Bangor University Florida Field Trip 2015: 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