Re: FL birds
Tyler Bell (bell@say.acnatsci.org)
Tue, 29 Sep 1998 09:40:59 -0400
Gregory B Miller wrote:
>
> This has got to be the MOSQUITO headquarters of North America! I've
> been to Alaska, Minnesota, Delaware, and Virginia. All are worthy
> contenders. Florida itself has some decent attack mosquitoes. The
> Everglades is probably the worst I've seen (try August--awesome!), with
> Snake Bight Trail at another magnitude!!! Last August was my first
> attempt. Oh. It was WOEFUL. This past April was better. I actually
> survived the hike out and endured 3 hrs of eye-strain but without any
> success (for Flamingo that is; 2 Mangrove Cuckoos can hardly be called
> "not any success"). So I will brave it once again, unless, of course,
> Fran, the people that run the boats have tours out that way <fingers
> crossed>. Hopefully, there will actually be some pink birds out there
> (well, BESIDES Roseate Spoonbills).
Greg:
I'll vouch for Snake Bight as being the worst mosquitoes in our
experience! The way to avoid them is to ride a bike. Since they attack
based on their sensing carbon dioxide, they are less likely to find you
if you are cruising along leaving your CO2 trailing behind! I tried it
in January and I only got about 3 or 4 bites whereas Jane and I walked
as fast as possible in April and lost pints of blood ;) The only problem
with bike rental is that they don't open at 6 am when you'd really like
to be heading down the trail. Otherwise, get there as early as possible
to avoid the heat shimmer. Still, the boat rental thing will get you
right to the birds quickly and you won't have to worry about shimmer at
all. I think you can rent a small outboard boat for full or half days.
--
Good Birding! The probability of a given
Tyler Bell event occurring is inversely
mailto:bell@say.acnatsci.org proportional to its desirability.
California, MD
http://www.audubon.org/chapter/md/smas/