Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
Basic information and photos to help you identify specific plants, wildflowers, trees, birds, and wildlife in Florida.
.identification
Alligators are the number one fear that new hikers to Florida have. True, they’re at the top of our food chain. But we’ll take an alligator stretched across the trail over a grizzly any day.
Surfacing from their dives to chase fish, anhingas, with their long necks, look like snakes at attention, which is why it is also called the snakebird, or water turkey
A giant among trees, the bald cypress is an imposing sight. Unlike its relative the pond cypress, it prefers growing along water in motion, such as rivers, streams, and sluggish swamps.
Black mangroves have shiny leaves and dark round seed cases. Their most distinguishing feature is their pnuemataphores, finger-like protrusions around the tree like slender, miniature cypress knees.
As seen at Orlando Wetlands Park
Juvenile black-crowned night heron at Robinson Preserve
The brown pelican is one of two species of pelicans found in Florida, the white pelican being the other. They have distinctive pouches under their bills and cannot be mistaken for the white pelican due to the size and color difference.
The state tree of Florida, the cabbage palm (also called sabal palm) is an iconic symbol found in almost every habitat in Florida, although it is less frequently seen in upland areas.
An unusual-looking Florida raptor, the crested caracara is Mexico’s national bird. They are members of the falcon family, but their heads look very parrot-like—a red face and a thick curved bill offset their black-and-white plumage.
A colonial nesting bird, the cattle egret is often seen in large flocks overhead in morning and evening, heading to and from their roosts and nests in shrubs along shorelines.
One of the most common birds you’ll see in Florida’s marshes, coots are among the noisiest. When they take off, they look like they’re running on water before they launch into the sky.
Cormorants can be easily confused with the anhinga, but are a more social bird. You’ll see them hanging out in groups.
