What sort of wildlife have you encountered in Miami? (Tampa: house, living in)

[ProjectMersh]

I would like to know what type of wildlife you have encounted living in Miami-Dade County (snakes, alligators, interesting birds, etc)? The good, the bad and the ugly.

I am not asking about a trip deep into the everglades but rather encounters with wildlife within the urban/suburban footprint of the Miami metro area.

This is a serious inquiry. I got the idea from a similar thread in the Tampa forum wich included some crazy stories.
https://www.city-data.com/forum/tampa...teresting.html

[FlyMIA]

Out in the glades have seen plenty of gators. Along with road kill gators on US-41.

In the urban areas the most odd thing I see are foxes. Plenty of small garden snakes, plenty of spiders in the home. There are parrots which fly around. They are a ton by UM but I've seen them everywhere. Parrots are not natural to Miami.(I think) But I believe a ton got out after hurricane Andrew and given Miami's climate they just live here now and grown in their population.

Seen a few bald eagles. Raccoons and Opossums in the yard too. Plenty of frogs and toads. The typical lizards including iguanas. Tons of large birds, and in the water the most interesting would be dolphins, barracudas and sting rays.

[ace587]

mostly possoms in my area

[UrbanCrossroads]

In my backyard I sometimes see Ibis birds, and once in a while an Egret. Many years ago I encountered a mammal with pointy things on its skin (porcupine?) in my backyard.
Also two different types of green lizards. The small ones (the size of regular lizards) and the larger ones which are known as "Knight Anoles". In fact, just last week I saw one of the small ones very neatly camouflaged among the leaves of one of my trees. I once read somewhere that the small green ones are actually the native Florida lizards, and that the brown/beige lizards came from elsewhere (the Bahamas I think), even though it's more common to see the brown/beige lizards.
I haven't encountered a snake in many years (knock wood).

[canefandynasty]

Chimpanzee

[Cubanchic]

Parrots, hawks, vultures,possums, ibis, eguanas, tons of lizards, small garden snakes, gators in canals. Blue jays, cardinals, ducks, raccoons.

All of that in the old house and various encounters in south Florida.

In the ocean while fishing and island jumping land crabs, sea gulls, sting rays, dolphins, marlins, all sorts of tropical fish on the reefs, lobsters, a sea of pink shrimp at night tarpons hanging out at local piers, snooks, nurse sharks, hammerhead sharks.

In the new place which I find fascinating is peacocks which are very loud but luckily for me they are not very close to cause me a headache.

[oronzous]

alligators (4 so far), turtles (i helped one that was trying to cross the street), a raccoon, opossum, a rabbit, huge toads, ducks galore.

A couple of dead snakes, plus one enjoying the sun on a sidewalk.

Actually i feel that Miami has a very poor bird population compared to most tropical and subtropical cities. Pest and bug control leaves birds without their natural food.
Same happens with bats.

funny story about the alligator:
One day i took my in-laws to the everglades so they could see them.
The next day we were in my kitchen, when I saw, from the window, an alligator swimming in a nearby lake waiting for the ducks to dip in.
The joke of the day was about the gasoline i would have saved by just showing them the alligator from the window.

[ProjectMersh]

Originally Posted by canefandynasty

Chimpanzee

Ok, care to elaborate? Is this a joke?

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by FlyMIA

Out in the glades have seen plenty of gators. Along with road kill gators on US-41.

In the urban areas the most odd thing I see are foxes. Plenty of small garden snakes, plenty of spiders in the home. There are parrots which fly around. They are a ton by UM but I've seen them everywhere. Parrots are not natural to Miami.(I think) But I believe a ton got out after hurricane Andrew and given Miami's climate they just live here now and grown in their population.

Seen a few bald eagles. Raccoons and Opossums in the yard too. Plenty of frogs and toads. The typical lizards including iguanas. Tons of large birds, and in the water the most interesting would be dolphins, barracudas and sting rays.

When we lived in Palmetto Bay, there was a flock of blue and gold macaws that populated the area- we'd see them fly over and they loved our yellow poinciana trees, and coconut palms, so they'd roost in those trees at times. The last few years we saw them, there were two pairs that came to the trees. They were gorgeous and LOUD- we loved hearing them squawk when they came around- but we're bird people and always loved hearing bird calls. I don't know where they nested, they just visited us occasionally and we'd see (and HEAR!) them fly over on their way somewhere else. I don't know if they're still around. I read of some speculation that these parrots may have been descendents of parrots who left the Parrot Jungle- not necessarily during Hurricane Andrew, but at other times as well.

We also saw any number of black snakes, occasionally a raccoon, and possom when we lived there too.

And palmetto bugs!

[ProjectMersh]

Originally Posted by oronzous

alligators (4 so far), turtles (i helped one that was trying to cross the street), a raccoon, opossum, a rabbit, huge toads, ducks galore.

A couple of dead snakes, plus one enjoying the sun on a sidewalk.

Actually i feel that Miami has a very poor bird population compared to most tropical and subtropical cities. Pest and bug control leaves birds without their natural food.
Same happens with bats.

funny story about the alligator:
One day i took my in-laws to the everglades so they could see them.
The next day we were in my kitchen, when I saw, from the window, an alligator swimming in a nearby lake waiting for the ducks to dip in.
The joke of the day was about the gasoline i would have saved by just showing them the alligator from the window.

One alligator is more than enough for me.

Great/crazy story about the in-laws. Alligators freak me out. Was that in suburban Miami?

I have visited Fla. ten times over the years (from the keys to Miami to the panhandle) and have been "lucky" not to see one. Have considered moving to So.Fla. but the presence of gators plus summer humidity is enough to keep me away.

We occassionally get bears in surburban areas of Los Angeles (the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains). I don't live in that area but a co-worker found a bear swimming in her pool one day. A bear I can deal with, not a welcome sight but I can deal with it....an alligator bothers me very much.