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Posted by Alex Harper on 17:12:44 11/24/06
Man, I'm just in the posting kinda mood today. I figured I would report on a herping (snake catching) trip I made up to the Palm Beach cane fields last Sunday. We were looking for kingsnakes, which are abundant out there. This reqires long walks along the irrigation ditches zig-zagging through the fields. We struck out on the kingsnakes, though I did manage to grab a huge Florida Banded Watersnake. We stayed along US-27 pretty much the entire way up until South Bay, then checked some areas east of Clewiston.
Northern Harrier- about twenty
Short-tailed Hawk- seen on Turnpike
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
American Kestrel
Wilson's Snipe- very common along the irrigation ditches
Common Ground-dove
Eastern Phoebe
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Palm Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Savannah Sparrow- abundant
Eastern Meadowlark
Other animals seen:
Roseate Skimmer
American Alligator
Penninsula Cooter
Brown Basilisk
Black Racer
Brahminy Blind Snake
Hispid Cotton Rat
Oldfield Mouse
Marsh Rabbit
The cane fields are popular with both birders and herpers alike. The cane provides habitat for the highest density of kingsnakes in Florida, and we all know that Barn Owls are common out there as well. Obviously this has to do with so many rodents.
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