By Sandra Friend
It’s a snap to say Florida’s fauna is all about the alligators. But what you don’t know about the state’s wildlife will surprise you.
Size, for starters.
Feathered, furred, scaled or shelled, Florida’s native wildlife species range in size from lizards smaller than a pinky to manatees and leatherback turtles tipping the scales at over half a ton.
Our “charismatic megafauna” include don’t-dare-approach big boys such as the Florida panther and the Florida black bear. But in tandem with Florida’s habitat diversity—81 natural communities across two time zones—awaits an outstanding array of much smaller wildlife. Have you ever seen a mangrove crab? A Florida tree snail? Or a Florida reef gecko? These diminutive denizens often go unnoticed traversing tree trunks and leaf litter in South Florida. Consider the “green anole, which are secretive but showy,” according to Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park Biologist Mike Owen. “Their shade moves between green and brown as they change color, but they’re not true chameleons since the trigger is hormonal, not neural.”
Habitat plays a major role in where you’ll find Florida’s finest— biggest and smallest—wildlife watching. Here’s a closer look at some of the Sunshine State’s major environments.
A Last Vast Wilderness
Driving the Tamiami Trail between Naples and Miami provides perspective on Big Cypress and the Everglades, two million acres of prairie and swamp extending to the tip of the peninsula. According to Owen, a 30-year veteran observer, prime season for wildlife viewing is late winter, as dropping water levels expose aquatic vegetation for animals to feed on.
At Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, the rough unpaved park road through a riotous jungle of bromeliads and orchids ups your chances of spotting Florida’s most elusive feline: the Florida panther, an endangered subspecies of mountain lion. The area’s “Big Five,” Owen notes, also includes Florida black bear, river otter, bobcat and Everglades mink.
In Big Cypress National Preserve, wayside stops allow you to view alligators up close from the safety of boardwalks. Hatchlings with distinctive yellow stripes are closely shadowed by protective mothers. Larger alligators have a grayish hue and differ from their saltwater crocodile cousins in the shape of the snout—rounded for gators, pointed for crocs.
To catch glimpses of crocodiles, head south to Everglades National Park, where National Park Service boat tours navigate the ribbon of mangrove forest buffering the coastline. In these same coastal forests, mangrove crabs scurry along the crooked limbs of saltwater trees.
Along the 38-mile dead-end road that winds through the park, the Anhinga Trail starting at Royal Palm Visitor Center is a must for birding and alligator watching. Elsewhere in the national park, careful inspection of tropical tree trunks along the footpaths of Pine Land and Long Pine Key may lead to finding colorfully swirled shells as Florida tree snails browse across a smorgasbord of lichens. Look but don’t touch!
The town of Flamingo at the end of the national park’s main road—home to park lodgings, a marina and a visitor center—is named for the brightly colored bird. While sightings of flamingos are rare these days, you’re likely to spot crocodiles and manatees at the marina, and flocks of ibises wheeling in for an evening perch above Eco Pond.
Refuges for Wildlife
To curb the slaughter of Florida birds for feathers for ladies’ hats, President Theodore Roosevelt designated Pelican Island near Vero Beach as the first federal bird reservation in 1903. Today, 29 National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) conserve wildlife habitat in Florida alone, and each stands out for different reasons.
Antlered bucks the size of a German shepherd—they’re America’s tiniest deer—roam the Lower Florida Keys. National Key Deer Refuge has a new visitor center along US 1, and nearby trails provide prime photographic opportunities, with the freshwater Blue Hole a draw for deer at dawn and dusk.
On the Atlantic Coast, two refuges—200 miles apart—protect wild oceanfront for sea turtle nesting: Nathaniel P. Reed Hobe Sound NWR north of Jupiter and Archie Carr NWR centered in Sebastian Inlet. Five species of sea turtles nest on Florida shores from May to October, including the massive leatherback, the relatively common loggerhead and the rare Kemp’s ridley. To view these behemoths, join a guided after-dark turtle walk at one of the refuges; reservations are a must.
South of Tallahassee, St. Marks NWR hosts the annual monarch butterfly migration each October. Migrating monarch butterflies make their final feeding stop there before flying to overwinter in Mexico. Clustering in dense masses on shrubs like saltbush, they are best seen by hiking levee trails off Lighthouse Road. Home to an incredible number of alligators, St. Marks NWR is also the northernmost location where you might see a flamingo in the wild.
Also on the Atlantic side of the state, Merritt Island NWR buffers Kennedy Space Center, where rockets launch and bald eagles soar. Threaded by the seven-mile Black Point Wildlife Drive, its shallow mudflats host a colorful array of herons, egrets, wood storks, ibises and spoonbills. Florida scrub jays flutter through the pine flatwoods year-round. Marine mammals appear in the refuge’s surrounding waters—Atlantic bottlenose dolphins in the Indian River Lagoon and West Indian manatees surfacing in the Haulover Canal.
On the Gulf Coast, winter birding is popular at J.N. “Ding” Darling NWR, conserving a significant chunk of Sanibel Island while providing accessible overlooks along its four-mile Wildlife Drive. Here, large flocks of roseate spoonbills steal the show.
Life-Supporting Springs
The massive West Indian manatee is a favorite of wildlife watchers. Gentle vegetarians, they enter springs by the hundreds for warmth in winter. Near Orlando, Blue Spring State Park outside DeLand attracts the densest population, with a record 724 counted by park staff in one daily tally. To the northwest, Crystal River NWR on Florida’s Gulf Coast provides up-close views from an accessible boardwalk and guided water-based tours to several springs.
On a far smaller scale, the annual hatch of American bullfrog tadpoles in the springs of Econfina Creek north of Panama City on Florida’s panhandle astounds with both the tadpole’s size—it takes two hands to cup one—and the number of tadpoles taking over these robin’s-egg-blue swimming holes.
Under Big Skies
Florida’s little-known prairies also provide havens for wildlife. North of Okeechobee, the town at the northern end of its namesake lake, the expansive Kissimmee Prairie hosts the critically endangered grasshopper sparrow as well as whooping cranes. Uncommon raptors like the crested caracara perch prominently along open grasslands. A stargazer’s delight and Florida’s only dark sky park, Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park offers prime wildlife watching in South Central Florida.
Edging Gainesville, Paynes Prairie is a vast polje—a prairie that drains and refills through limestone channels interconnected with the Floridan aquifer. A concentrated population of massive alligators surrounds its deepest drain, Alachua Sink. In its wet phase, the prairie attracts flocks of white pelicans and gatherings of sandhill cranes. When the prairie is dry, herds of wild horses and bison roam its open grasslands and marshes. Public lands rim the prairie, with Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park offering the most access points.
Enjoy exploring unexpected and picturesque landscapes on your wildlife-watching adventure through the Sunshine State. Capture those moments at a respectful distance as you roam the habitats Florida wildlife calls home.
A resident of Titusville, Florida, author Sandra Friend provides outdoor recreation information at FloridaHikes.com.
Keep Your Distance
Note from the author: For the sake of the animal’s health and for your own safety, never get close to wildlife, as tempting as that selfie may be. Alligators look lazy but can spring to action and outrun you. Manatees are protected by law. You should keep a minimum of 20 feet away from any wildlife. Binoculars and zoom lenses help you make the most of your wildlife-watching experience.
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