Southern Florida late March/early April (pic heavy)

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Knormal
Posts: 22
Joined: December 23rd, 2014, 11:32 am

Southern Florida late March/early April (pic heavy)

Post by Knormal »

Edit: Pics should be fixed now...

The last week of March into the first few days of April I took a early Spring herping trip down around Southern Florida. I didn't see much in the way of snakes aside from common water snakes and ribbon snakes, it was either still a bit too cool at night or I just had bad luck, but lizards were abundant. Right-click -> view image for a bigger look at any of the pictures.

My trip started with this Brown Basilisk sleeping on the side of my hotel. A good omen for the trip.
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Alligators were a lot more sparse this trip than on my prior Florida trips. According to one of the locals the water level in the Everglades was a lot higher than normal, which had caused them all to spread out. However I must have been there pretty soon after hatching season, because there were a lot of babies about.
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Brown Anoles were of course everywhere. This first pair was in the middle of a heated territorial dispute.
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There were still some adult alligators to be found, but nothing like what I'd seen previously.
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One night's unsuccessful chameleon hunt did manage to turn up this sleeping juvenile Knight Anole
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My best snake find of the trip, a little Scarlet Snake.
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Cottonmouth.
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One day weather in mainland South Florida was cloudy and cool, so I took a trip down to the Keys. The next few pictures are from various stops along the drive. I think this is a Northern Curlytail Lizard. I was hoping to find some of the more colorful invasive curlytail species, but since I'd never seen any curlytails before it was a fine introduction.
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A very patterned green anole from one of the Keys, I think it's a Cuban Green Anole?
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Down in Key West, Green Iguanas were abundant.
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Once the gates closed at this park, the iguanas came out in force. This is looking over a chest-high fence. They were keeping an eye on me, but seemed content that they had the run of the lawn.
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This Six-Lined Racerunner was surprisingly cooperative compared to our western whiptail species. I'm not sure if they're all like that or I just got lucky.
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Tokay Geckos had been one of the species I'd always wanted to see on prior trips, this time I finally tracked one down. I'm pretty sure it was sleeping in this first picture, since it wasn't disturbed by me shoving a camera in its face. Wasn't too happy with being grabbed though. Not pictured: the blood dripping out of a finger on my other hand.
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Back in the Miami area, it was time for some anole confusion. This particular spot had a lot of green anoles that seemed to be a different shade of green than the native Green Anole, but I haven't been able to match them up with any invasive. It probably doesn't show up too well in the picture, but in person in seemed noticable. Cuban Green Anoles with less patterning?
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Pretty sure think this one is a Cuban Green Anole, from the same site.
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This pair was patterned like Bark Anoles, but on my past Florida trips I've never seen Bark Anoles be anything but brown. A different species or have I just never seen them with their colors "on" before?
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Finally, something easy to identify, a Racer.
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Elswhere around Miami, a regular native Green Anole.
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And an adult Knight Anole.
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This alligator right under a boardwalk was the most cooperative one one the trip. Clearly he was used to people being near him.
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A Flordia Box Turtle dashing across the road.
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He was not grateful for my assistance in crossing, but eventually posed a little bit.
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Red-Headed Agamas.
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Puerto Rican Crested Anoles with very large crests.

Adult Brown Basilisks. Unfortulately I wasn't lucky enough to have any of these guys around my hotel, just juveniles.
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A wall of iguanas.
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No more iguanas here, move along.
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Back to the tokay spot for a few less-cooperative geckos.
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And finally, on my last morning, a few parting alligators.
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