Concho Billy Tr

I was sitting at the base of a tree after walking about a mile off the trail. It was relatively early like 7:45 ish and I picked a spot that had a good view of a little meadow surrounded by pine forest interspersed with palmetto bushes. It was quiet and  hot, but not the sweltering heat that would descend upon me in a couple of hours. There was even a slight breeze to hold the ever present, voracious mosquitoes at bay. I was covered in camo with a head net that I was thankful for because even the gnats couldn't penetrate it. I blended in to the forest flawlessly. Suddenly I heard a slight rustling a short distance to my left and I froze. Ever so slowly I turned my head trying not to make any sudden movements and alert whatever was there to my presence. At first I could see nothing but I could hear very slight movement occasionally, it was coming closer. I inched my camera up and waited, my old guy muscles cramping and my eyes stinging from the sweat that was dripping into them. It was like ten minutes before I was rewarded for my patience.

There were two of them, a doe and a fawn. You can see the little one peeking through the bush behind the Momma. After the first click of my camera they lifted their heads up and their ears perked up. But they couldn't see me so they didn't run.

However, they zeroed right in on my location with those huge ears. If I had moved at this point they would have bolted.

 Even so, after repeated clicking the fawn got nervous and retreated behind the palmettos.

If I had waited a few more minutes I could have gotten some better shots of it. It was really cool.

The day had begun with a nice sunrise and a pic of a hawk on a tree near the head of the trail.

The skeeters were so thick there was literally a cloud around me of bloodthirsty insects. They covered my arms and legs but could not bite through my clothing. Still there was a loud constant high pitched mosquito buzzing. They were huge too. I don't know how the animals out there stand them. It was creepy knowing that if I wasn't protected I would be eaten alive by bloodthirsty, giant swamp mosquitoes on steroids. Some of the areas I was walking through were cool looking too. I waded some but kinda skirted the deeper parts.

This was looking like serious python territory to me. I've been fooling around with snakes my whole life, I've owned over a hundred fifty different species, including pythons in excess of 10+ feet. One thing I have learned about snakes is that they are creatures that operate solely on instinct. Which means they have triggers that activate their behaviors. Which means that if you look, act and smell like food and they are hungry, they will try and eat you. Contrary to some people's beliefs, pythons don't really care if you are too wide to swallow. If you present to them like food they will kill you first and then see if they can swallow you. Even if it means you get stuck in their mouth or you burst out of their bellies. Scientists know that Burmese Pythons are in the Everglades and reproducing that's a fact. But what they aren't telling you is that there are bigger, stronger, and much more aggressive python species that have been seen there. Reticulated pythons are longer and much stronger than Burmese Pythons and African Rock Pythons are much more aggressive. The largest recorded Retic was 33 ft long and over 300lbs. But 10-20 feet is average. These are the snakes they find under people's houses every once in a while that it takes five guys to drag them out. Any way I'm not oppose to wading through deeper water but I was feeling a little creeped out today and decided to go with my gut and stay in only about a 6-12 inches of water.

But the beauty of the place captivated me.  I stomped around for a few more hours but didn't see much of note and was thoroughly tired, calm and grateful for the opportunity to come here when I finally decided to end the day the way I began it. With a cool pic of a bird.

One Big Ass Bat!

Endangered giant bat found at Picayune Strand

bonneted bat

The wilds of the Big Cypress Swamp have yielded many interesting species, from ghost orchids to freshwater sponges. Just last week, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission announced a surprising and unexpected find during their first-ever bat monitoring program at Picayune Strand State Forest, part of the Big Cypress ecosystem. - the bonneted bat.  It tops the charts for Florida bats, with a wingspan of 19 to 21″.
Found only in South Florida, it’s one rare and big bat. “The find of the bonneted bat is significant because there are only a few hundred bonneted bats in existence,” said FWC biologist and project leader Kathleen Smith. “ Bats, like many other wildlife species, have lost a great deal of natural habitat to development.”
Learn more about this endemic Florida bat from the Florida Bat Conservancy

Picayune Burn

I was so happy my lovely wife decided to accompany me on this hike. During the last hike in Picayune Strand I scouted out a good place to take her where there was a wide path and I had seen some cool animal tracks and a friendly gator. I was all excited to go. So imagine my surprise, when we showed up shortly after sunrise to thick smoke in the forest.
Evidently there had been a proscribed burn (Florida Park Rangers regularly burn up areas of forest to consume wildfire fuels before wildfires happen. It helps lessen the severity and spread of forest fires.) the day before we went. So the area we went to was burnt and charred.


We kicked around for a bit and took some pics and decided to find a different place because we figured the wild life was probably somewhere else.




Fortunately Picayune Strand is full of scenic and interesting roads and paths. It is one of the things that make it a great hiking spot. You can camp, kayak, horseback ride, and drive through most of the park. We found a spot with the most animal tracks I had ever seen in one area, a wildlife highway.



There were tons of deer, hog, raccoon and alligator (above pic) prints. We surprised a big fat raccoon almost as soon as we started walking and he ran off in a huff.

Cattails!

We ended up have a fun, interesting walk and found a baby gator towards the end.

Picayune Strand State Park

Another fun hike! Though I had to cut it short because like a numb-skull I forgot mosquito repellent. We have had some rain lately so the skiters were thick in the shaded areas. Fortunately I had a camouflage head net and gloves but the little buggers were biting me right through my gloves.
Picayune Strand is interesting because way back in the "60's" land developers bought the whole place (85 miles/55000 acres) to turn it into a America's largest home development project. They built canals and drained the land. Then built roads through out most of it. Long story short, the project fell through and the land was pretty much abandoned. The State and Federal government bought it back and are in the process of restoring the wetlands to their former state. Which is great for the panthers and other endangered species as well as the other surrounding parks. You can read more about that here. Now the cool thing about it right now is that the whole place is criss-crossed with access roads so you can easily penetrate most anywhere in the 55000 acres. Here is a map.



So I arrived at the SW corner of the park just after dawn and tramped around for about an hour and a half admiring the vegetation and looking for good place to hunker down and watch for wildlife. I found a large area of matted grass that a herd of pigs had trampled and hung around there for a while to no avail. The I continued on and came across a wide trail. I like to stay off the trails but this one had a bunch of animal prints on it and it looked like it was a wildlife highway so I decided to follow it for a bit.

Bobcat maybe?



Deer


So I walk down this trail surrounded by a cloud of mosquitos. Feeling like Elmer Fudd, "Shhh, Be vewy qwiet, I am looking for a bunny wabbit." It's about 10am and it's starting to get hot. I spot a nice size dead tree laying on the side of the path and stop and sit for a drink of water. I am just about to get up and be on my way when I spot something coming slowly making it's way towards me on the path. It's low to the ground and dark in color moving through the high grass. I am completely camouflaged so it doesn't see me sitting at the edge of the path. I raise my camera and peer through the 200mm lens. At first I thought it was a very large rat or an otter. But then as it came closer I realized it was a gator. It was moseying along nice as you please, out for a morning stroll oblivious to my presence.


What was interesting was that there was no water in the immediate area. I see gators just about every time I hike but they are always in or on the edge of water. Maybe it is mating season? and this one is out looking for booty? laying eggs? visiting his aunt Mabel in another part of the forest? Because he was on land and walking and because they are so prehistoric looking it was kind of a surreal experience. I was tempted let him get right up in front of me and jump up and yell BOO!! just to see what he would do. But I didn't want to ruin his morning he seemed to be enjoying himself as much as I was so I let him get about fifteen feet away and I stood up and said, "Hi there Wally, You lost? there's no water that way."
He didn't get the joke. That happens to me sometimes, others fail to appreciate my humor.
He froze and then started hissing. At this point most normal people would slowly back away but not me. I asked him to pose for a few shots. He seemed not to mind too much (maybe he liked getting his picture taken?) so I closed in on him and snapped a few. He was only about five feet or so long so I wasn't too worried the most he could do was snap off a foot or something.




He put up with me quite well for about five minutes, and I decided to give him a break and continue on with my hike.



I walked for a while longer snapping away at any beautiful thing I saw and then decided to head back. On the way I overtook my friend Wally (him being not much faster than a tortoise) meandering along the path. I walked with him for a while but he didn't have much to say so I bid him good day.


It was another fine hike and I left feeling good in my heart.