Everglades Herping Questions
Posted: December 12th, 2016, 5:22 pm
Hey guys,
So this winter break my family and I will be spending a week in south Florida (Yay!) to see the Everglades. I anticipate spending most of the daytime hours birdwatching with my grandparents and aunt, but I think I can do some road cruising, and possibly squeeze in a bit of dedicated daytime herping. I have never been to this area, so I'm hoping to get a bit of helpful information from you all.
First of all, is it worth cruising the Everglades at the end of December? Will heavy traffic or park regulations restrict what I can do when cruising? Of course, I have no plans to collect, harass the snakes, or anything like that. Would I mainly expect swamp species, or would it also be worth it to target scarlet snakes and the like? My mother and I are also very interested in sirens and amphiumas; can these be found by dip netting and/or wading at night in south Florida in winter? I know this is a bit of a stretch, but do Pseudobranchus still turn up in the region?
I look forward to your all's advice, which is always very helpful. If anyone will be in south Florida at the of December, and would be willing to meet up with a couple Kentuckians and show us around that would be awesome, although I understand most of you aren't familiar with me. I haven't posted much on this forum in the past year, but you can find one of my older post here: (http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/vie ... 11&t=22197).
Thanks in advance for your help, and happy holidays!
-Ananth
So this winter break my family and I will be spending a week in south Florida (Yay!) to see the Everglades. I anticipate spending most of the daytime hours birdwatching with my grandparents and aunt, but I think I can do some road cruising, and possibly squeeze in a bit of dedicated daytime herping. I have never been to this area, so I'm hoping to get a bit of helpful information from you all.
First of all, is it worth cruising the Everglades at the end of December? Will heavy traffic or park regulations restrict what I can do when cruising? Of course, I have no plans to collect, harass the snakes, or anything like that. Would I mainly expect swamp species, or would it also be worth it to target scarlet snakes and the like? My mother and I are also very interested in sirens and amphiumas; can these be found by dip netting and/or wading at night in south Florida in winter? I know this is a bit of a stretch, but do Pseudobranchus still turn up in the region?
I look forward to your all's advice, which is always very helpful. If anyone will be in south Florida at the of December, and would be willing to meet up with a couple Kentuckians and show us around that would be awesome, although I understand most of you aren't familiar with me. I haven't posted much on this forum in the past year, but you can find one of my older post here: (http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/vie ... 11&t=22197).
Thanks in advance for your help, and happy holidays!
-Ananth