The Alligators Are Real!
While there are few documented reports of wildlife hurting anyone inside Everglades National Park, the alligators (Alligator mississippiensis), crocodiles, snakes, bears, panthers, etcetera are all real and should be treated with caution.
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| WARNING Wild and potentially dangerous alligators in these waters Do not approach alligators to within 15 feet (5 meters) It is illegal to feed any wildlife in the park, including alligators |
Typically alligators living closer to urban areas are more aggressive and dangerous as they have been fed by people and are more likely to approach humans. It is strictly forbidden to feed or in any way interact with the wildlife in Everglades National Park.
This scene (below) on Gumbo Limbo Trail was shocking for the casual disregard for the safety of little kids so close to very large alligators. I blocked out the face of the one child as I did not have permission to take this photo. I was standing a relatively safe distance away from the alligators when these two children were posed very close to the alligators by their mother. Whether the risk is small or not, the alligators are still real and could still strike without notice.
Click on this or any other image for a larger view
Below:
A closer look at those two big alligators lying directly adjacent to the Gumbo Limbo Trail. The trail is so-named because it meanders through a shaded, jungle-like hammock of gumbo limbo trees (Bursera simaruba), royal palms (Roystonea elata), ferns, and air plants.
Below: Pa-hay-okee Overlook area in Everglades National Park.
I was surprised by the abundance of fish in the rapidly moving waters. The water wasn't deep but it was chock full of various fish species. The larger fish were hiding near boardwalks and other man-made obstructions.
Below: A couple of large Spotted Gar (Lepisosteus oculatus) hiding underneath a boardwalk at Pa-hay-okee near the Shark River Slough, in about 3 feet of rapidly moving water.
How Big and Important is
Everglades National Park?
Everglades National Park protects an unparalleled landscape that provides important habitat for numerous rare and endangered species like the threatened Florida Manatee, the threatened American Crocodile, and the near-extinct Florida Panther.
The park is an "In Danger" World Heritage Site, International Biosphere Reserve, a Wetland of International Importance, and a specially protected area under the Cartagena Treaty. Regardless, it is largely in disrepair thanks to U.S. Federal Government Sequestration (budget cuts) and encroachment on its borders by human civilization. The park spans 1.5 million acres (2,344 square miles or 6071 square kilometers) stretching across the southern tip of Florida.
Just outside Everglades National Park's Homestead/Florida City Entrance and the Royal Palm Visitor Center one can view plenty of abject poverty, prisons and detention centers, and natives standing around on corners drinking from paper bags. It is a rather shocking transition from the glittering skyscrapers of Miami Beach only a few miles to the northeast.
Once inside the park there are few humans to be found. Rather the park is dominated by wide open spaces and wildlife.
Once inside the park there are few humans to be found. Rather the park is dominated by wide open spaces and wildlife.
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| Orange Geiger (Cordia sebestena) blooms on a coral retaining wall |
The orange geiger tree (Cordia sebestena; officially the largeleaf geigertree) is one of the most well-known of South Florida's blooming trees with showy, deep orange flowers that contrast the tree's coarse green leaves. It is not known if the tree is native or introduced from Cuba, like so many other species in South Florida. It was named in the 1830's by John James Audubon after John Geiger, a harbor pilot who salvaged sunken treasure off the coast of Key West with whom Audubon stayed and painted. Geiger's Key West home, which sported a large geiger tree in the front yard, later became Audubon House and Tropical Gardens. The other species of geiger tree in South Florida are the white (Cordia boissieri) and yellow geiger (Cordia lutea).
Biting Flies and Mosquitoes Reign Supreme
in Everglades National Park
In the park be prepared for clouds of biting flies and mosquitoes and very few human visitors. I don't know why there are so few visitors so close to the 6 million people plus Miami-Ft. Lauderdale Megalopolis. I posit that it may have something to do with the bugs or perhaps it is a complete lack of interest in the natural world? The bugs are not as bad in developed areas as they are in the Florida wilderness, but they are plenty evident anywhere in Florida.
Deer Flies, Yellow Flies,
Horse Flies and Mosquitoes
Biting flies covered the car (above) and some got inside. Below I've circled a biting fly that I killed. Most of the flies appeared to be adult Deer (Chrysops pikei) and Yellow flies (Diachlorus ferrugathus) identified by the stripes on the wings (as seen above) and the prominent stingers.
The dead fly below landed on my Everglades National Park Map after I smacked it. Deep Woods Off was no match for these insects. We had to cover ourselves with long sleeves (despite the extreme heat and humidity) and net hats. I find net hats to be suffocating. The temperature in late September was 90° F (32° C) in the late afternoon with humidity at 73% and a dew point of 80° F making it feel like °108 F (42° C), despite the sun being mostly obscured by clouds from the brewing tropical system (99L) swirling in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. Read more about Florida's biting flies at:
BITING FLIES OF FLORIDA
And know that despite my complaining about the mosquitoes and flies it is a fun experience and something you'll never forget. The escape from the banality of urban existence is priceless and worth a few pints of blood.
And know that despite my complaining about the mosquitoes and flies it is a fun experience and something you'll never forget. The escape from the banality of urban existence is priceless and worth a few pints of blood.
Flamingo, Florida
On day 1 we decided to drive straight down to the southernmost point, at Flamingo. A park ranger told us that there were the most flamingos they had ever seen, at Flamingo. Or did she say "mosquitoes?" We would soon find out there were only mosquitoes to be found at Flamingo as the birds have disappeared. This was not the first time a park ranger gave bad information.
Flamingo was mostly deserted and in disrepair. The hotel was abandoned- looking. There were few boaters or tourists and only 1 camper in the huge campground. The bugs reminded me of something out of the movies like Planet of the Apes where the wildlife decides to take revenge on the human oppressors. They were in a word, vicious.
Below: The beach was obscured either by rising tide or global sea level rise. Didn't matter much. No one would have been brave enough to put on a swimsuit with the amount of insects inhabiting this area.
Above: Looking out into Florida Bay toward Key West at the southernmost point of land in Everglades National Park.
As the sun dove quickly into the western sky it tried to shine through the thick cirrus clouds that overrode most of the park on our first day of exploration.
We found a family of manatees (Trichechus manatus) in the boat harbor at Flamingo, they were mostly hanging out under the deserted docks but this one was curious and came close for a photo.
Above and Below:
The boat harbor at Flamingo in Everglades National Park.
Click on the image below and see if you can find the manatee.
Hint: Its floating in the center of the image.
Below: Another view of the harbor at Flamingo. There were a few brave tourists who were preparing for a boat tour of the 10,000 islands area of the park. They were covered with mosquito nets and spraying on insect repellant as we retreated to the relative safety of our SUV. Several times we ran screaming to the car "Abort! Abort!" when the flies would find us and attack.
Why do Florida Vultures
Eat Cars?
Its not just the flies that will attack in Everglades National Park. Vultures notoriously will strip of car of all its rubber and plastic in a matter of minutes. Yes, vultures want to nibble the rubber wipers on your prized Chevy Blazer — maybe for nutrition but most likely just for the heck of it. They salivate at the thought of munching the window seals on your BMW X5. Don't look now, but your V-8 Mustang's expensive vinyl roof might look like a black bean pancake to the flock of vultures overhead. Nobody has seen them sampling the big tasty doughnuts known as tires. But give them time. Many visitors have reported $10,000 in damage or more in a matter of minutes. Tarp stations are positioned all around the park for covering cars and trucks to protect them from vultures.
Nobody knows precisely when or why rubber car parts became Cheetos to vultures. This phenomena is new. But once vultures learned to nibble, experts say, they started attacking with ferocious frequency.
We didn't see any black vultures (Coragyps atratus) nearby on day 1 of our Everglades journey but this is what they look like (above) from a 2008 photo I took of a group that were eyeing one of our cars.
Some vultures, live in Florida all year. The population explodes in the fall. That's when vultures migrate from the Ohio valley and the Atlantic seaboard to take advantage of the warmer weather, food supply and the opportunity to find a mate.
Turkey vultures (below; Cathartes aura), known for their featherless red heads and acute sense of smell, are the most common. Both Turkey and Black vultures are found throughout the state.
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| A Turkey Vulture, waiting for an unattended car. |
But back to why vultures suddenly seem to have developed a hankering for your Nissans' windshield wipers? That is a question Florida biologists are attempting to figure out. Perhaps windshield wiper material contains a chemical that smells like a rotting armadillo? Perhaps the rubber gasket lining car windows shouts "dead mullet here" to vultures? One thing does seem clear: The birds aren't nibbling because they're hungry. They rip the rubber from vehicles but typically discard it, eating little or any of the material.
My Theory: The vultures are a sign from the nature gods that its time for humans to evacuate this place. Vultures along with mosquitoes and biting flies' abundance and sudden ruthlessness are nature taking up arms against humans encroaching on their environment.
In Everglades National Park, visitors are warned about the presence of car-munching vultures, advised to park away from trees and to cover their vehicles with canvas tarps. Regular visitors have learned to drape their cars with plastic bags that flap disconcertingly in the wind as further distraction. Some visitors dangle CDs and aluminum pie plates from car windows to distract and disorient the birds.
But like squirrels that figure out bird feeders and cats that wait for their owners to leave the room before clawing the furniture, vultures are crafty. They soar on the afternoon thermals, they play loop-de-loop with other vultures, they bide their time. Sooner or later, somebody is going to park a car under the tree.
By the way, Federal law prohibits the killing of migrating birds, even car-eating vultures.
Black Skimmers
(Rynchops niger)
Ok, at first I thought those were giant mosquitoes, at a seawall in Flamingo, but no, it was a flock of black skimmers, a tern-like seabird that breeds in the Everglades.
The Skimmers feed in large flocks, flying low over the water surface with their lower mandible skimming the water for small fish, insects, crustaceans, and mollusks. Skimmers spend a lot of time idling in large groups on sandbars in rivers, or near coasts and lagoons where they feed (like below).
Below: A spectacular close-up of a Black Skimmer ©Andreas Trepete.
Next up: Everglades Day 2, Shark Valley and Biscayne Bay National Park.
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| Tonight's Super Moon with the beginnings of my 2015 Halloween Display This is a 12-foot tall (4 meters tall) Grim Reaper Air Blown with kaleidoscope lights in his head. Very cool. |
We've Read, Seen, Watched:
Astronomically speaking autumn began at 4:21 AM EDT Wednesday September 23, 2015 but across Central and Southwest Florida the temperatures are anything but fall-like. We’re continuing to have high humidity with dew points in the mid 60s to lower 70s, along with high temperatures in the mid 80s to lower 90s. During most years we do not see the first shot of cooler drier air until the middle of October, albeit usually is rather short lived lasting only a day or two, with the real cool down not occurring until November.
“Masters of Sex” and “Ray Donovan” ended their third seasons Sunday, largely heading in different directions. While the former started out slowly, it gained intensity as the season progressed, deftly weaving together its subplots in a manner that left half of its central duo humbled. By contrast, its Showtime companion (and SPOILER ALERT if you haven’t watched) largely squandered big-name guest casting and a “Chinatown”-like story line, before getting drawn back into its title character’s twisted family in ways that felt more overwrought than usual, leaving not one, but two of them nursing bullet wounds.
Some microbes passed on during sex could actually be good for us, are most of us missing out? It’s not news that microbes - such as bacteria and viruses - are incredibly important to our health. Within all of us there is a mixture of both beneficial and potentially disease-causing mini critters. If the balance between the two is lost, it can cause problems.
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| A house engulfed in flames during the Valley fire in Seigler Springs, California on September 13, 2015 Copyright © 2015 Josh Edelson, AFP/Getty Images |
Here in the Mayacamas Mountains that hover above Clear Lake, 100 miles north of San Francisco, California's drought has been going on for seven years. Pine beetles have attacked the stressed gray pines, leaving dead timber standing. A century of fire suppression has built up thick undergrowth. . . creating the perfect conditions for explosive fires. More on this fire: How Hurricane may have hastened Valley Fire.
