Documentaries on the Everglades

April 27, 2016 by

documentariesThe beauty, vastness, and mystical nature of the Everglades is something that should be experienced by everyone in real life. Beautiful flowers. Mangrove forests. Endangered creatures. Even if you’re lucky enough to visit this special place, you can’t take it home with you. However, thanks to talented directors, people can bring the Everglades into their home. Several documentaries have been made throughout the years about the Everglades to shed light on environmental issues, showcase the beauty and importance of the area, and profile plant life, wildlife, and marine life within. No matter where someone lives, he or she can have an up-close-and-personal look into he Everglades from the comfort of his or her own living room.

Here are a few documentaries that highlight the Everglades:

National Parks Adventure
This film was released in February 2016 and is a MacGillivray Freeman Film. It is narrated by Robert Redford. This film doesn’t solely focus on the Everglades, but it is still featured one of the “awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping places that belong to us all.” This film runs at 40 minutes.

Water’s Journey: Everglades
This is a PBS film split into two episodes: Restoring Hope and Currents of Change. Restoring Hope talks about the endless draining and development in the Everglades that have almost caused the entire ecosystem there to collapse. This episode speaks of a massive restoration plan that’s has been initiated to protect the wetland. In both episodes, a team of scientists and explorers discuss what has happened to the Everglades, the importance of this wetland, and discuss whether the largest restoration plan ever attempted will succeed. This film was produced by Karst Productions.

The Unseen Everglades: Inside A Legendary Wilderness
This is a one-hour film produced by Tropic Moon Media. This film examines the complex ecosystem of the Everglades, it’s role in Florida’s history, and challenges the wetland faces today. Charles J. Kropke,
a South Florida author and adventurer, narrates the film. He has spent many years exploring and researching the Everglades. In the film, he takes viewers through the entire ecosystem, and introduces them to all the people whose lives have been affected by the wetland.

Exploring the Everglades

If you just finished watching one of these films, there’s a good chance you’d like to see this beautiful wetland for yourself.  The best way to experience the Everglades is on an airboat ride; these rides will give you a once-in-a-lifetime personal experience of seeing this fragile ecosystem. To schedule your airboat tour, call Captain Mitch’s Everglades Airboat tours at 239-695-3377.

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Spiders of the Everglades

April 18, 2016 by

spidersSpiders can be found anywhere on Earth, but most people prefer that these creepy crawlers be outside far away. In the Everglades, there are thousands upon thousands spread across the 1.5 million acres of wetlands. To be more exact, there are around 20,000 spiders per acre of land in the Everglades. Most of these spiders are so small, you cannot see them. Being such a warm climate, spiders enjoy and thrive in Southern Florida. While exploring the Everglades, people often get a glimpse of spiders on their webs.

Some of the Everglades spiders are native to Florida, while others have made their way to the state on ships, airplanes, and other animals. Some of these spiders make webs in the trees, while others hide and live under leaves and brush on the wetland floor. These eight-legged creatures might not be the most pleasant to look at, but they are essential to the Everglades’ ecosystem; they are both a prey and a predator. They eat a lot of insects, which in turn controls the population of that insect.

Below are some of the types of spiders you can spot while visiting the Everglades:

Banana Spider – This spider is an orb-weaving spider. They feed on mosquitoes, bees, butterflies, flies, small moths, and wasps. This spider is also known as a gold silk spider, because of the color of the silk of their webs. They love high humidity. The female banana spider is one of the largest orb weavers in America (around three inches long). The female has tufts of hair on each leg and can be yellow, white, orange and brown on its body. The males are dark brown in color. The female will spin a strong, three-foot-wide web. The banana spider is not aggressive and its bite is harmless to humans.

Red Widow Spider – The red widow spider gets its name from its reddish color of its head and legs; its abdomen is black. This is a venomous spider. According to the University of Missouri, no bites from this particular spider have ever been recorded. Very little is actually known about this spider’s venom. Female red widow spiders are a ½ inch in size and male spiders are about 1/3 of the size of the female. This spider can be found in the pine scrub habitat, which is found on sandy ridges in central and southeastern Florida. It builds its web on palmetto leaves. The primary prey of this spider is the scarab beetle.

Wolf Spider – Wolf spiders are large spiders ranging from ¼ of an inch to over an inch in size. They are usually brown, gray, black or tan, with dark markings and stripes on their bodies. Their coloring is a form of camouflage, because they do not catch their prey on a web, but they hunt their food. They have excellent night vision and are very fast; they hunt for insects at night. They mainly live on the ground. Wolf spiders don’t bite humans, unless threatened, and their venom isn’t harmful.

Brown Recluse Spider – This spider is one of the most poisonous spiders in the Everglades. These spiders are found across the world, but are most common in tropical climates. They are not native to Florida. This spider is considered a medium-sized spider and around the size of a quarter. Although they make webs, recluse spiders often wander to look for their food, such as cockroaches and other insects. A brown recluse spider will not bite a human unless it’s trapped up against the person’s skin (rolling onto a spider, or putting on clothes that the spider has crawled into). People react differently to a brown recluse bite, but the venom can cause necrosis, loss of limb, and death.

Crab Spider – A crab spider gets its name, because it holds their legs to its sides like a crab does; they also scuttle sideways like a crab. They can range in size from less than ½ inch to one inch. This spider does not spin a web, but lives on the ground. It prefers to ambush its prey, and its brown, black and gray colorings allow it to blend in with the environment. They bite their prey and suck it dry. Their bite isn’t harmful to humans.

Viewing the Spiders
Whether you find them beautiful or terrifying, spiders are a significant part of the Everglade’s ecosystem. Grab a ride on an airboat to try and catch a glimpse of one of these arachnids sitting on its web. To book an airboat tour, visit Captain Mitch’s Airboat Tours here or call 239-695-3377.

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Laurel Wilt Disease

April 7, 2016 by

The Everglades is a distressed ecosystem. Usually, climate change, pollution, and human development come to mind when the topic of a hurting wetland comes up. Sadly, the Everglades are currently facing another threat to its future: a fungus.  This fungus goes by the name Laurel Wilt, and it is a tree disease that showed up in the Everglades in 2011.

Laurel Wilt is one of the most invasive tree diseases in North America. According to a conference on the disease held at the University of Florida, the disease has killed hundreds of millions of trees, which in turn has affected and damaged the surrounding ecosystems. Once infected, a tree can die within a couple of weeks; in that same forest, any tree less than three inches in diameter will be dead in under four years.

The fungus is introduced to the trees through an Asian insect called the redbay ambrosia beetle. The trees cannot handle this nonnative fungus. These beetles are extremely small, measuring at only 1/16 of an inch. The fungus this beetle carries is pathogenic. After they burrow into the tree, the fungus enters the wood. A female beetle can reproduce on the tree without needing the male; the offspring leave the tree to attack surrounding trees. Trees will have wilted stems and leaves and have a dark stained color underneath their bark. It only takes one female beetle to kill a tree. Since 2011, the disease has killed swamp bay trees across more than 330,000 acres of the Everglades.

Only plants in the Laurel family are affected by the disease. One of the biggest plants affect by the Laurel Wilt are avocados. In 2015, nearly, 9000 avocado trees were killed by the disease. Farmers have been spraying pesticides to control the beetle; however, these sprays cannot be used in the Everglades or other wild areas. Redbay trees across Florida, and five other states, have also been affected.

When a tree and surrounding trees die, a space opens within the canopy. With dead trees and open canopies, the ecosystem is now vulnerable to invasive plants that have caused a drop in mammal populations in the Everglades. Such invasive plants include: melaleuca fern, Australian pine, and Brazilian pepper.

Fighting Laurel Wilt Disease
There is currently no effective way to control or stop these beetles and disease. Chemicals can be used to kill ambrosia beetles once they’re confirmed living on a farm, but this isn’t the case for the Everglades. The South Florida Water Management District oversees restoration in the Everglades and is improving its monitoring and maintenance of any affected areas in the wetland. Invasive plants and insects are a big problem in the Everglades, and officials are trying to find the best ways to fight them.

Visit the Everglades
The Everglades are a fragile ecosystem; this wetland has been up against years of damage from climate change, rising sea levels, and development from humans. With other invasive threats, the Everglades are continuing to be in a battle for its own survival. By being educated on the topic and taking preventative measures, there are ways to preserve the Everglades.

The best way to experience the Everglades, while its still around, is by airboat. Captain Mitch’s Airboat Tours take you all around the beautiful wetland. To schedule your airboat tour, click here or call 239-695-3377.

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Poisonous Snakes of the Everglades

April 1, 2016 by

Twenty three snake species live in the Everglades. Of these 23, only four are venomous. Many people have a fear of snakes, and with several being poisonous, it makes sense why people prefer to stay away from these slithering creatures. However, these reptiles are an important part of the ecosystem of the Everglades. They control and prey on the number of rodents, invertebrates and other snakes. These snakes are also a food source for birds and alligators.

Types of Poisonous Snakes

The four venomous species of snacks found within the Everglades are: The Eastern coral snake, the Florida cottonmouth, the dusky pigmy rattlesnake, and the eastern diamondback rattlesnake.

Eastern Coral Snake – This snake is beautiful in color with red, yellow, and black bands running down its body. It prefers a wooded habitat and is considered to be very elusive in nature, since it spends a lot of time under ground or beneath foliage. Coral snakes are not confrontational and account for less than one percent of all bites that occur in North America every year; however, their bite is the most venomous of all the snakes on the continent. Its bite isn’t overly painful, but can cause death within a few hours.

Florida Cottonmouth – This snake is common and is also known as the “water moccasin.” It is a type of pit viper, and is the only semiaquatic viper species in the world. In the Everglades, this snake can be found around shallow waters like streams and marshes; they are strong swimmers. The cottonmouth is usually all black, brown, tan or olive; it also has a very thick body and can be up to six feet long. Its bite is painful and can lead to death.

Dusky Pigmy Rattlesnake—The dusky pigmy rattlesnake is a small snake (between two to three feet) that can be found in both wet and dry areas. Its coloring is gray with black/brown dorsal spots across its back with white flecks on the stomach. This snake is known to be aggressive and quick to bite with no warning. Since its fangs are small, it only releases a small amount of venom with a bite. Its bite is rarely fatal, but can post to be a greater risk to a child or pet.

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake – This snake is the biggest of the venomous snake in both mass and length; it has been known to grow up to eight feet.  This snake is a great swimmer, often found by water; it is known to live underground sometimes. The diamondback rattlesnake has dark diamonds across its body, each separated by a whiteish color. Although extremely venomous, diamondbacks are not aggressive and try to warn a potential threat by rattling their tails.

How to Spot /Handle a Poisonous Snake

It’s not always easy to spot a poisonous snake because they can look similar to many non-venomous snakes. However, there are some general guidelines of differentiating a venomous snake from a non-venomous one.

  1. Most snakes with a triangular head are venomous.
  2. Snakes with length-wise stripes are non-venomous.

You also want to do your best to avoid interaction with one of these. Do not approach or touch the snake if you’re unsure of what species the snake is. If you want snakes to stay away from you, it’s a good idea to make a lot of noise while walking, so the snakes are aware you’re around. It’s best to keep your hands out of potential snake hiding spots (logs, brush, leaves, rock piles), as well. Also, keep on the trails; you’re less likely to run into a snake on a cleared path.

Sail by the Snakes
Snakes, although not the friendliest creatures, can still be quite the sight to see. But, you may not want to run into them, especially the venomous kind. An airboat tour is a great way to stay safe in the Everglades without running the risk of encountering a snake. The ride will also give you chance to see the habitat of these snakes. To check out the beautiful ecosystem that the snakes contribute to, book an airboat ride with Captain Mitch through the Everglades today!

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