What sort of wildlife have you encountered in Miami? (Miami Beach: neighborhood, live)

[rnc2mbfl]

The biggest things that I see on land are iguanas. Various lizards scamper around as well. Every now and then I spot a manatee in the Bay.
I don't see rodents but I am sure that they are hiding out. I really don't ever want to run into a Burmese Python but I have read stories online where it has happened.

[ProjectMersh]

Originally Posted by rnc2mbfl

The biggest things that I see on land are iguanas. Various lizards scamper around as well. Every now and then I spot a manatee in the Bay.
I don't see rodents but I am sure that they are hiding out. I really don't ever want to run into a Burmese Python but I have read stories online where it has happened.

Yep, sounds like a nightmare. No thanks....

[oronzous]

I forgot a couple of sightings:
a manatee, just in front of the Jade building and some dolphins by Bayside mall

The manatee story is funny as well.
I was strolling after lunch, taking time before returning to my office.
I was looking at the bay and then a rock just in front of me caught my attention. "I've never seen that round rock there" said to myself and kept looking at it out of boredom. Big and round as a giant river rock, it looked out of place there.
After a minute the rock moved, rose its head and blew from his blowhole.

Maybe the manatee was thanking me for the 10 bucks i gave to the state manatee trust fund.

Originally Posted by ProjectMersh

One alligator is more than enough for me.

Great/crazy story about the in-laws. Alligators freak me out. Was that in suburban Miami?

Yes, it was in Doral. At the time i was living in a condo overlooking a lake. Those animals may be stupid but apparently they know their ways trough the canals and lakes.

[StarfishKey]

In suburban Miami (mostly Kendall):

Cockroaches
Green anoles, and the cousin that ate them all out of house and home, the brown Cuban anole
small snakes
poisonous toads (the enormous Marine Toad especially)
Ibises everywhere
Spiders with yellow webs, large spiny black bodies, and bright yellow and red markings - forget the name right now, but have run into TONS of these
Muscovy ducks, which I had never seen before - wow, are they ugly!

Some of the more notable experiences:

Two weeks after I moved, there was a major summer rainstorm. I was on the Dolphin Expressway, which actually ground to a complete halt. As my car stopped and torrential rain poured over the windshield as if I had parked under a waterfall, my windshield wipers barely able to keep up, a huge white crane landed right on my hood and stared into the windshield at me. You could feel the weight of it when it landed with a clunk. It was a good 3 1/2 feet tall. It sat there staring at me for about 3 solid minutes before the traffic started to move again. It put its feet right on my windshield and walked up to the roof of the car, and apparently sat there again as the traffic was once again stopped, because a minute later when we started moving I heard it scratch up the top of my car and felt the car shift a little as it swooped away - you could see part of the enormous white wing over the windsheild as it left.

That first winter, the temp dropped into the upper 30s. I walked out with my dog in the morning and had to steer him around more than 100 iguanas that had fallen stone cold to the ground. I didn't even know iguanas lived in our complex! But they were usually at the top of tall trees, so all year one would never see them. Two days later, most of them had woken up and crawled away - only a few didn't survive the fall.

A large flock of green parrots made a home in the large tree just outside my apartment bedroom. Twice a year like clockwork, when the tree bloomed, they stayed there for two months picking it apart. They were SOOO loud, and were found of starting their squawking at 5AM. They also made a serious mess, both from ripping off parts of the tree all day, and... well, let's just say you couldn't walk under the tree and had to find another way around for 4 whole months out of the year, because there were constant bombs from above.

My crazier and more dangerous wildlife sightings have all been West in the Everglades, or South in the Keys, though.

[newinnycus]

in the Miami river Manatees (everyday), and dolphins. I've seen a picture of an alligator swimming by the bridge taken by a neighbour
Brickell Key: 6 foot shark 3 weeks ago, rays very often.
Brickell avenue: possums, rats, iguanas, squirrels.

[ProjectMersh]

Very interesting and entertaining stories....thanks for indulging me.

[ProjectMersh]

Originally Posted by StarfishKey

In suburban Miami (mostly Kendall):

Cockroaches
Green anoles, and the cousin that ate them all out of house and home, the brown Cuban anole
small snakes
poisonous toads (the enormous Marine Toad especially)
Ibises everywhere
Spiders with yellow webs, large spiny black bodies, and bright yellow and red markings - forget the name right now, but have run into TONS of these
Muscovy ducks, which I had never seen before - wow, are they ugly!

How big and how poisonous?

Originally Posted by StarfishKey

In suburban Miami (mostly Kendall):

That first winter, the temp dropped into the upper 30s. I walked out with my dog in the morning and had to steer him around more than 100 iguanas that had fallen stone cold to the ground. I didn't even know iguanas lived in our complex! But they were usually at the top of tall trees, so all year one would never see them. Two days later, most of them had woken up and crawled away - only a few didn't survive the fall.

How big/long are these iguanas? Sort of reminds me of that scene from the movie Magnolia...

Originally Posted by StarfishKey

In suburban Miami (mostly Kendall):


My crazier and more dangerous wildlife sightings have all been West in the Everglades, or South in the Keys, though.

Ok, let's hear one...

[UrbanCrossroads]

Originally Posted by StarfishKey

Spiders with yellow webs, large spiny black bodies, and bright yellow and red markings - forget the name right now, but have run into TONS of these

The ones I usually see in my yard are the ones known as Spiny Orb Weaver. Their bodies are white with black spots and big red spines.

[StarfishKey]

Originally Posted by Justme305

The ones I usually see in my yard are the ones known as Spiny Orb Weaver. Their bodies are white with black spots and big red spines.

No, I've seen a lot of those (and they're weird!), but the kind I'm talking about is much bigger - more like 3" long.

[StarfishKey]

*Note, none of the below are my own photos, just examples of what wildlife is down here:

Originally Posted by ProjectMersh

How big and how poisonous?

Well, the Marine Toad is fat - like 6" around, enough to use 2 hands to pick it up and still have some of it hang over the sides. But you wouldn't want to do that, because it secretes ooze that can really irritate your skin and cause a rash - wash hands right away after touching. If a dog or cat gets one in their mouth, they can go into seizures. If you suspect your pet has been poisoned by a toad or frog, with head shaking, yelping, drooling, or fits, get a hose immediately and put it up to the mouth, spraying sideways and downward through the mouth to help rinse off the poison without causing the pet to swallow any of it.

Originally Posted by ProjectMersh

How big/long are these iguanas? Sort of reminds me of that scene from the movie Magnolia...

This is not funny, but it so is...


Frozen Iguanas Falling From Trees - YouTube

The iguanas ranged in size because they were different ages, but most were medium size, about 3 1/2 ft. Sideways and grass littered with them.

Originally Posted by ProjectMersh

Ok, let's hear one...

Well, it's only been a few months, but already I have had encounters with large scorpions, have been attacked by fire ants several times (trying to do yard work), and there is a massive crocodile that lives just a few houses down from my dock. He sits outside by the edge of the water all day with his mouth wide open, resting in the sun. Crocodiles and alligators are a part of life in the Keys, and unless they eat someone will not be moved - and even if they are, they tend to find their way back to their home even if you dump them far in the Everglades. This one has thus far never bothered anyone, furry or human, because he apparently has plenty of fish. He looks exactly like the crocodile in the Disney cartoon Peter Pan movie though! It's a little startling to paddle by him with his mouth open, just a few feet away and at the same height as you!






A mother and baby manatee has come by my dock, and very large orange-spiked iguanas regularly swim past the dock on their way to the bank on the other side.


Of course, there are endless types of marine life just in the backyard, since the 3rd largest coral reef in the world is just a few miles offshore from us. There are barracudas that come by the dock, and starfish that climb up the rocks, and all manner of shells including conchs sitting in the water just underneath.



The birds are far more varied too, with every kind of songbird on migration South, many Caribbean birds migrating north, multiple kinds of parrots hanging out in the yard, and regular flocks of cranes and pelicans flying overhead. Lots of weird bird calls I've never heard before, that is hard to believe a bird even makes them! One day I was working on the computer and I looked up and a large peregrine falcon was staring inside the window at me from its perch on the windowsill. It stared for about 3 minutes, until I moved slowly to get my phone to take a picture, and it flew off. Every day 2 cardinals spend about an hour playing with my car mirrors and sliding down the hood like it's their personal playground. Tiny yellow Caribbean birds are constantly dive-bombing into my windows at the same time every day, sadly many killing themselves. I also see hummingbirds hovering around my trees and bushes daily.





Recently I was testing out my hurricane shutters to prepare for storm season. I am in a stilt house. I opened one up (thus of course the window to the house was wide open right next to it), and a 5" poisonous tree frog - likely the Cuban tree frog, which is invasive - was sitting inside the shutter staring with its huge eyes back at me. It was fully alive, after who knows how long being wedged in the black shutters in the heat, 2 full stories up in the air! I guess it climbed up, but I don't know why since there was no water and likely no food source up in the middle of the air like that. I had to shut the window quickly so it didn't hop right into my house, or jump on my face - which was at the time the closest thing to it.


There is also the hazard of walking near ANY coconut tree, because rats in the Keys like to live at the tops of them and chew on green coconuts. Daily there are more green coconuts, still full of coconut water but with a large hole at the top, that fall out of the sky without warning to hit people, dogs, or cars (or passing iguanas), because the rats are too dumb to realize that when then chew off the top of the green coconut to get to the meat and the water inside, they are also chewing through the connector to the tree, thus full but opened coconuts with rat chew holes keep drooping out of the sky without notice!


http://blackberrytarts.files.wordpre...g-coconuts.jpg

I write most of my stories about wildlife encounters in the Keys, and what it's like to live here, in the various Keys threads I contribute to. But there is a LOT of wildlife here, not to mention endless kinds of poisonous trees and plants that have also attacked me (!), so this gives you an idea of what some of those stories are about.