We live on the edge of the Everglades, really the edge... (if you look at the map of the Everglades linked to the left, we are just North of Chekika just South of US 41) walk about 300 feet up the road and there you are, prarie and hammocks of the Everglades Park, (per Websters - a hammock is a fertile area in the southern United States and especially Florida that is usually higher than its surroundings and that is characterized by hardwood vegetation and deep humus-rich soil)...
At night, after the mooing of the cows going home for the night or the whinny of the occasional stallion, things are pretty quite here. The other night however, late into the night, the dogs started to bark, and bark...and bark. The neighbors dogs were barking, our dogs were barking, we couldn't sleep. My husband got up to check, but it is of course so dark that you can't see anything anyway out here, there is no ambient light or any other light here at night. When he came back to bed he said, "it must be a python or bobcat or something" and we both slowly went back to sleep.
It wasn't until the next day (probably wondering why I was so sleepy) when i realized how bizarre that comment is. The python "problem" is growing here in Florida. They just announced they caught 95 in 2006 and for every 1 THEY CATCH, THEY ESTIMATE THERE ARE 1,000 MORE, that means a possibility of 95,000! pythons on the loose. The problem with the pythons is that there are no natural enemies for them out here. You may have seen a few years back the the Python that ate the Alligator! Now that is a story! See if you can figure out where the python start and the gator stops in this pic to the right!
A skink is a slippery looking little lizard and we have a special one around here called the Five Lined Skink, which is absolutely beautiful. The first time I saw one, I couldn't believe my eyes. It had five bright red lines and a NEON blue tail! It really is a beautiful little creature. In the last year since we have lived here, we have had (No pythons!) a gator, a rattler, a pair of nesting red-bellied wood peckers, signs of a bobcat (but have not seen one), and many many beautiful birds and other critters. It is surely wild and crazy, but for real Florida living at it's untainted and un-destroyed best, this is the place to be! Some people might think this is crazy, but we love it!
Janie Coffey
Owner/Broker, GRI, TRC, QSC
cell: 786-252-4970
email: janie@papillonllc.com
More Miami-Dade County Blog Posts
Did you enjoy this? Donations always needed at the South Florida SPCA to Help the Horses (you can mention my name in the "purpose" section if you want)
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