Southern Crested Caracara

It has a total length of 20–26 in and a wingspan of 47 in.

A bold, opportunistic raptor, the Southern Crested Caracara is often seen walking around on the ground looking for food. It mainly feeds on carcasses of dead animals, but will steal food from other raptors, raid bird nests, and take live prey if the possibility arises (mostly insects or other small prey, but at least up to the size of a Snowy Egret). It is dominant over the Black and Turkey Vulture at carcasses. It is typically solitary, but several individuals may gather at a large food source (e.g. dumps).

Pythons Invade Everglades

Big Blue Heron

The Big Blue Heron is the largest North American heron, with a head-to-tail length of 36-55 in, a wingspan of 66-79 in, and a weight of 4.4-8 lbs. Notable features include slaty flight feathers, red-brown thighs, and a paired red-brown and black stripe up the flanks; the neck is rusty-gray, with black and white streaking down the front; the head is paler, with a nearly white face, and a pair of black plumes running from just above the eye to the back of the head. The feathers on the lower neck are long and plume-like; it also has plumes on the lower back at the start of the breeding season. The bill is dull yellowish, becoming orange briefly at the start of the breeding season, and the lower legs gray, also becoming orangey at the start of the breeding season. Immature birds are duller in color, with a dull blackish-gray crown, and the flank pattern only weakly defined; they have no plumes, and the bill is dull gray-yellow.

Florida Redbelly Turtles

The Florida redbelly turtle is mainly herbivorous, and can be found in nearly any type of aquatic habitat. It reaches particularly high densities in spring runs, and occasionally can be found in brackish water. This species is active year-round and spends a large portion of the day basking on logs. They are noted for sometimes laying their eggs in the nest mounds of alligators.

The Florida redbelly can often be found basking on logs together. The Florida redbelly can be distinguished from the other turtles by its distinctive red-tinged belly and two cusps/teeth on its upper beak.
Florida redbellies are commonly exported for consumption and the pet trade, with about 50% wild caught individuals and 50% captive bred.

Roseate Spoonbill

The Roseate Spoonbill is 31 in tall, with a 47–51 in wingspan. It has long legs, a long neck, and a long, spatulate bill. Adults have a bare greenish head ("golden buff" when breeding) and a white neck, back, and breast (with a tuft of pink feathers in the center when breeding), and are otherwise a deep pink. The bill is grey. Sexes are similar.
Unlike herons, spoonbills fly with their necks outstretched. They alternate groups of stiff, shallow wingbeats with glides.

This species feeds in shallow fresh or coastal waters by swinging its bill from side to side as it steadily walks through the water, often in groups. It feeds on crustaceans, aquatic beetles and bugs, frogs and newts and very small fish bigger waders ignore.

(Note the alligator in the background of this photo)

Little Green Heron

The Green Heron is relatively small; adult body length is about 17 in. The neck is often pulled in tight against the body. Adults have a glossy, greenish-black cap, a greenish back and wings that are grey-black grading into green or blue, a chestnut neck with a white line down the front, grey underparts and short yellow legs. The bill is dark with a long, sharp point. Female adults tend to be smaller than males, and have duller and lighter plumage, particularly in the breeding season. Juveniles are duller, with the head sides, neck and underparts streaked brown and white, tan-splotched back and wing coverts, and greenish-yellow legs and bill. Hatchlings are covered in down feathers which are light grey above and white on the belly.
The Green Heron's call is a loud and sudden kyow; it also makes a series of more subdued kuk calls. During courtship, the male gives a raah-rahh call with wide-open bill, makes noisy wingbeats and whoom-whoom-whoom calls in flight, and sometimes calls roo-roo to the female before landing again. While sitting, an aaroo-aaroo courtship call is also given.

Gopher Tortoise

The gopher tortoises live in the southern United States from California's Mojave Desert across to Florida, and in parts of northern Mexico. Gopher tortoises are so named because of their ability to dig large, deep burrows; those of the Florida Gopher Tortoise can be up to 40 feet in length and 10 feet in depth.

Gopher tortoises are mainly herbivores that feed on low growing plant life. Their diet consists mostly of grasses and legumes. Gopher tortoises are scavengers and will also feed on small berries, fruits, carrion, and excrement. Gopher tortoises are rarely seen drinking from still water. Most of the water gopher tortoises consume comes from within the food they eat.

White Egret

The Great White Egret is a large bird with all-white plumage that is only slightly smaller than the Great Blue or Grey Heron.  Apart from size, the Great Egret can be distinguished from other white egrets by its yellow bill and black legs and feet, though the bill may become darker and the lower legs lighter in the breeding season. In breeding plumage, delicate ornamental feathers are borne on the back. Males and females are identical in appearance; juveniles look like non-breeding adults. It is a common species, usually easily seen. It has a slow flight, with its neck retracted. This is characteristic of herons and bitterns, and distinguishes them from storks, cranes, ibises and spoonbills, which extend their necks in flight.
The Great Egret is not normally a vocal bird; at breeding colonies, however, it often gives a loud croaking cuk cuk cuk.

Waterspout

A waterspout is an intense columnar vortex (usually appearing as a funnel-shaped cloud) that occurs over a body of water and is connected to a cumuliform cloud. In the common form, it is a non-supercell tornado over water. While it is often weaker than most of its land counterparts, stronger versions spawned by mesocyclones do occur. Waterspouts do not suck up water; the water seen in the main funnel cloud is actually water droplets formed by condensation. Waterspouts have a five-part life cycle: formation of a dark spot on the water surface, spiral pattern on the water surface, formation of a spray ring, development of the visible condensation funnel, and ultimately decay.

Whooping Cranes

Adult whooping cranes are white with a red crown and a long, dark, pointed bill. Immature whooping cranes are pale brown. While in flight, their long necks are kept straight and their long dark legs trail behind. Adult whooping cranes' black wing tips are visible during flight.


The species stands nearly 5 feet tall with a wingspan of 7.5 feet. Males weigh on average 17 lb, while females weigh about 14 lb. The only other very large, long-legged white birds in North America are: the Great Egret, which is over a foot shorter and one-seventh the weight of this crane; the Great White Heron, which is a morph of the Great Blue Heron in Florida; and the Wood Stork. All three other birds are at least 30% smaller than the whooping crane. Herons and storks are also quite different in structure from the crane.

These are noisy birds making a whooping sound that gave them their name.
The Whooping Cranes are tagged with bands and tracking devices on their legs since birth and don't know any other way of life. I'm told the blue band is for the male and the red is for the female.

Reddish Egrets

The Reddish Egret reaches 27–32 in in length, with a 46–49 in wingspan. It is a medium-sized, long-legged, long-necked heron with a long pointed pinkish bill with a black tip. The legs and feet are bluish-black. The sexes are similar, but there are two colour morphs. The adult dark morph has a slate blue body and reddish head and neck with shaggy plumes. The adult white morph has completely white body plumage. Young birds have a brown body, head, and neck. During mating, the males plumage stands out in a ruff on its head, neck and back.

Black-Bellied Whistling Duck

The Black-bellied Whistling-duck has a long red bill, long head and longish legs, pale grey head and mostly grey-brown plumage. The belly and tail are black, and the body plumage, back of the neck and cap are a rich chestnut brown. The face and upper neck are grey, and they sport a thin but distinct white eye-ring. The extensive white in the wings is obvious in flight, less so on the ground; it is formed by the secondary remiges while the primaries are black; the wing-coverts are brown. Males and females look alike; juveniles are similar but have a grey bill and less contrasting belly.