When you think of the Everglades, you probably think of alligators and airboats. But, what about the thousands of insects and other bugs?

Thousands of these creatures call the Everglades home. The Everglades is known for having large swarms of mosquitoes and biting flies. However, there’s also a lot of beautiful butterflies flying around, which are much less annoying and don’t bite.

All these creatures, even the annoying or scary-looking ones are a valuable part of the Everglades’ ecosystem.

Insects –Insects don’t have a backbone and they are a type of invertebrate. They have a hard-exterior body covering caused an exoskeleton. They are cold blooded and do not have lungs.  Insects account for about 90 percent of life forms on earth, so you know there’s a TON in the Everglades. It is unclear how many insects are in the Everglades, but entomologists have put together lists of bees, ants, butterflies and more. The South Florida Collections Management Center has more than 5,000 insect specimens found in the Everglades.

Arachnids – Spiders, mites, ticks, scorpions, pseudoscorpions, and whip scorpions can all be found in the Everglades.

Centipedes – They are long, thin arthropods and have fewer than 20 legs or as much as 300 legs despite the “centi” in their name. They live in the Everglades, but usually aren’t seen because they are mostly nocturnal.

Millipedes – These are commonly seen in the Everglades and they do not bite or sting. They are longer and thinner than centipedes and they can have anywhere from 36 to 400 legs. They are slower than centipedes.

Love insects, spiders or creatures with 400 legs? Come jump on an airboat tour! You’ll be surrounded by insects (and not even know it) during your adventure.

To book an airboat tour with Captain Mitch’s Airboat Tours, call 800-368-0065  or visit our Everglades Airboat Tours page. Captain Mitch’s Everglades Airboat Tours are open seven days a week 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. If paying by cash, adults cost $40 (plus tax) and children 12 and under cost $20 (plus tax. If paying by credit card, adults cost $45 (plus tax) and children cost $25 (plus tax).

The Great Egret is one of the largest wading birds that lives in the Everglades. It is over four feet tall and its wingspan is more than 50 inches in length.

This bird has long black legs, black feet, and a stout yellow bill. It can often be mistaken for the Great White Heron, but the heron has a heavier bill and pale legs.

The egret flies slow with its neck retracted, which is different from many other similar-looking birds.

This bird stalks its prey by slowly walking or standing still and can catch a fish in a flash with its quick bill reflex. They eat fish, amphibians, reptiles, other birds, small mammals, and invertebrates. They look for food in marshes, swamps, streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, tide flats, canals, and flooded fields.

The Great Egret usually is found alone but gathers with others during mating season in shrubs and trees over water.

At the end of the 19^th century, many Great Egrets were being killed in the Everglades and in North America for their plumes, which were used for decorative hats. In the late 1800s naturalist John James Audubon visited the Everglades, and public outrage grew to put a stop to the mass commercial hunting of wading birds for the plume. The Great Egret became the symbol of the National Audubon Society, which one of the oldest environmental organizations in North America. More than 300 Great Egrets had to be used get just one kilogram of feathers.

The numbers of this bird have grown but haven’t recovered due to habitat loss.

Want a chance to see the Great Egret? You might on an airboat tour!

To book an airboat tour with Captain Mitch’s Airboat Tours, call 800-368-0065  or visit our Everglades Airboat Tours page. Captain Mitch’s Everglades Airboat Tours are open seven days a week 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. If paying by cash, adults cost $40 (plus tax) and children 12 and under cost $20 (plus tax. If paying by credit card, adults cost $45 (plus tax) and children cost $25 (plus tax).

The Everglades is home many mammals, including the Everglades Mink.

This fury creature is a small member of the weasel family and is one of three types of minks found in Florida. The Everglades Mink happens to be the only one that lives in south Florida. This type of mink is semi-aquatic, carnivorous and related to otters, ferrets, badgers, and martens.

An Everglades Mink has chocolate brown fur, a small head and tiny black eyes and ears. Its legs are short, it has a pointed muzzle, five partially webbed toes on each foot and it has a long bushy tail.

Its webbed toes help them swim easily in water while they search for food. A mink also releases an unpleasant-smelling liquid, like a skunk’s; it does this as a warning and also a marker for other minks to know of its presence. The minx will also squeal, snarl, and hiss if it is frightened.

This type of mink can grow up to 25 inches long.

You can find this mink in shallow freshwater marshes and swamps of the Fakahatchee Strand and the Big Cypress Swamp.

Everglade minks are known to grab prey larger than themselves. They are nocturnal and hunt for food on land and in the water; they enjoy eating small mammals, snakes, fish, and insects.

A mink is a loner and you won’t find it in groups usually. You can spot a minx in shallow freshwater marshes and swamps of the Everglades.

A female mink can give birth to three to six kits during the springtime. The kits are born hairless, but open their eyes and start growing hair around three weeks. These babies stay with the mother until the fall. Females stay close to the den, while males roam twice as far and visit other dens. Dens are usually found in a hollow log, or under tree roots.

The Everglades mink is no longer a threatened species.

Look for the Everglades Mink on a Tour

Although it usually comes out at night, there’s a chance you may still see an Everglades mink while on an airboat tour.

A great and safe way to see the variety of wildlife and vegetation in the Everglades is on a ride through the Everglades on an airboat with Captain Mitch

Call Captain Mitch’s Airboat Tours at 800-368-0065  or visit our Everglades Airboat Tours page. Captain Mitch’s Everglades Airboat Tours are open seven days a week 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. If paying by cash, adults cost $40 (plus tax) and children 12 and under cost $20 (plus tax. If paying by credit card, adults cost $45 (plus tax) and children cost $25 (plus tax).

Ready for the time of your life in the Everglades? Join us on an airboat tour and see the Everglades like never before.

Captain Mitch House has been in the airboat tour and tourist attraction industry since he was a little kid. He was born and raised in Everglades city, Florida, where he ended up following in the footsteps of his Father Capt. Doug and great grandfather Barrel Head House, who was the pioneer of airboat. He built one of the first commercial airboats in 1942, which was built from three sheets of plywood and a few 2×4’s, powered with a slant six tank motor and a sawed-off prop-jet propeller with no cage. These were primitive work boats.

Barrel Head used this boat as a fishing guide in the Flamingo and Florida Bay areas of the Florida Everglades. This was a great way to gain access to the shallow salt flats of Florida Bay. On this airboat, he took tourists charter fishing for snook, reds, trout, tarpon and many other fish species in the now Everglades National Park ecosystem.

In later years, the locals around Everglades City, Florida, and the south Florida area found these airboats were a great way to travel in the swamplands of the Florida Everglades.

Captain Mitch, as the airboat tour owner, has been involved at Private Airboat Tours Everglades City, FL in the tourist industry for more than 30 years here in Everglades City, Florida.

If you’re planning to visit the Everglades, come view it in a different, fun way on an airboat tour.

To book an airboat tour with Captain Mitch’s Airboat Tours, call 800-368-0065  or visit our Everglades Airboat Tours page. Captain Mitch’s Everglades Airboat Tours are open seven days a week 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. If paying by cash, adults cost $40 (plus tax) and children 12 and under cost $20 (plus tax. If paying by credit card, adults cost $45 (plus tax) and children cost $25 (plus tax).