Wildlife in Urban South Florida is More Common Than You Might Expect.

Living in South Florida, you live closer to wildlife than you do in many places.  I have explained this to many a good friend from more urban cities up North.

I regularly "shoo" ducks off the property.

There are foxes and coyotes in the area.  While I have never heard a 'yote howl, I have heard from the local notables, to expect them.

I have seen Raccoons and Opossums on my back porch.  The "Lanai" seems to be a highway for critters. 

Those two we leave alone.  They are beneficial even if they do soil the pool backsplash more often than I prefer.  One Opossum did not like me on the back porch one day.  I spoke to it in my best Steve Irwin impression "Go on, mate, you'll be right, go find your way!".  She did and I went on about my business turning on the irrigation.  After all, Opossums are beneficial and will eat the ticks if they find them.

We've got literal flocks of cherry headed amazon parrots here.  I heard they are native to Puerto Rico and are getting rare there.  But the green gems are here and I talk to them on the walks.

Speaking of flocks, there isn't a day I get to see a Monarch Butterfly.  It's because we refuse to spray the lawn for bugs, and I have planters with Milkweed all over the property.   Including the one on the front porch that I have a cage built over them.   I want the seeds.

Did Someone Loose A Rooster?  Because the neighborhood has been adopted by one, magnificent in black with a red comb.  You know he's there because he is calling frequently before dawn looking for company. 

On my last trip down before we moved here, I took Lettie to a park in Dania Beach.  Great ice cream nearby, if you are coming down keep that in mind.  Also keep this in mind, there are alligators here.  I understand they can be mostly anywhere in the state, and this particular one took an interest in Lettie.

We left.  Immediately.  She survived a number of years longer.  We did look for the monkeys that are supposed to be in the trees there but they didn't want to tangle with the dog or the big ape descendant walking her.

I spotted two species of lizards in the yard just now, plus Green Iguanas.  Oh trust me, I would like to see a cold snap thin these herds.  Herds.  As in Jurassic Park herds of upwards of 5 foot long green beasts with an attitude running to be far from you.  I see them frequently at the park as I am riding past.  "Roaring" at them seems to move them along to bounce off the cyclone fence and into the interior where they can go about their iguana-tastic lives.   Away from me.  Off the trail with you!

Along with the flocks of birds that visit we've got tree frogs.  I'm happy that we don't have the Coqui that are native to Puerto Rico because they are quite loud.  The one I am thinking of is a tree frog that was not happy with me chasing it with a cell phone to get the picture.  It scampered from waist high to about 7 or 8 feet off the ground.

You don't see them during the day as they tend to dry out.  The temps here are not as hot as the big cities up North, but this being Tropics-adjacent, bring your sunscreen.  The tree frogs will taking cover during the day.  Shade only, no direct sunlight.

All of this can be seen on the five or so mile walks that I take during a day.  Forgetting the humans and the domestic animals that come with us, this is quite a crowded little place. 

Orchid and Tree Frog

Once upon a time, we had tree frogs that visited.

They parked on the car.

They watched from the window.

They were harmless and entertaining.

Lately, I got a visit once again.  This rather little critter spent some time out in my garden.

The frog is parked on top of a leaf on my Cattleya Orchid that is intertwined with the wood on my fence.   

 

I try hard not to disturb those particular plants.  An orchid tends to grow slowly.  They do put out some rather amazing flowers, and I have shared them in the past.  

This particular plant is actually one that I took from the mother plant.  It had grown along in its way, putting out rhizomes that sometimes would put out more leaves.  Periodically, you can harvest parts, and place them in some bark and allow them to grow into new plants.

Most of what I have here are from cuttings that I had propagated.  Orchids are strange plants, they take their nutrients from the plants that are near them.  Water running down the host bark will pick up what they need to live, and they will thrive if you have the right conditions.

I have the right conditions here, and this one is on a drip feed irrigation that is visible in the picture.

It also provides a rather nice bed for a little tree frog who decided to spend that particular night.

The Return of the Tree Frog

Oh Little Kermit...

I actually miss these frogs when they don't show.

In the morning, about an hour before sunrise I hear them approach.

They herald their presence with a soft thwack against the house.  Usually it's against the windows.  Then all is peaceful and what passes for quiet here.

We share our house with these frogs.  They're entertaining to watch.  I have a small cavity between the windows on the back of the house.  Lined with plexglas on our side, its wide enough for you to slide your fingers into with a little room to spare.

The tree frogs found the spot a couple years back and I get visitors from time to time.  The thwack of their bodies announcing their presence as they sidle into position for a daytime sleep.

In this case there was a conversation it caused here.

"What was THAT?!"
"Just the tree frogs.  They're home for the night."
"Don't they usually come here to sleep all daytime?"
"Yes, but it's out of sync.  It will be fine, it's probably just repositioning itself for whatever work a tree frog does".

At that point, it was announced that I was going to get my picture via email since someone went on a backyard safari.

"Watch for the opossums, have fun, and don't disturb my guests!"

This picture was the result.  It reminded me of some strange B Movie quality in ways, but that's what you get from an iPhone.

They were staying with us for a long block of time, a full season plus a bit.  I guess in the warmer weather, the cool from our house leaking through the single paned plastic was a welcome respite from the heat.

Enjoy it while it lasts my little friend, and do give our best to Miss Piggy.

As for the track below?  One of my favorite early trance tracks.  "Tree Frog" by Hope.  Plus it's got some pretty cool pictures of a green tree frog doing it's thing repeated throughout.

Peeping Ringneck Dove

In South Florida, I have often said, we live closer to wildlife than I did in Philadelphia.

That isn't to say we didn't have wildlife in Philadelphia, and I don't mean the two legged variety.  I once had a deer in my backyard, roughly a solid mile from the park, but that is another story entirely.

Behind my house is an arbor.  It's made of some large poles and holds up the bougainvillea and the Spanish Moss that grows there.  That is to say there is a massive bougainvillea that forms a privacy curtain along the back window of the Florida room, and you can't get through it because you would be shredded by the thorns that grow on the plant.

Bougainvillea are beautiful, but nasty plants.  Every time I work with the plant I get stuck by those blasted thorns.

Every.
Single.
Time.

Wrap yourself in Kevlar Body Armor and it won't matter.   You will get stuck.

I suppose that is the attraction of the bloody stuff.  Literally bloody, that is.  The thorns create a micro-climate safe from things that might "Getcha".

Every so often I look out the window and I see things looking back at me.

My frog hotel is at the top of the window.  Two little boxes, an inch deep, two long, 4 wide.  Just big enough for a frog to smack against the glass and hide for the daytime until it is time to go out at night and hunt for insects.

Tasty, tasty insects.   Mmmmm.

I've seen a four foot long green iguana looking back at me with a mouthfull of bougainvillea leaves.  I wouldn't mind but those nasty iguanas don't share.  I stood up to get a better view and off it ran into the neighbor's yard.

Evil things.

This was more benign.  A Rock Dove.  Perhaps you call them Ringneck Doves.  I go between the names.  They're quite common, quite harmless.   I simply did not expect to see the thing looking at me and watching me as I go through my normal daily routine.

So why not... I got a couple pictures of it.  Then it got frightened due to my attention and flew off into the window.

They're not bright.  Birdbrained might be a better description.

They're all over the area here.  Might be the teenagers of the avian world with their call of "Meh" whenever you hear them.  Harmless creatures, whatever they eat they're welcome to since I know they don't destroy my plants.

One of them a while back made a friend in my parrot, Oscar.  It would fly over to the cage when I had Oscar in the Florida Room near the window.  I would hear Oscar talking to the bird, saying Hello! to it, trying to convince it to talk back, and the Dove true to form would just say "Meh" back.

I am guessing that this could be some sort of revisited curiosity, although it might be misdirected.  Oscar got moved back into the core of the house to keep him comfortable when the weather changed from warm to cold, or vice versa.  I can't really remember which.  I don't have that large a house, so he squats in the middle of it making rude noises at us and glowers while that peeping dove tries to get his attention.

I should move him back out there, but I'm lazy.