Day 10 7/3/15 Returning to the UK

Day 10 saw a lay in 8.00.  The weather coolier than other mornings and there was a lot of cloud cover. 

We all got up and finished the last minute packing and the cleaning of our dorms. 

Our home for the past week

Our home for the week

We left at Vester around 11.00, it was amazing how quick the time went,

At the airport 

First alcoholic drink in 10 days. 

Airplane food... beef casserole 

 We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare, so that meant one thing..... Disney shop!



We got through American security with no hiccups.



It was time to board the plane..... 18.45 was take off.

We were once again showered with food and drinks. We were all little merry.

Breakfast

Amazing sunrise

Hello sun!

After the 6hr45 journey we touched down safely at Manchester at 7.30. 

We all sailed through UK passport control and waited for all our luggage to come round.

We all huddled onto the coach to bring us back to Bangor, majority of coach, including me had a little nap. 

An hour and a bit later, we had arrived in Bangor. 

It felt like a whirlwind, like a dream. It was an amazing 10 day, learnt so many things, done so many amazing things and met some amazing people. 

Thank you!

Day 9 6/3/15 Corkscrew Swamp

Day 9 saw another early start, 5.30 to see the sunrise. The weather was misty in the morning but cleared up around mid morning. 

We went out on canoes, Matt, Molly, Sarah, Liv, Isaak, Harry, Owen and myself. When we first got in the canoes it was dark and a bit spooky and mystical canoeing through the mangroves. Unfortunately the mist was too thick this morning, so we didn't see the the sunrise, but I had a great time anyway. 

Matt is in this picture! 

We saw white pelicans, ibis and egrets. 

Group canoeing 

Corkscrew swamp 

• It is the largest and best maintained swamp in America 
• Most of the trees where chopped down for logging as the wood is resistant to rotting and the trees are tall and straight 

An brown anole jumped on my camera, chest and walked around my neck. 

Brown anole on my camera 

• The cypress tree 'knees' all lock together to protect from hurricanes
• Cypress lose their needles and it creates a micro-habitat

We had an enjoyable few hours walking around the swamp and we saw a lot of vegetation and wildlife:

10.20 Red Shouldered Hawk sitting a tree 

10.40 Eastern fence lizard

10.50 Brown anole eating a caterpillar

11.00 Red bellied woodpecker

11.05 2 Carolina anole displaying a orange piece of skin from the throat 

11.10 Yellow bellied sapsucker 

11.10 Woodpecker pecking the bark 

11.15 Red bellied woodpecker  feeding, jumping from tree to tree

11.30 Brown anole eggs in a hole in a tree

11.40 fungi on a tree

11.45 Hickory Tussock caterpillar 

12.00 white ibis x3 

12.00 juvenile white ibis x3

12.00 Leopold tree- 500+ years old, 98ft tall 

12.05 Green anole jumping from leaf to leaf

12.10 Salamander like animal. 

12.15 Woodstork searching for food in the foliage 

12.40 Anhinga in a tree displaying its wings 

12.40 Raccoon foraging 

13.00 flock of great white egrets all sitting in the tree branches

13.00 Yellow crowned night heron

13.00 Black crowned night heron

13.05 Banded water snake 

13.10 Alligator 

13.15 Baby alligator swimming, stopped and perched on a log paused there for a few minutes and set of swimming again

13.20 Bard owl 

The start of the trail at Corksrew Swamp

Red bellied woodpecker

Swamp habitat 

Carolina anole

Raccoon 

Hickory Tussock caterpillar 

Cypress tree 'knees'

Green anole

Juvenile alligator 

Eco-tone

When the left Corkscrew swamp we didn't have to stay in the convoy, so #TEAMTIM, went shopping for souvenirs. 

After some free time for packing and starting the clean up for the trip home, it was time to walk to the Barefoot beach to watch the sunset on our time in Florida!

Florida 2015!

The whole group gathered and atmosphere was happy and excited, it was like we had all known each other for ages not for 10 days. We had all become close especially the individual teams. 

Sunset on Barefoot beach

Sunset on Barefoot beach

Sunset on Barefoot beach

Sunset on Barefoot beach.... sun has set. 

The winners of the species list and photo competition were announced. Well done to the winners. 

Last #TeamTim photo. 

A group of us went to Docs for our last dinner. The staff were really friendly and welcoming especially as they realized we were from the UK. 

Selfie!!

The food was delicious... the sugar from the pink lemonade seem to makes us hyper. 

Pink Lemonade

Salmon...... Fabulous

Group photo.. taken by a waiter

  

Day 8 5/3/15 Everglades National Park, Bill Mitch and Miami

Day 8  was another early start 5.50. The weather was cloudy to start and then the cloud cleared away and the sun came out and it was hot. 

We got lost on our way to the Everglades National Park. 
We met a guy from the US Geological Survey (USGS) who was telling us invasive species, in particular Burmese pythons.

• To be able to hunt down the pythons, you have to be able to access the areas that they are, most of the Everglades are privately owned. 
• One found 100+ pythons in one area, he went out most nights to hunt them down
• They are to find as they are sit and wait predators
• Traps have been laid but only 3 where caught but 11 pythons where found where the traps had been, this is because they are sit and wait predators. 
• On average it takes 40 hours to find 1 python
• They eat endemic species; birds, mammals and alligators

We were able to hold 'Lightie' the Burmese python 

Myself with 'Lightie'

• When they capture wild pythons they use euthanasia and perform a necropsy to find out what it had consumed and to collected isotopes 
• They are then put out on a field for he vultures to feed on their remains 
• The USGS do surveys on a wide range on topic, road, habitat, what is causing disease, are snakes getting thinner.
• Are snakes getting thinner? The answer is yes.... due to the reduction of prey
• During mating season the female will give of pheromones, so a large collection of males will be surrounding one female. 
• They are in the process of training dogs.,... dog detection is higher than human... but there is trouble with gaining funding for this

Myself with a larger burmese python 

After the pythons we had a talk and a guided tour about invasive fish. 

• There are 17 invasive fish.... some come through the pet trade, fish farms and food industry 

We went on the Anhinga trail, a diversity of wildlife 

Big mouth bass

12.50 bass

12.50 big mouth bass

12.55 anhinga

12.55 cormorants

13.00 baby alligator 

13.00 soft shell turtle 

13.00 alligator 

13.00 lubber (grasshopper)

13.05 red shouldered hawk 

13.05 alligators x2

13.09 baby soft shell turtle 

13.10 alligator 

13.15 anhinga drying its wings 

Red shouldered hawk

13.20 alligator x2 

13.30 soft shell turtle 

13.30 alligator 

10.30 great blue heron

13.30 alligator x2 

13.40 alligator 

13.45 alligator 

14.20 zebra and camel in a petting zoo

• The slough was important for wading birds 
• At one point the populations where at 10% due to hunting, low nutrients and shallow water 



Cormoranr

• The anhinga trail was acting as a huge alligator hole

Anhinga trail 

Baby soft shell turtle 

American alligator 

We arrived at Bill Mitch talk about 'using wetlands to prevent phosphorus, nitrogen pollution in downstream wetlands, lakes, rivers and coastal waters'. 

This was a great privilege to be able to attend one to the worlds most renowned wetland scientists. 
I learnt a lot on how to prevent the chemicals from entering flowing water and what effect it is having on the environment.

After the talk, we had 3 choices of what we wanted to do:

Big buildings in Miami

1. Miami
2. Florida Keys 
3. Back to Vester  

#TeamTim and couple of other people (lian, Matt and Isaak) chose Miami! 

It took a while to get to Miami due to the weight of traffic.... it was like being in London! 
We went to South Beach, 
The sand was golden and warm
The water was so warm for 20.00. 
So a few of us stripped off and had a splash about, it was amazing! 
We were lucky enough to see the sunset and watch the moon rise 

More big buildings 

Port Miami

Sunset over Miami!

Walk on the beach 

Beautiful night sky

Beautiful moon reflection 

#TEAMTIM in MIAMI!

We rounded off the evening.... with a McDonalds!

Day 7 4/3/15 Florida Gulf Coast University and 'slogging'

Day 7 was another very early start, we had to be awake for 5.30 but it was boiling so I woke and got up at 4.30 and sat on the veranda. 

Forest in FGCU car park 

We arrived at FGCU at around 8.00. The reason for the early start was to put up bird nets and try and catch some birds to ring. 





As we were walking round the wooded area of the car park we saw: 



9.00 Blue jays- getting ready for mating 

Ground orchid

9.05 Gulf futility butterfly 
10.30 wax myrtle
10.30 bladder wood 
10.45 Black racer snake eggs 
10.45 Green house frog
10.45 Great egret
10.50 African jeweled cichlid 
10.50 Floridan flag fish 
10.50 Mosquito fish 
10.50 Turkey vulture 
10.50 Sail finned molly 
10.50 Swamp bay leaf 
10.50 Southern toad (dead)
11.05 Exotic apple snail 
11.05 Golden topminnow 
11.10 Ground orchid 
11.15 Cyprus trees
11.30 brown anole 
11.35 apple snail eggs 


Whilst we were waiting for some birds to fly into the nets, Dr Jerry Jackson was giving us on a talk on the different wildlife they have on campus and the background into bird banding/ringing. 

• The willow bark was very important to humans as it contained aspirin, so the native Americans used to chew on the bark, but it is not made this way now. 
• Fisherman's used to put down nets but in the process sometimes caught birds as a by-catch. The nets where called miss nets. 
• As the Italians fled to America and used these nets, the Americans were very angry by this as the nets where killing the native songbirds. The government acted and made the nets illegal. 
• When the World War two broke out the Italian troops brought the nets back into America. The nets were confiscated and given to Colonel Sutton who tested them out on the marshes. Loads of birds where caught and killed for scientific purposes. 
• The nets are made out of mono-filament nylon which come in black, white and tan. The nets are never pulled tight, so the bird hits the net and the net closes around the bird preventing it to escape and without hurting itself. The net presses on the bird back. 

Banding/Ringing:

• To be able to ring a bird, you have to hold a license and have a project
• Different nets are made for different birds 
• The bands are made out of aluminium and has the address and number
• The America fish and wildlife survey and Canada have the information of the banded birds
• There is a treaty to protect the migratory birds. Each country named all their native birds, this happened in 1916. 
• The hunting of game birds was restricted, a license had to be issues and there was a limit on how much was allowed to be shot
• The bands come in different sizes, depending on the size of the bird. The bird is at its biggest as a baby due to the baby fat 
• There are 500 different species on birds in Florida but times that 3 to take into consideration the appearances. (male/female/plumage's)
• There is a separate permit for America and Canada. American bands are not allowed in the Amazon but they are accepted in Cuba.
• What goes on the band is the identity, age, hatching year, where it was found (longitude and latitude), the date. 
• If you find a banded bird, write to the Bird Band Washington DC. 1 in 100 banded songbirds will be found and recorded but the odds are higher for game birds 1 in 10. 

Eastern phoebe

History of Banding/Ringing 

• John James Otterman, son of french sea captain. John was sent to America to look after the families property
• John found some eastern phoebes in a cave and he wondered if they would return to the same spot every year. So he tied some wire round the birds legs. They did return to the same area but not to the exact spot. 

Modern day banding:

• 1890, Viborg (Denmark)
• The material that was used was zinc and it was engraved 



European starlings

• It was put on European starlings, but the metal was too heavy, so the birds couldn't leave the nest. 
• So it was back to the drawing board.... aluminium was too brittle to use on its own... so it was mixed with other metals to make it more flexible
• 1893, Denmark, tried again.. IT WORKED. 
• In the early 1900s, this technique started in America by tagging carp. The congressmen gave people the carp to put in the river and ponds as a food source
• The ring was put on the tail
• Leon Cole in 1906 started to band birds

Bird Nets: 

Caught 2 yellow rubbed warblers 

• These birds are low zoonotic risk 
• They consume their body weight in food every day 
• Have a high metabolism 

          yellow rubbed warblers caught in the net




• There are different types of tracking devices: radio transmitters, send the data from the tracker to base, so not need to recapture, geo-tags for small birds, they measure the time of sunrise and sunset on a microchip but this method the bird needs to be recaptured to retrieve the data. 

Myself holding the warbler

After both birds where banded we got a chance to hold the birds. I held the second bird and it was very wriggly, so we had to let it go. 

A surprise was given by Dr Jerry.... 

Albino turtle and 2 headed turtle

Out slogging 

After a little break from the sun..... it was time for 'slogging'!! 

We had a guided tour from another member of the FCGU teaching staff. 

Cyprus forest

Eco tone 

After we finished slogging, we went to nearby mall. All the shops where designer for example Abercrombie and Fitch, Calvin Klein and Michael Kors to name just a few. 

We had the afternoon off.... so it was an afternoon in the pool at Vester and sunbathing. A nice relax after the busy few days! 

http://www.audublog.org/?p=9460 (picture)

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/European_Starling/id (picture)