Paurotis Pond

March 25, 2016 by

paurotis pondThe Everglades needs water to survive; it’s a water-based ecosystem made up of sawgrass marshes, waterways, prairies, forested uplands, and ponds, including Paurotis Pond. One reason the area needs water so badly is because it’s home to an abundance of plants, animals, and marine life. Not only does water give the plants and animals sustenance, it gives them a home.

One of these “homes” is Paurotis Pond. The pond is a well-known nesting site of a variety of birds. The pond is situated 24 miles from the main Everglades park entrance in Homestead, Fl. The pond gets its name from the Paurotis Palms, a plant with green fan-shapes leaves that is native to the Everglades.

The National Park Service’s mission is to protect and preserve the landscape of the Everglades, so each year, the park

Every year, the Park closes the Pond area to protect nesting birds, including the Wood Storks, from any human disturbances. For instance, in January 2015, the Park closed Paurotis Pond for the Roseate Spoonbills’ nesting season. Pond closures vary in dates and times every year. The closures are dependent on birds’ behaviors.  The Wood Stork was once an endangered species, but thanks to the efforts of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the species’ status was downgraded to “threatened.” This success is attributed to nearly 30 years of conversation and preservation efforts. In the last few years, Paurotis Pond has been a nesting site for about 400 pairs of Wood Storks.

Bird species that nest at Paurotis Pond, include: Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbills, Snowy Egrets, Tri-colored Herons, Black-Crowned Night Herons, Anhinga, and Little Blue Herons.

Just like people who flock to Florida for the winter, these birds fly down to Paurotis Pond during the dry season to prepare their nest-building sites. The birds form nesting colonies comprised of hundreds to thousands of birds. In this season, birds gather around permanent bodies of water, like Paurotis Pond, which makes bird-watching easy. The best birding season in the Everglades is from December to March. January and February are the best months to check out the birds at Paurotis Pond, if it has not been closed off for nesting. However, bird watching from the Pond’s parking area usually remains open. Not only is the pond a popular bird-watching site, but visitors can access the area to fish and canoe, as well.

Explore the Everglades

The Everglades is full of beautiful birds and waters for your viewing pleasure. Since it’s the winter season, now is the best time to catch birds nesting in the area’s waters. To make the most of your Everglades visit, take an airboat ride with Captain Mitch’s Everglades Airboat Tours. To schedule your ride, call Captain Mitch’s at 239-695-3377.

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Airboat Safety in Florida

March 17, 2016 by

Wootens airboat tours Captain Mitch's airboat toursAirboats are an iconic sight to see in the Everglades. The thought of going on airboat tour adventure can be exciting. It’s fun to think about the seemingly endless acres of swampland the boat will travel through and all the plant life and wildlife that could be spotted during a trip. This is your chance to be in the water with some ‘gators! However, the thought of going on an airboat tour can also be nerve raking, because accidents can happen.

Many people have concerns, worries and fears about getting on an airboat. Airboats aren’t known for being unsafe, but collisions have occurred throughout the years. Nature can be unpredictable, so airboat safety is extremely important to ensure a successful excursion.

Captain Mitch has been in the airboat tour business since he was a young boy, following in the footsteps of his great grandfather, who built one of the first commercial airboats in 1945. He has more than 30 years of experience chartering through the Everglades and prides himself on bringing people on memorable and safe airboat tours.

Airboat captains will instruct passengers on safety precautions before the trip. Below are some of the safety measures and guidelines that airboats must meet, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, that help to insure an airboat trip will be a safe experience:

  1. Propeller Safety. No one is allowed near the propeller. Loose items and clothing can get caught in the propellers causing damage to both the vessel and the body of a person. All items and equipment must be secured.
  2. Safety Equipment. Airboats are vessels and most meet Class A and Class 1 safety requirements for a recreational vessel. Airboats must be equipped with: ear protection, eye protection, first-aid kid, cell phone in a water-proof buoyant case, drinking water and a B-1 type approved fire extinguisher.
  3. Pre-Operation Checklist. Before operation, the captain will check the boat to make sure everything is performing properly to avoid accidents, injuries, and mechanical breakdowns.
  4. Weather. South Florida is a tropical climate, so weather can be unpredictable; high winds, lightening, and harsh rains are common in the area. Captains make themselves aware of the weather forecast and keep an eye on it throughout the day. Airboats will be docked when lightening, thunderstorms or high wind is spotted or experienced. Airboats will operate in fog, but will drive slower and turn on their strobe lights.
  5. Navigation: Airboat captains are trained in proper maneuvering and navigation techniques to get through tight areas and blind spots. They are also familiar with the area, so in case of an emergency, they can report where the boat is located.
  6. Obstacles: Captains are constantly on the lookout for other boats and their surroundings.
  7. Preventative maintenance: Each week, captains will conduct procedures to keep the airboat clean and working efficiently. The boat gets the propeller, exhaust system, oil, engines and much more checked for signs of aging.

Captain Mitch has been venturing out on an airboat for most of his life. He is comfortable navigating through the Everglades. For generations, Captain Mitch and his team have delivered fun and safe airboat rides throughout the South Florida wilderness. To schedule a ride through the Everglades, contact Captain Mitch’s Everglades Airboat Tours at 239-695-3377.

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The Mangroves of the Everglades

March 9, 2016 by

MangroveHave you ever seen a mangrove forest? They’re enchanting.  Branches and roots all intertwined, lining waterways – they look like something out of a fantasy. Across the entire state of Florida, there are 469,000 acres of mangrove forests.

All About Mangroves

There are around 50 different species of mangroves, and three species can be found in Florida. The Everglades also happens to house the largest mangrove forest in North America. The forests can only thrive in tropical and subtropical climates, which is why they’re so abundant and native to southern Florida. These trees produce seeds that drop to the ground and get carried away by water or winds, and the seeds can pretty much grow wherever they land.

Types of Mangroves

Florida is home to three species of mangroves: the red mangrove, the black mangrove, and the white mangrove.

The most well-known, and easily seen in the Everglades, is the red mangrove. It’s a salt-tolerant tree that grows in areas with low-oxygen soil. They can take freshwater from the saltwater to survive. These mangroves have prop roots that make them look like they’re standing on the water. With these roots, the forests can handle rising tides in-and-out of the Everglades. The roots are reddish in color.

The black mangrove sits at a higher elevation than the red mangrove. This mangrove has finger-like projections that protrude from the soil around the trunk of the tree.

The white mangrove can be found at the highest elevations of these three species. This mangrove’s roots do not show; it has light, yellow-green leaves.

Benefits of Mangroves to the Ecosystem

The Florida coastline and the Everglades benefit from mangroves. They stabilize the coastline and higher lands by reducing erosion with their roots. The mangroves block winds, waves, floods, tides, and storm surges from damaging the land. The bigger, wider, and thicker a mangrove forest, the more protection to the environment it can provide. These mangroves can also filter water and keep water quality high. When leaves and other parts of the mangroves fall into the water below, it is decomposed by bacteria and protozoans, breaking it down into organic compounds, minerals, carbon dioxide, and nitrogenous wastes, which benefits the entire ecosystem.

Not only do they help the environment, mangroves also provide a habitat for a variety of birds and marine life. Many fish and animals use the forests as protection, shelter, or a place to find food.

Protecting Mangroves

According to American Forests, the oldest national conservation organization in the country, almost half of the world’s old-growth mangrove forest have disappeared in the past 50 years. They said the world continues to lose 578 square miles of mangroves per year. Humans are a major cause to the loss of the mangrove forests. Industrial shrimp farming and coastal development are the big contributors to the number of trees dwindling.

In Florida, protected areas have thriving mangrove forests. State and city laws have been established to protect these plants, which are a key role in Florida’s ecosystem. But it isn’t just humans, climate change has impacted the mangroves’ environment with rising temperatures and water levels.

Cruise Through the Mangroves

Do you want to see these Florida natives up close? There’s plenty of them to see in the Everglades, and a ride in an airboat can take you all around them. To schedule your airboat tour, call Captain Mitch’s Everglades Airboat Tours at 239-695-3377.

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Everglades Orchids: Beauty in the Wetland

March 4, 2016 by

Ghost OrchidOrchids are quite an exotic flower, so it’s no surprise that they can be found in one of the most mystical places in the world: The Everglades. Seeing these Everglades orchids is like finding beauty in an unexpected place, since the area widely known for its green and swampy colorings. According to the National Park Service, the diversity of orchids in the Everglades is higher than any other National Park in the United States.

Orchids have the largest variety within their family of flowers, and they all vary in color and size. They are also a really old species of plant; there are fossils of orchids and orchid pollen showing that they have existed on the planet for around 100 million years.  It is believed that many of the Everglades orchids originated from the West Indies from winds blowing seeds.

Types Everglades Orchids

Thirty-nine orchid species live in the Everglades. All of them have different months in which they bloom. Some types include: grass pink orchid (Calopogon tuberosus), longclaw orchid (Eltroplectis calcarata), butterfly orchid (Encyclia tampensis), clamshell orchid (Prosthechea cochleata var. triandra) and the ghost orchid (Polyriihiza lindenii).

The longclaw orchid is a tropical species; it is very small and its flower is white in color with green and brown-spotted leaves. It is found often alongside streams. The butterfly orchid sprouts a bunch of small, yellow-petal flowers off from grass-like, green leaves; they are often found in trees. The grass pink orchid has small flower that range in color from white to pink or a mix of both with a few green grass-like leaves on each plant; each plant can have up to 10 flowers on it. The clamshell orchid has a dark-colored flower with white and yellow colors in the inside of flower. Underneath the flower, thin, green tepals hang down. The ghost orchid is a leafless orchid with one, somewhat large white flower.

Orchid Habitats

Where can these colorful orchids be found? Being a warm and humid climate, many of the orchid species live on trees in the Everglades. These orchids are considered to be epiphytic plants that take nutrients from the air, rain and other debris around it; they do not harm the plant they are growing on. Orchids can be found on the trunks of pop ash, live oak, royal palm, cypress pond apple trees, and wet prairies and roadsides.

Saving the Orchids

Due to climate change and human interference, the Everglades have been suffering. Rising sea levels, years of dredging, population increases and development have compromised the environment and size of the Everglades.  Not only is their habitat decreasing in size, but Everglades orchids have been threatened by visitors in the park for quite some time. For many years, collectors and tourists would pick the plants for a collection or to sell, according to the National Park Service. The orchids were overharvested. The Park Service says it is believed at least three orchid species became extinct within the park due to over picking; rare species were often chosen to bring home for their value. Now, the collection of orchids, and all plant and wildlife, in the Everglades is prohibited. Several biologists have made it their mission now to save endangered orchids, like the cigar orchid. By bringing seeds of the plant to a greenhouse and transporting plants, biologists are helping restore the in the wetland area.

Seeing the Everglades Orchids

For a chance at spotting some of rare and stunning Everglades orchids, an airboat tour is a great way to travel around different plant life that the orchids can be growing on. The airboats give people the chance to enter parts of the Everglades not accessibly by foot. To check out the orchids and hundreds of other plants in the Everglades, book an airboat ride today!

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