Everglades National Park, Florida
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December 2005 |
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In December 2005 members of the Savannah River Ecology Lab and Davidson College were asked to come to the Everglades National Park to begin research on the exploding Burmese Python population in the park. For years pythons had been reported in the Everglades but in the last decade or so the population has exploded and they are currently found throughout the park and are expanding northwards. As a first step in understanding the ecology of these snakes and their potential impact on the Everglades ecosystem the NPS decided to begin tracking pythons using radio-telemetry in the fall of 2005. Our goal on this trip was to capture pythons and implant radio-transmitters to track them.
We arrived at the park in the morning and after a lengthy talk with NPS personnel finally hit the field in hopes of finding some snakes. This being my first trip to the Everglades I began the trip with high expectations and the park immideatly began to live up to its reputation. Within minutes of leaving the visitor's center we had already found three species, including two new subspecies for me...
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Florida Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina osceola)
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Florida Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina bauri) - photo by Mike Dorcas |
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Everglades Racer (Coluber constrictor paludicola) |
Next we began walking canal banks to look for pythons... - photo by Mike Dorcas |
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Although we did find two python skeletons that had been hit by mowers, the only live herps found were an introduced Green Iguana and a nesting Chicken Turtle (Dierochelys reticularia) |
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As night approached, we hit the roads again in hopes of a python. It wasn't long before the snakes began to show themsleves... |
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Florida Green Watersnake (Nerodia floridana) - photos by Mike Dorcas |
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Corn Snake (Elaphe guttata) - photos by Mike Dorcas |
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Towards the end of the night, we came upon another car in our group stopped by the side of the road. Sure enough, they had just caught a huge python |
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Burmese Python (Python molurus) - photos by Mike Dorcas |
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The next day, we converged for the surgery to implant radio-transmitters. The big female measured 16.5 ft and 170 lbs! - photo by Mike Dorcas |
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Another group had caught this smaller male basking on a canal bank |
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As evening appraoched we hit the road again. It was a great night, with over 5o snakes found... |
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Corn Snake (Elaphe guttata) |
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Banded Watersnakes (Nerodia fasciata) were the most common find of the night. Many of them were anerythristic (lacking red pigment) . |
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Cottonmouths (Agkistrodon piscivorus) were also abundant. |
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Although Florida Green Watersnakes (Nerodia floridana) were common, this red-phase individual was by far the prize of the night. |
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All in all, it was a good trip. Snake abundance in the Everglades is hard to match anywhere and we did manage a few species that we had been hoping for. Guess I'll have to come back to get my own big Burmese in the Glades...
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