Posted by Paul Bithorn on April 07, 2003 at 22:54:37:
Sorry for the late post but my computer was out being serviced. On Saturday, April 5, I took renowned Cuban Herpetologist, Luis M. Diaz and his 16-year
old cousin Alex Margolis to Everglades National Park for a day of birding, herpetologizing, lepidopterizing, entomologizing and botanizing.
Luis just recently returned from giving lectures at the Chicago Museum of Natural History, Penn State University and Cornell University, where he met
John Fitzpatrick, Dean of Ornithology, and former director at Archbold Research Center. Luis is in the throes of naming a frog, new to science, that he discovered last year in the Sierra Maestra Mountains of Cuba.
He marveled at the site of a Pileated Woodpecker boring his nest in the Annex Area south of Lucky Hammock. A male Indigo Bunting, our U.S. version
of the “Azulito,” perched on the wires in front of the hammock. Research Center Road had several Swallow-tailed Kites, one of which was carrying Spanish Moss to a nest. Eastern Kingbirds were in the area for the second week in a row.
A male Shiny Cowbird was feeding on grass seed in front of the Flamingo Visitor’s Center in the company of a dozen Brown-headed Cowbirds. They also feed in an area adjacent to the marina, where you will see black dirt next to a leaning light pole. Four adult males and one first-year male were feeding in the inflorescence of the Royal Palms in front of the Center.
The following reptiles and amphibians were seen:
American Crocodile (2) Flamingo boat ramp
American Alligator (ubiquitous)
Florida Softshell Turtle (Anhinga Trail)
Florida Redbelly Turtle (Anhinga Trail)
Green Anole (Mahogany Hammock)
Brown Anole (ubiquitous)
Tropical House Gecko (Redland Middle School)
Southeastern Five-lined Skink (Mahogany Hammock)- Luis’s first skink ever and you think birders get excited!
Pig Frog (Gumbo Limbo Trail/Old Ingraham Highway Pond)
Greenhouse Frog (Redland Middle School)
Cuban Treefrog (Gumbo Limbo Trail)
Luis works with Cuban Ornithologist Arturo Kirkconnell at the National Museum of Natural History in Havana. He will try to get me some more info on the Red-legged Honeycreeper’s movements in Cuba.
Life is good............when sharing the unique fauna and flora of the Everglades.