but more often the tail is composed of both black and white hairs intermixed. Striped skunks are nocturnal, sleeping during the day in underground burrows and emerging around dusk to search for food. They use scent marking to communicate presence and reproductive state to oth...

Two different types of fox call Floridian nature home the common red fox and the grey fox. We have at least one red fox that lives in the woods behind our house and I can often hear her "yips". The red fox ( Vulpes vulpes ) has the appearance of a small dog and weighs from 10 to 15 pounds and measures up to 2 feet long with another foot for a bushy tail. The end of the tail is black, tipped with white. The Red Fox is most commonly a rusty red, with white underbelly, black ear tips and legs, and a bushy tail usually with a distinctive white tip. The "red" tone can vary from dark chestnut to golden. Because the gray fox  frequently has quite a lot of red hair, it may be confused with the red fox. The red fox is essentially a nocturnal animal, but it occasionally feeds during the day, and more at dawn and dusk. The red fox is probably not native to Florida except in the northern Panhandle. It has been introduced by hunting clu...

There are good reasons to appreciate bats in Florida . One of the wonderful things that most bats do is eat insects !  By eating their body weight in insects each night, bats are the most important controller of night-flying insects, including many crop pests. Some bats eat fruit, nectar and seeds from plants. When the bats spit out the seeds or leave them in their droppings, they help new plants to grow. They also pollinate many kinds of plants, including vanilla beans, peaches, bananas and avocados. Found throughout the state, the most common species of solitary bat found in southern Florida is the northern yellow bat. A large, yellowish-brown bat with short ears and long, silky fur; These bats are larger than the red and Seminole bats. Clumps of Spanish moss make good daytime roosting places for northern yellow bats. Small groups of males or slightly larger groups of females are often found roosting together in foreste...

Fall is definitely in the air in Florida and my air conditioner was able to take a much needed break yesterday. It was a cool 54 degrees yesterday morning and 52 degrees today. The seasons in Florida are determined more by precipitation than by temperature, with the hot, wet springs and summers making up the wet season, and mild to cool, and the relatively dry winters and autumns, making the dry season. Fall foliage is a common sight in North Florida starting around late November, and into Winter, and some trees either lose their leaves or change colors in the central region. Overall the best way to recognize that it is fall in Florida is through the onset  of College Football. As the weather cools down college football is heating up with the Seminoles ranked at number one and the Florida Gators pulling off a sloppy win in Tennessee. With the cool weather came the lovebugs . They seem to appear from nowhere twice a year with some seasons being much...

  Florida is famous for its beautiful beaches  Many people may not realize that Florida has a longer coastline along the Gulf of Mexico than the Atlantic Ocean. Of course when you visit beaches like this one in Key West the Gulf and the Atlantic merge as one beautiful setting. With 580 miles along the Atlantic Ocean and 770 miles along the Gulf of Mexico the state of Florida has a total of 1,350 miles of coastline! No matter where you are in Florida, there is a beach just a short drive away.   The  Canaveral National Seashore , including Merritt Island, is located midway on Florida’s east coast between Daytona Beach and Melbourne. The 100 Timucuan Mounds that are within it's boundaries are evidence of past generations of people that lived here. Canaveral National Seashore covers 57,000 acres and  the 24 mile stretch of undeveloped beach  is the longest stretch  on Florida's east coast. The refuge is  home t...

While most snakes in Florida are harmless and provide important services such as controlling rodent colonies, we do have six venomous snakes that call Florida home. By learning to identify these snakes we can protect both our self and  non-venomous snakes that live in Floridian nature . This rat snake was enjoying investigating my fence and although I was startled when I saw him, I was happy to see he was not a deadly snake! All five of Florida's deadly pit vipers, including the Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake can be recognized by their stocky bodies, relatively small necks, large triangular heads, and eyes with vertical slit pupils. The coral snake is easily recognized with its color band design (red on yellow kill a fellow). The Florida Cottonmouth or Water Moccasin , is a serpent that strikes terror in the hearts of hikers, swimmers, and freshwater fishermen. This snake is a heavy bodied pit viper with a large triangular head. The coloration of the Cotton...

It has been a wet summer in central Florida and all this rain is getting frogs out and about like this green treefrog I saw peeking in my living room window. The Green Treefrog is one of the most common treefrogs found in Floridian nature . Green treefrogs don't seem to mind sharing their environment with people and are often spotted on windows or the exterior walls of homes. This species of frog doesn't croak but makes a sound more like a ringing bell. Usually vivid green, the Green Treefrog can change to brown quickly. The well defined strip that runs the length of its side makes identifying the Green Treefrog easy. When a heavy evening rain is impending during the spring or summer, many frogs and toads begin to call. This is the first signal of intense breeding activity. Frogs and toads generally mate at night, since the darkness conceals them from sharp-eyed predators, especially wading birds. As rain starts to fall more and more frog voic...

Fall must be a busy time for grasshoppers in Floridian nature because I sure have seen a lot of them in my garden this month. This southern green-striped grasshopper is a common insect   found in Florida as well as other southern states. The greenstriped grasshopper feeds mainly on grasses with a preference for succulent plants .This one was feeding off my banana tree and had eaten about 1/8 of a large leaf when I discovered him. The greenstriped grasshopper possesses long wings that extend 2 to 8 mm beyond the end of the abdomen. A strong flier, it often travels a great distance from where it hatched. This grasshopper seems to be a female based on her size and color and she has attracted at least one male who I caught trying to put the move on her! This two-striped walking stick is also a common sight around here. Other names for this skinny creature are devil's riding horse, prairie alligator, and stick bug. These bugs are not harmless b...