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 Cypress Dome after Wildfire - Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida At the end of last April, lightning ignited a wildfire in Big Cypress National Preserve, just south of Interstate 75 as it crosses the state. The fire burned for about two weeks and fire crews from the preserve worked hard to contain the fire. Now about 10 months later, I have been wading through the burned out dome photographing the charred trunks contrasted with the brilliant greens of new sawgrass growth.
 Dingy-flowered Star Orchid (Epidendrum amphistomum) - Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida This weekend I will be searching through Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve in an attempt to find blooming orchids of any variety. I have no idea what I will find or if I will find any at all. This isn’t the ideal time of year for some of the most spectacular species but there should be some in bloom and I’m here now so I’m going to give it a try.
 Florida Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum floridanus) - Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area, Florida The Florida Dry Prairie is a rather nondescript habitat. It’s a big prairie of bluestem grasses and wiregrasses and palmettos. In fact, it’s not even really all that dry. At times it can be very wet, but its called a dry prairie simply because it is much drier than the wet prairies elsewhere in Florida. So what is special about these prairies? Well, they are home to sparrows, lots and lots of sparrows, but one of them is particularly unique.
We know that the Lake Wales Ridge harbors some really unique life and habitats. We know that the local scrub is regulated by fire. But what exactly is the prime habitat for the Florida Scrub Jay? Let me just show you… You need Adobe Flash to view this content. If you are viewing this in a RSS feed, please click through to view the panoramas.
Prime Scrub Habitat at Sunrise - Archbold Biological Station, Florida As you can see here, Florida Scrub Jays like low scrub habitat with a mosaic of oaks and palmettos growing under five or six feet. As the head ornithologist at Archbold said, “If you can’t see the horizon you aren’t in good habitat.” Typically this short vegetation has patches of open white sand in spots where you will often find Scrub Jays foraging for fallen acorns and insects. At first glance, wanting to live in a big wide open environment may not seem ideal. As a bird, you are easily exposed to predators from above. However, this is where Scrub Jays thrive, so let’s explore why.
As I continue to explore more and more habitats, I am continually amazed how many of them are dependent on fire for both formation and regulation. It is truly amazing the number and diversity of habitats that are classified as pyrogenic, meaning that they are entirely regulated by wildfire. The scrub of the Lake Wales Ridge is definitely one of those habitats and I’d like to use this series of panoramas to show you how. You need Adobe Flash to view this content. If you are viewing this in a RSS feed, please click through to view the panoramas.
Intersection of Burns - Archbold Biological Station, Florida This first panorama isn’t exactly the most exciting image as it is directly on top of a road, but I am including it because it is illustrative. At this intersection, you can clearly see three different sections of scrub at different stages of fire succession. Looking straight ahead when the image loads, you’ve got a recent fire, less than a year ago. If you pan to the right and cross the first road, you see a taller patch of scrub. This patch burned about 8 years ago. Continuing to the right, you will cross another road and see an even taller patch that hasn’t burned for at least 25 years. Let’s take a closer look at each of these forests…
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A Florida Scrub Jay perches in prime Dry Scrub habitat. Archbold Biological Station, Florida I spent a couple days at the Archbold Biological Station earlier this month working on a project focusing on the Florida Scrub Jay and its habitats. As I have previously written, this is the location for Florida Scrub Jay research and a prime location for the beautiful scrub habitat that these birds call home.
 Florida Royal Palms (Roystonea elata) at Sunset - Royal Palm, Everglades National Park, Florida Several of my favorite palm species are found in the Everglades and one of those is the Royal Palm. These magnificent trees are found only in tropical climates like that of South Florida. They have been planted throughout the Miami area, but they can be found naturally in the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp, particularly the area preserved by Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve.
 Wood Stork (Mycteria americana) in Flight - Anhinga Trail, Everglades National Park, Florida Of all the wading birds found in the Everglades, the Wood Stork is possibly the ugliest. These large white birds with a bald head may not be the most beautiful of the wading birds, but they are quite interesting and the most endangered.
 Oceanblue Morning-Glory (Ipomoea indica) - Roadside, Everglades National Park, Florida The Everglades has a surprising number of beautiful wildflowers that receive very little attention from photographers. Most visible is the Morning-Glory family with their big, typically colorful blooms. These beautiful flowers are often seen in disturbed areas where their vines can grow quickly and take advantage of ample sunlight. This means that roadsides are one of the easiest places to find these plants.
 Florida Butterfly Orchid (Encyclia tampensis) - Cypress Dome, Everglades National Park One of my favorite things to do in Everglades National Park is to get off the road, off the trail, and go exploring by wading through the marsh. Last Wednesday morning I headed into a cypress dome that is one of my favorite places in the park. It had been five years since I had been in there and I was interested to see how things had fared.
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