Day 3: Everglades Airboat Tour

-

 29/10/22



Leaving at 8.15 am there was a clear change as we neared Tigertail Airboat Tours.

Approximately eleven ospreys over the journey were spotted on electrical wires and on top of wooden pylons where a couple were eating.

Banded kingfishers were also numerous on electrical wires.

Eastern Amberwing Dragonfly,
Pantala flavescens

Air Boat Tour

We all plugged our ears and got onto the airboat

Winding around the trails carved out in the reeds, the airboat roared smoothly over the everglades. 

Great grey herons in addition to great and snowy egrets were disturbed by the boat as well as an osprey which carried a partially eaten fish with it.



I was hit in the face twice by insects and noted some seemed to be flushed under the boat.

Our guide, Humberto Gimenez, later explains that going off track on the boat avoids scaring wildlife from the same spots and wearing down the routes. Nitrogen and Phosphorus leeched from the boats is illustrated by the growth of cattails bordering the trails. Run off from farming practices adds to this as well, and is especially prevalent further up north as fields of cattails outcompete native plants adapted for the low-nutrient habitat. 

There are many other sources of damage to the habitat besides this though.

Water flowing south sustains the everglades. But development, occurring since the mid 1800s has been redirecting water to provide drinking water and agricultural land.

This has lead to water levels dropping and its quality descending.

Gimenez also points out that the U.S. Highway 41 and Tamiami canal block flow from lake Okeechobee to Florida bay, meaning that bull sharks no longer spawn in the area.

The boat stopped. The border of a cypress forest could be seen nearby with a few small scattered trees ahead and a Cypress dome.

Around us stretched two feet deep clear chocolate brown water peppered with lily pads and growths of grasses. The bed is formed out of limestone covered by a layer of mud.

Gimenez tells us that cypress tree domes have smaller pond cypress trees on the outside and larger bald on the inside. The plants accumulate sediment in their roots but when their needles fall they increase acidity of water and dissolve limestone bellow resulting in a pit in middle. Eventually it causes a glade in the middle of the dome.

We continue on and arrive at the companies wildlife hospital.

It`s on a small island crisscrossed with boardwalks and enclosures opposite the docks.

In the first enclosure there is an alligator snapping turtle and a common snapping turtle. One can find common snapping turtles around the area but not alligator Gimenez announces. These two individuals have to be fed chicken, as they are pets released into the everglades so have no survival skills. Many animals also share the same fates:

anacondas

tegus

Nile crocodiles

Burmese pythons

Fish from aquariums such as peacock bass

common and alligator snapping turtles

But many of these species actually thrive in the everglades, disrupting the delicate ecosystem.

Pets are released when they grow too large or boring. Owners may also realise how difficult they are to look after. 

The pythons are particularly a problem. In the everglades it is said that there are 10,000 individuals, making them currently at their carrying capacity despite the presence of bounty python hunters. The numbers have grown out of control as the pythons are perfectly camouflaged, have no natural predators  and are great swimmers, leaving no tracks.

Pythons have been eating the prey species of the florida pantha for instance foxes, deer and armadillos.

Native animals in the hospital:


Box Turtle, Terrapene carolina
Painted Turtle, Chrysemys picta











Common Snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentina

Alligator Snapping turtle, Macrochelys temminckii









American Alligator, Alligator mississippiensis


Gimenez had three hatchling alligators which are collected when found apart from the mother. They are fed a diet of live fish caught with a net from the shallows. 

The everglades is actually the only place in the world where american crocodiles and american alligators live together. They differ in that crocodiles possess lingeal salt glands so that in saline water salt can be excreted from the blood. Despite this, alligators will spend time in saline and estuarine areas as long as they have access to fresh water, so their territories do overlap. 

Both alligators and crocodiles are keystone species, controlling populations and movements of prey species. Alligators though are ecosystem engineers and create unique habitats by burrowing. 


Walk

American Green Treefrog, Dryophytes cinereus



Useful links: Everglades restoration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bStzoM8p97A





Location: US Hwy 41, Miami, FL, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 6: Florida Gulf Coast University

-
Image
 1/11/22 Visiting Florida Gulf Coast University Stretching over 807 acres F lorida G ulf C oast U niversity is compiled of 347 acres of wetlands 23 of which have been created.       The University seems to have grown around these swamp areas with built-in canals for water flow under roads and carparks. If this was not enough, the organization even monitor the alligators on campus , which they track with collars and identify reasons of any deaths.       Water quality an d levels are also consistently measured     Invasive species such as melaleuca and brazillian pepper are removed by the grounds department while native species are planted. On top of this, trees are added to the tree orphanage. This is a system that replants native flora that needed to be removed to make way for buildings.     A t FGCU we met Edwin Everham , who affirmed that when building the University, sustainability was their first priority .      E...
Read more

Day 4: Manatees and Sea Turtles

-
Image
 30/10/22  28.88  °C Manatee Lagoon 11.00 am We, guided by a student at Florida Atlantic University called Sam, entered the eco discovery center at Manatee Lagoon in West Palm Beach Florida.  Manatee Lagoon was built by Florida Power & Light Company, who own the Energy Center next door. The center aims to educate the general public on manatees and wildlife, primarily in Lake Worth Lagoon.  Why manatees come to the center Manatees are of the family Trichechidae, closely related to dugongs (who don`t have the single tail pad) and elephants There are three species of manatees: Amazonian  West African West Indian In Florida they have a population of 6-10,000  Trichechus manatus ( West Indian manatees), specifically the subspecies Florida manatee. Manatees are marine mammals. They have vibrissae that help them feel their environment, a lower jaw and marching molars that continually move forward to replace teeth worn down by grazing. Their pregnancy last...
Read more

Day 2: Corkscrew Swamp

-
Image
  28/10/22 Sunny 28  °C Corkscrew swamp We left for corkscrew swamp at 8.20 am and drew in at around 10am As I walked round to the center a cardinal bird was perched in a small tree. Here, we met Sharon, a volunteer who was to guide us round the reserves board walk Corkscrew Rookery The first threat to Corkscrew was plume hunting in the early eighteenth century. Egret and heron feathers were especially prized by plume hunters. To protect the birds, Rhett Green was hired as a warden and in 1913 began to act as a guide around the swamp. Their fate was further secured by the 1918 migratory bird treaty act banning the killing and trading of birds. The next wave of danger was logging in 1944. Pine was the most sought after then cypress. Cypresses were heavy and the wo od would sink, so waters had to be drained for a year before they could be cut down. Cypress Tree Locals, the National Audubon Society and other supporters bought the rookery to prevent deforestation. 5,680 acres were...
Read more