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Posted by Jeff Weber on 08:47:32 12/23/07
On the Matheson Hammock/Fairchild Tropical Garden section of the Kendall CBC, we were pleased to find both light and dark morph Short-tailed Hawks at Fairchild. In fact, at one point, both birds were soaring overhead in view at one time.
While watching the hawks in the scrubby back section of Fairchild, I nearly reached out and grabbed a small tree for support (my back is troubling me), but Joe Barros pointed out a small sign on the trunk that said "Danger - Poisonous Tree." I figured it was just a Poisonwood until we found another tiny sign that said "Manchineel," so I'm definitely glad I didn't pull a tree-hugger move on this baby. This was a life tree for me, and considering that that part of the garden is undeveloped, we think it may have occurred there naturally.
Coolest sighting of the day came at Matheson, from the parking lot of the lagoon beach. We were scoping offshore looking for Northern Gannets when Joe asked, "What's that stick poking out of the water?" It turned out to be a the dorsal fin of a big shark cruising fast. I put the scope on it and the dorsal fin was gray with a blackish trailing edge, which ruled out several browner species that one might expect - like Hammerhead, Nurse and Lemon Shark. The swirl of water caused by the tail was a good 4 feet behing the dorsal, so this was a good-sized shark. I am frequently right out there in my kayak, which gives one pause.
Speaking of unexpected Bay sightings, we saw an American Crocodile from shore on the Biscayne Nat. Park CBC a week earlier. This guy was a large juvenile about 6 ft long, in the Bay near the mouth of Mowry Canal. A Great Blue Heron landed about 10 feet away, and the two of them tried to stare each other down for a while, probably wondering if the other was a potential meal.
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