Natural Florida is interesting to see…
Florida is a unique state, being so close to the Caribbean and the equator. Its warm temps attract a lot of wildlife, like alligators, all kinds of birds, even the Florida panther, the last struggling to survive due to habitat loss (too many people taking away land).
While I was there the first week of March I encountered few interesting critters. Near my sister-in-law Cecil Jean’s home near Ft. Meyers, I spied a few “white ibis” (like the picture above). The white ibis has a long, super curved beak, no doubt helpful in fishing, and the chicks have a beak that doesn’t curve right away.
I also saw what looked like a group of white pelicans (they can also be brown) flying overhead, like 100 feet up! I read they sometimes work as a group in getting prey to eat, driving it to the shallow waters so they can grab it, I guess.
And I almost “tripped” over one of these tiny (2-3 inch) light brown lizards they call geckos down here. These were on the lawn and near the garage at my brother-in-law’s home in a place called “The Villages” in Lady Lake, central Florida. Actually, years ago, there was a TV show called “crocodile hunter” with Steve Irwin, in Australia. His head was literally on the ground, a few inched from a little lizard, as he was talking about nature. I guess the critter was too tempted. It went up and bit him on the nose! And he replied, “Nasty little nipper!”
There are over a dozen kinds of little lizards in Florida, most of them from somewhere else, including the gecko I saw while there. I guess they like the climate, or people bought them at the pet shop and then freed them!
(If you found this amusing, go to https://ko-fi.com/naturelover2 and buy D.J. a digital cup of Joe!)
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