pratt@paul.rutgers.edu (Lorien Y. Pratt) (05/29/90)
Trip report to the Everglades and Florida Keys
==or-- how to see 165 species in 8 days.
This file contains a fairly detailed travel log of a trip that we took this
spring to the Everglades, then to Key Largo, then to Big Pine Key. We did
lots of both bird- and fish-watching and did our first scuba diving since we
were certified (NAUI) last fall. This information should be of interest to
birders and fishers (?) alike who are interested in doing the same kind of
trip that we did.
Part 1: 4/19/90 - 4/22/90
Pre-trip notes, Trip to Miami, Monkey Jungle, bird watching in the
Everglades on Earth Day Weekend.
Thursday April 19, 1990
We are totally stressed out and need a vacation baaad! John's been
shuttled off to conferences around the country for two months, and
when he's been home we really haven't had much time together because of
our upcoming Wedding that's been a bear to organize. We'd been on a similar
trip in January 1989, and really enjoyed it, so we're repeating the
experience, with modifications. We wanted to extend our bird-watching to
underwater, so last fall, we both took scuba certification. This trip
marks our first ``real'' dive experience (outside of a Pennsylvania
rock quarry), so for many reasons we're really looking forward to it.
We packed tonight, because we're having people over to play bridge tomorrow
night and we won't have time to stuff our scuba gear into a dive bag then.
Saturday, 4/21/90
Last minute preparations at home.
The weather will be rainy today in New Jersey. We've been
watching the weather channel maps from Florida for a couple of days and we're
happy to see that the green blotch (indicating rain)
that has been being predicted for Sunday
and Monday has disappeared. We decide to take our big tripod and spotting scope
-- this is a good choice as we will see lots of birds with it in the
Everglades. We're both excited about the trip, although John didn't sleep
well, dreaming about New Orleans and fish. Appropriate, as fish will turn
out to be fairly prominent. We watch ZZ-top on MTV as we fidget waiting for
our ride to the airport to show up. We see on the news that President Bush is
staying in the Keys. Maybe we'll run into him.
We're happy that Lawrence volunteered to drive us to Newark
airport. The alternative was the
Princeton Airporter limo, at $14 each, so we're indebted. It's
raining and we're worried about Mary who's running a race in
New York today -- I gather it's slower going when you have to slosh.
But it sets up a nice contrast to Miami. Lawrence blasts our ears with
Talking Heads in the car. He's trying to buy a new car, cheap but
sporty. It probably doesn't exist.
In the airport, we go to a crowded bookstore. I buy a scuba magazine
with an article on Florida, John gets the largest crossword puzzle book
you've ever seen. There's an early flight to Miami that we could
catch, but we'd miss our luggage, and our special ``vegetarian'' lunch
(we don't eat mammals). The American Airlines people are incredibly
nice -- we fly a lot and both of us think that there's a noticeable
difference. So far, knock on wood, we haven't forgotten anything, except
to buy extra film. We even remembered to register our AAAdvantage
miles.
On the plane, we play a ruthless scrabble game. I am ahead most of the time,
but John gets a 7-letter word which wipes me out.
It turns out that American Airlines is one of those institutions that
thinks that ``vegetarian'' means ``vegetables''. Our lunch is
broccoli, carrots, celery, guacamole dip. Boring! We land in Miami and after
we get our luggage the Alamo van is right there and we go straight to the
rental office.
Bird species outside Alamo office:
==blue jay
==mourning dove
==rock dove
==mockingbird
Bird species on drive out of Miami:
==grackle
==loggerhead shrike
(John saw it on a wire while I was stopped at a light)
==crow
==starling
We are heading into the Everglades for the night, but we're not going
to do any bird watching today, so we check out what could be a tourist
trap -- the Miami Monkey Jungle. This is a neat place actually. The
tourists wander through a long cage and the monkeys are on top of it.
This cage winds through the woods over about a 20-acre area, and it's
clear that a lot has gone into its design. The brochures include a
list of scientific publications generated by the jungle; it's been in
existence since the 1930's and the monkeys do seem to be in a natural
habitat. This is the ``natural'' zoo idea taken to extremes! It's
unfortunate that some of the monkeys are more caged, though. It's a
neat experience to feed the monkeys (bring some boxes of raisins when
you come, or quarters to buy sunflower seeds from feeders). Their
human hands reach through the wire mesh and grasp food. They watch us
meaningfully.
In the monkey jungle we saw:
==black-and-white warbler
==Green heron
On drive towards everglades:
==robin
==cardinal
We leave the Monkey Jungle and drive South on Route 1 towards Homestead, where
the road branches through the Everglades. Note that this is the same route 1
that runs through New Jersey. Unfortunately, it looks much the same -- built
up with ugly stores every few feet and traffic lights every couple of miles.
Later we'll get to Key West, where Route 1 begins (or ends, depending on your
perspective). On the road, we see several birds, including: ==gray kingbird
(life-lister).
A trip through the everglades consists of a 40-mile drive into Flamingo
and back. The scenery looks surprisingly like an Iowa prairie, dotted
with dwarf cypress pine trees, until you drive into one of the stops
along the roads and wander into a Hammock. A Hammock is a bunch of
mangrove trees clustered together which holds in warmth so that the
temperature never drops below freezing inside. This means that the
vegetation becomes tropical. Inside the Hammocks and the other stops
along the road are little signs nailed to fences that say things like:
``This is the Gumbo-Limbo tree, nicknamed the `tourist tree' because of
its bright red bark, reminiscent of a sunburn''. At first you will
feel silly reading these signs, but if you persist, it's a good game to
learn the vegetation so you can recognize it later to impress your
friends.
The other difference from Iowa are the crows, who have an attitude.
They are abundant along the road and have only a mildly concealed scorn
for passing motorists. They've figured out which side of the road cars
approach on, so will amble presumptiously across the centerline away
from danger only moments before you rush past. After a while, you stop
bothering to brake, as you realize they're only playing chicken.
The road through the everglades is also dangerous for bird watchers, who feel
compelled to stop and reverse long distances to catch odd species. John
caught an Eastern Meadowlark in this fashion, as well as an Eastern Kingbird.
We saw something that looked like a grouse as well, but when we backed up, it
was gone.
The first stop is called Royal (Big?) Pine Key. It doesn't look like a Key,
which is supposed to be an island, but never mind. Crows dive-bomb us
in the car as John wolfs down a Taco Bell Burrito (now *that*'s
vegetarian!). There in the parking lot, we see our first life-lister
of the trip, a ==Swallowtail Kite. This is a beautiful hawk-like bird,
bigger than a crow, with trailing tail feathers and graceful
flight.
At Big Pine, we also see cattle egrets, and an Anhinga earning it's
``snakebird'' nickname as it slices, apparently bodyless, through the
water. Crows copulate on the roof when I go to the bathroom and John
gets another species for his alternate list. We hear a white-eyed
vireo, common yellowthroad, and a definite red-bellied woodpecker,
which will turn out to be fairly abundant.
Big Pine Key is also one of your standard Florida ``Bird watcher
watching'' spots, as they turn up in abundance with their catadyoptic
lenses and spotting scopes.
Back on the road, I catch my first Black Vulture of the trip, seeing
its diagnostic wing patches. As the sunset glares into our eyes, we
realize we're drive the East/West Everglades Road in the wrong
direction -- you should drive into the park in the morning, out in the
evening to avoid the glare. We continue towards Flamingo without
stopping, crossing our fingers that we have yet to meet a mosquito.
Just at sunset (around 7:30 pm), we do make one last stop at Nine Mile
Pond, which we found productive in our last trip. It's a beautiful
evening, about 65 degrees, clear overhead with just enough clouds on
the horizon to make a beautiful pink Florida sunset. There's a light
wind out of the north around 10MPH. We get out the scope (glad we
brought it!) and see:
==roseate spoonbill, all flying, about 40
==black-legged stilt
==snowy egrets
==great egret (black legs)
==great white heron (yellow legs)
==purple gallinule
==lousiana heron
==some sort of night-heron
==glossy ibis
==lots of white ibis (ibises?)
==some big tern: caspian
==common moorhen (white under wings, black under tail)
==red-winged blackbird
==great blue heron
==King Rail (distinct striping on head)
==A female Anhinga in breeding colors, with a strongly contrasting
neck and body.
(as well as two alligators)
We arrive at the Flamingo Lodge, still amazed at the lack of
mosquitoes. Flamingo isn't so much a town as an upscale national
park. There's a visitor center, grocery store, gift shop, campgrounds,
and boat rental. The people are fairly friendly, too. Last time we
were here, we rented a canoe and went out into the bay, where a Large
Animal (we're guessing a ray of some sort) splashed the boat. We pay
$70 for a night in an average motel room.
Sunday 4/22/90, Earth Day
I've decided to jungle test my new bottle of Avon Skin-So-Soft (which
is supposed to be a good repellent) at the most mosquito-infested place
I've ever been to: Eco Pond, near Flamingo. This is a great spot for
bird watching (they eat the bugs), so it will be worth it if it works,
and at least I smell terrific. John uses Muskol, which dissolves
binocular straps, but hey, it works. At first, we take turns with the
mosquitoes, as John is attacked as I watch idly. In the end, though, I
have to turn tail and run, as my face is reduced to a swollen mass of
welts. John ambles on around the pond. It's worth it for him, because
he spots:
==smooth-billed Ani
==Solitary Sandpiper
We both also see:
==prairie warbler
==white-eyed vireo
==double-crested cormorant
==laughing gulls
==flicker
== white-crowned pigeon (life-lister)
Other birds at Eco Pond include a tree full of what appear to be roosting
egrets, anhingas, red-winged blackbirds, and a ==grey catbird. No people this
time, though, as the bugs seem to have been victorious.
The bar back in Flamingo has a nice setup, with a screened porch so you can
get shade and no bugs while looking out over Florida Bay. Our next
life-lister is here, ==White Pelicans. We also see:
==willet
==Black skimmer
==House sparrow
==Least Tern
==Fish Crow
== brown pelicans
There's a church service in the bar; ``Jesus Loves Me'' serenades us as
we look out over the bay.
While John is in the store stocking up on food, a black vulture flies
up and lands five feet from my feet. A woman behind me says ``Happy
Earth Day'' -- not sure if it's to the vulture or to me. We also see a
==brown-headed cowbird outside of the store.
We drive out of Flamingo on a day of bird-watching through the
everglades. We stop briefly at the West Lake Trail about 5 miles north
of Flamingo; there are clean restrooms and a shady spot to set up your
scope and look out over a little lake.
All over Florida are these little brown lizards, about 4 inches long,
and with a very distinctive semi-circular throat patch, which is red
with yellow on the edges. They extend this in a breathing motion. The
lizards are friendly -- in the Keys every time we took a shower two or
three would drop onto the window blinds to pick up the moisture. Today
we see them on trees, standing head-down.
Around 9am, it's partly clouded, 60 degrees when we got up, now around 80.
There's not much wind.
We stop again at 9-mile pond to see if we can add to our list of birds
seen here. There is a good breeze blowing here, which keeps off the
mosquitoes. We see a ==reddish egret, winter-colored ==forster's tern
(smaller than larger terns they're next to). An ==osprey swoops to the
water as if to fish but instead lands on a submerged sandbar and
proceeds to take a 20-minute bath. Two more swallowtail kites fly by.
Lots of roseate spoonbills, a great white heron. lousiana, great
egret, snowy egret, royal terns, black & turkey vultures. We also
heard what we thought was a ==rufous-sided towhee. A man with a scope
next to us was doubtful, but they're common in every season, so we
decide to count it.
We proceed up to the Mahagony hammock -- in my mind really the
``prototypical'' hammock because of the feeling of going indoors when
you enter the forest. We have yet to be bit by mosquitoes since Eco
Pond. The hammock is full of palmettos, with bromeliads on the trees,
many of them flowering. There are also many deciduous trees, including
the Gumbo Limbo. We hear a bird we don't recognize (we'll have to look
it up). (dee dee dee dee (higher) dee dee dee). Stopping to listen to
it, John is attacked by a mosquito swarm and gets 5 bites. John sees a
==northern parula, we both see a ==black-throated blue warbler.
We proceed up to the Anhinga Trail at Big Pine Key. There were alligators
here last time, but today a couple of them are moving. CNN seems to be
filming ``Earth Day, Live from the Everglades'' -- the satellite truck spoils
the image somewhat. The water level seems much lower than it was a year ago
when we were here, and there are fewer birds as well. We do spend some time
watching big fish swimming under the boardwalk trail.
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------
L. Y. Pratt Computer Science Department
pratt@paul.rutgers.edu Rutgers University
Hill Center
(201) 932-4634 New Brunswick, NJ 08903, USAjpenovic@encore.com (Jan Penovich) (05/29/90)
From article <May.28.14.43.18.1990.779@paul.rutgers.edu>, by pratt@paul.rutgers.edu (Lorien Y. Pratt): > > Trip report to the Everglades and Florida Keys > ==or-- how to see 165 species in 8 days. > > We are heading into the Everglades for the night, but we're not going > to do any bird watching today, so we check out what could be a tourist > trap -- the Miami Monkey Jungle. This is a neat place actually. The Next time try Metro Zoo. Besides all the animals at this natural barrier zoo, they also have a large aviary that humans walk through. > [a lot of interesting stuff about various birds, gumbo > limbos, hammocks, and mosquitoes deleted.] South Florida is suffering through a severe drought (though it has been raining for the past week, it hasn't helped much). The animals in the Everglades are having a tough time. The birds are suffering to the extent that their breeding schedules have gotten out of sync. They have also abandoned many of the newborn birds because of lack of water. I read in the newspaper that the wood stork is in particular trouble. The Everglades (and Everglade National Park at the southern end) suffer because the water that runs through the "sea of grass" is controlled by Water Management. When there's too much water in the residential and farming areas, they drain it into the Everglades. I recently read an article that interviewed one of the higher-ups at the Everglades National Park, and he said that there's nothing they can do to control the water flow through the park and that they are at the mercy of the water management people. Sorry for going on so long. I love the Everglades and it's very disturbing to see it burning during draughts, flooded when other areas have too much water, and to see developers always looking for ways to get their greedy hooks into it. ******************************************************************** TTFN, ___ * jpenovich@gould.UUCP / / / /\ / * {uunet,sun,pur-ee}!gould!jpenovich / /___/ / \ / * {allegra,ucf-cs}!uflorida!gould!jpenovich /___/ / / / / * jpenovich@encore.com * Encore Computer Corp., Ft. Lauderdale, FL NOTE: Disregard header info. Email to above paths only. *********************************************************************
king@cbnewsk.att.com (joyce.l.king) (05/30/90)
> South Florida is suffering through a severe drought (though it > has been raining for the past week, it hasn't helped much). > The animals in the Everglades are having a tough time. The > birds are suffering to the extent that their breeding > schedules have gotten out of sync. They have also abandoned > many of the newborn birds because of lack of water. I read in > the newspaper that the wood stork is in particular trouble. On Mother's Day I saw a number of wood storks West of Brooksville, Florida, at the Boy Scout Preserve. Brooksville is 40 miles north of Tampa. I was surprised to see them so far north but I guess they have to go where they can find food and water. The same day a sandhill crane gave me a dirty look for stopping and watching it "shop" for lunch along the ditch at the side of the road. He was a beauty. -- Joyce Andrews King (This message brought to you from the Florida Keys via the miracle of modern communications.)