Posted by Bryant Roberts on September 21, 2001 at 22:37:25:
I returned to Flamingo Wednesday night after a week in
Gainesville, and got to spend about an hour this morning looking
around the campgrounds and main roads for new arrivals. The first
was a Merlin flying over the entrance to the camping area. The
second was a female Cape May Warbler in T-Loop and an adult
male in the large Strangler Figs on the main road in front of the
visitor center. The third was a Baltimore Oriole also in the fig trees.
There was also a reliable report during the time I was away of a
couple of Flamingos flying high over Flamingo on Friday, 9/14. I
won't be able to get out to Snake Bight until early next week to see if
any can be found there. The Brazilian Pepper control project has begun,
starting in the area between Eco Pond and T-Loop. From the looks of this
beginning it will drastically alter the appearance of the area for a
while. The machinery being used chips the standing trees from the top
down to ground level. Native trees are left, but in Brazilian Pepper
infested sections these are few and far between and the resulting
landscape is rather barren looking, at least for now. There is a planned
follow up in about three months with an herbicide to finish off the
surviving pepper trees. The workers I spoke with said over forty acres
will receive this treatment.