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.