Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Birds
Nearly 500 avian species have been documented in the state, including some of the world's
most magnificent migratory waterbirds: ibis, egrets, great blue herons, white pelicans and
whooping cranes. This makes Florida the ultimate bird-watcher's paradise.
Nearly 350 species spend time in the Everglades, the prime bird-watching spot in Flor-
ida. But you don't have to brave the swamp. Completed in 2006, the Great Florida Bird-
ing Trail ( www.floridabirdingtrail.com ) runs 2000 miles and includes nearly 500 bird-watch-
ing sites. Nine of these are 'gateway' sites, with staffed visitor centers and free 'loan' bin-
oculars; see the website for downloadable guides and look for brown road signs when
driving.
Among the largest birds, white pelicans arrive in winter (October to April), while brown
pelicans, the only pelican to dive for its food, lives here year-round. To see the striking
pale-pink roseate spoonbill, a member of the ibis family, visit JN 'Ding' Darling National
Wildlife Refuge, the wintering site for a third of the US roseate spoonbill population.
About 5000 nonmigratory sandhill cranes are joined by 25,000 migratory cousins each
winter. White whooping cranes (which at up to 5ft are the tallest birds in North America)
are nearly extinct; about 100 winter on Florida's Gulf Coast near Homosassa.
Songbirds and raptors fill Florida skies, too. The state has over 1000 mated pairs of bald
eagles, the most in the southern US. Peregrine falcons, which can dive up to 150mph, also
migrate through in spring and fall.
Back in the day, birds were both legally hunted and poached for their gorgeous feathers,
which were molded, shaped and accessorized into fashion accoutrements. Miami-based
journalist and Everglades advocate Marjory Stoneman Douglas wrote about this practice
and the subsequent loss of avian life, a move which laid the foundation for both wilderness
protection and wildlife conservation in the state.
Land Mammals
Florida's most endangered mammal is the Florida panther. Before European contact, per-
haps 1500 roamed the state. The first panther bounty ($5 a scalp) was passed in 1832, and
over the next 130 years they were hunted relentlessly. Though hunting was stopped in
1958, it was too late for panthers to survive on their own. Without a captive breeding pro-
gram, begun in 1991, the Florida panther would now be extinct and with only around 120
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