I worry about Sandhill Cranes, as I worry about almost all of Florida’s wildlife – except maybe the gators. Alligators creep me out, and they don’t have much except for man that can kill them. And even then, special permits are needed, and the capturing is not easy, as you can imagine. But they all came first and lived in this swampy jungle which is disappearing minute by minute.
Animals that depend on land and clean water to live are quickly running out of both in the Sunshine State. In the photo below we had two lots full of trees and “wilderness” next to us when we first moved into our house – that is the greenery in the top of the photo. Now both lots have been cleared – completely, big oaks and all – to put up 2 new houses. It’s the Florida way.
Adult and 2 juvenile Sandhill Cranes in my front yard
I took the short video below to capture their “talk” as they walked through my neighbor’s yard.
Nosey Sandhill Cranes, walking past
Often you can hear the cranes coming because they are loud. Sometimes they silently stroll through the yard. We had dragged the kayaks out for a cleaning and I think the cranes were curious as to what we were up to. The three of them walked right up near the house even though we were outside! My son took some video.
One day Floridians will no longer get to see these beauties. I like to imagine what Florida was like before people came here. It was a wild swampland full of strange, beautiful and deadly creatures. People are “taming” it into something unnatural, which it was never meant to be.
See a Sandhill Crane Nest and Babies (One Hatching)
The photographer and blogger at Cat and Turtle wrote and photographed Sandhill Cranes on their nest with a baby and one hatching.
A chilly boat ride took us to Three Sisters, among other places, where we found interesting shells filled with hermit crabs. Often I have seen tiny horse conchs, and a few times we’ve seen massive horse conchs, but this horse conch was medium size.
Spotted a cool horse conch among the oyster shells
As I waded through the 62 degree water on a 60 degree day, with a wind chill, I came across this pretty little shell. I knew right off that it was a horse conch, but it was larger than the ones I usually find.
Dirty but pretty seashell
This shell had a very large hermit crab inside and he was tucked way down in. I couldn’t keep the shell so I got a few pictures on my iPhone, which I hoped would come out.
Here you can see the pretty lines and bumps which make up the shell, and orange to reddish brown coloring. I’m guessing that this shell was about 5-6 inches long. The snail had died for whatever reason, and a large hermit crab had moved in. Although I previously had read that Hermit crabs do NOT kill mollusks for their shell, this article has opened my eyes to the possibility. However, the crab mentioned lives in farther southern waters.
It is curious as to how hermit crabs just happen to find empty shells the correct size to hold their bodies. In this vast expanse of river, how would that happen? Hermit crabs don’t run around without shells, so how does it all begin?
A few weeks ago when we were out on the river, there were no hermit crabs anywhere, and very few shells at all. It makes me wonder if any of the hermits I see will kill a mollusk / snail and take over the shell for their home.
Smaller horse conch shell with hermit crab inside
The horse conch shell was not in perfect condition and it was encrusted with mud, but it was a beauty just the same. Had it lived, it may have become up to 2 feet long. We have occasionally seen living horse conchs out on the little islands along the Indian River backwaters.
We drove the Hewe’s Redfisher in behind Three Sisters and walked the sandy areas that were showing at low tide. But the water was coming back in, so the sand was disappearing. My son found a starfish / sea star, which I have never come across ever. This one was unfortunately dead and was missing two legs with another one broken. I came across a few gatherings of hermit crabs where it appeared they were checking out each other’s shells. We saw lots of little “baby” mollusks crawling about as well. This area is usually full of interesting wild creatures from the sea, and today did not disappoint.
Pretty horse conch
Various Horse Conchs I’ve Seen on Florida’s East Coast
Found a living horse conch
Two shells and one black cat
Guessing this bleached white horse conch is about 8 inches long.
Horse conch disguised
Baby horse conch shell
Horse Conch
Spotting the old horse conch just offshore
Four hermits in various seashells
Even if the shells can’t be collected, the photos are fun to share. Being educated about what can be found in this wilderness area of Florida is my goal with this blog.
I was up early and looked out my bedroom window into the backyard. There was a black mound, which I suspected was a turtle. I love turtles! Only recently have I seen a turtle, so this was number two, and he wasn’t the same one that was moseying down the road a few days ago.
Animal Surprise #1
Box turtle with damaged shell
This Box Turtle showed up in the backyard. The photo is not the greatest because I had to take it from my bedroom window, otherwise he would duck his head inside. Guess he is camera shy. I thought he had a bird poop on his shell, but it turns out it is a hack mark. He had other marks along the far side of his shell. With all the ridiculous population growth in this state, wildlife has it tough these days. Who knows what this little guy has had to put up with!
I’m unfamiliar with types of turtles, except for the Gopher tortoisewhich is a threatened species now, thanks to destroyed habitat. I had to look up the name of this turtle. According to Wikipedia the Box Turtle lives in Florida and southern Georgia. I love his shell markings. It looks like images of the sun a child would make.
He / she was headed to a shallow container of water I leave on the ground for my cats, birds, and other creatures who need it. We interrupted him when I let my cats out for the day…. so sorry little guy. I now know this turtle enjoys sitting in water, but not swimming. I moved the water closer to the woods in case he comes back.
Animal #2 – Unwanted Intruder
As I was putting my clean dishes away, which were drying overnight on the kitchen counter, I moved one of the two plates stacked upright against the wall and discovered a frog was happily sleeping there.
Really?
Now I didn’t want the frog hopping off the plate and jumping all over the kitchen. As it was, I would have to re-wash all the dishes because I just didn’t know where he’d been before he found this sweet napping spot.
I lifted the plate slowly and took it out the back door where I set it down for him to hop off as he pleased. Good froggy.
Living in Florida means getting used to having creatures inside the house. Over the many years I’ve lived in this state we’ve had snakes, frogs, (huge) spiders and even scorpions (small, not like those southwestern scorpions) in the house. People who move to “paradise” believe they should not have to contend with such undesirable (yet typical for this climate) wildlife, so they poison the heck out of their yards. This kills every type of bug out there so the bug-eating animals either have nothing to eat, or get poisoned themselves.
I could go on and on, but lets just say that greed is killing this state and the wildlife along with it.
Speaking of killing, we have Ring cameras (affiliate link, I may earn money from this link, but at no cost to you) set up around the outside of our house (because it is Florida – no, it’s not paradise folks, there is lots of crime here) and we caught a possum climbing up the stucco wall to snatch a frog off our outdoor light! That is where these frogs sleep, when they aren’t in my kitchen. Come to think of it, that frog may have had his best night’s sleep on my plate knowing the possum couldn’t reach him.
After two animal encounters within my first hour of waking, I figured it was a day for wildlife. Let’s go boating! Maybe we’ll see a whale.
Animal #3, The Creepy One
After I photographed (badly) the turtle, and dealt with the frog, my son and I took the boat out to our usual spots along the Indian River. Yup, time to see what surprises the waterway holds.
Sure enough, it was there, while walking along in the shallows searching for cool shells (I found some of those too), that I saw this strange-looking thing scooting along in the sand.
What do you see? Crab or spider?
The water was very clear and I thought it was a big crab coming at me. (I’m guessing the size was around 10 inches across!). Crabs usually scurry quickly away when I approach, but this one kept coming as if I wasn’t even there. As it got closer I knew it was not a normal crab. In fact, it creeped me out. It did look like a giant spider encrusted with … stuff. I have no idea what was all over the top of it, or what that red spot was.
I had been researching Florida crabs in order to write a page about the variety and I remembered the book had mentioned a “Spider Crab”. This had to be one. I found Spider Crabs at Wikipedia with ten legs, this one has eight. I also can’t see any claws.
I read that Spider Crabs can’t see very well, and he didn’t seem to mind me at all. He was a bit scary because I am totally unfamiliar with this animal. I had no idea if they are poisonous, if they sting, bite, pinch, or what. I kept my distance and got some photos as he walked along the sand. I have to say he is one of the ugliest things I’ve seen in the wild.
