South Florida (SoFlo?) Road TRIP!!!!

South Florida... This is a place that has a ton of exotic animals running around.  Fortunately most of them stay in developed areas so they pose no more threat to native wildlife than man does.  In some cases they are just an additional food source for some of our natives.  My friend Alex and I went down there specifically to find some of these wild animals from all around the world.  We found species from SE Asia, Madagascar, Yemen, the Caribbean, central America, and Africa!  I have to admit it was pretty exciting finding all these wild animals out there.  Now, not every species we found is super common, in fact many are very localized and are pretty difficult to find.  If you're interested finding stuff, I'd say shining is best for lizards and road cruising is best for snakes.  You can certainly find some snakes while shining though and I prefer to shine up nocturnal snakes that way.  

We made a weekend trip out of it and searched night and day.  Both of us were on a bit of a budget and I don't like spending money anyway when I don't have to... right?  Besides, we were spending so much time looking for animals that we would only be sleeping a few hours at night and few hours in the heat of the day.  Basically we would pick a location that we felt safe and sleep for a few hours in the early morning until the sun came up, then we'd go look for some animals and when it got too hot in the day we would head to a park and go full hobo and sleep in the park for a few hours.  We got some stares but we would just repeat a common phrase of the trip to each other, "We're freaks baby!  We don't care!"  Sleep deprivation got us a little delirious and there was no filter on what we would say.  It was a little bit hysterical. 

It turns out all the hard work was worth it cause we found a lot of cool animal and we found them all in the wild.  So until next time find a new way to appreciate nature!

Cuban Treefrogs

Today's episode was about the highly invasive Cuban Treefrog.  Ugh, this is an issue that pains me.  They're cool frogs but like all animals they do their best to thrive.  Unfortunately they're thriving better than our native treefrogs.  Now, I'm not sure if we'll ever be able to get rid of them in Florida but we can definitely cut down the competition for our native species.  Basically Floridians need to learn to identify Cuban Treefrogs and take them out of the wild.  I'm not against euthanizing them so long as it's done quick and humanely I can't get real upset about it.  It just seems like a waste of energy but these frogs are the least of our worries when it comes to wasting energy.  Of course the best option would be to capture them and keep them in captivity for the remainder of their life.  However, not everyone has the means or the desire to do that.  However, I do hope that the vast majority has the desire to help out our native treefrogs!  So until next time, find a new way to appreciate nature!

Wilderness Junkie

Hahaha, so that was the title that Brian gave to the episode below.  To me it sounds like it's referring to someone that does drugs in the woods.  I guess that title is more catchy than like, nature man or something like that.  Anyway, this episode was about more than just animals.  I threw in some old finds but I wanted to introduce some things that I like to do when I go into the woods.  There is so much more than animals in nature and we're all dependent on those other things.  Ok, I guess we're not cause we can cut down forests, grow corn, and feed it to livestock so they'll fatten quick.  But that pretty much sounds awful to me.  I also wanted to show the potential that nature holds in primitive archery.  To me the ability manipulate wood so that it will shoot a projectile fast enough to kill large game is amazing!  I'm not even a pro so my future bows will likely improve and that is exciting to me!  Anyway, I hope this gets you interested in the wilderness a little more and until next time find a new way to appreciate nature!

Alligators!

I like alligators!  I especially like the little babies and the really big ones.  The little ones are so cute with their big eyes and stubby noses and the big ones are just awe inspiring.  Those big alligators challenge my spot at the top of the food chain and I think it's good to be challenged.  In this video there were some shots that I really wanted to get that they (gators) wouldn't let me get.  I wanted to get some underwater shots.  This meant that I had to be in clear water, which is pretty uncommon in Florida and I would have to get close in the water.  So I went to give it a try.  I was at Silver River and just sitting in some shade feeding fish.  All the fish activity drew the attention of an alligator that was basking on some weeds down the river a little ways.  It was a 5-6 footer so I slipped out of my kayak and got the camera rolling.  I just let the river push me toward the alligator and that alligator turned right around and swam straight back to its basking spot in the weeds.  When I was in the kayak it was fine approaching but as soon as I got in the water it did not like that at all.  It was not comfortable being in the water with me.  I was able to get a quick glimpse of it while it was swimming away from me but it just didn't work out with the alligators.  However, I was able to get some really awesome footage with big and small alligators alike.  I hope y'all enjoy the video and find a new way to appreciate nature!

How to Find Snakes

My latest two videos are to encourage people to go out and look for wildlife on their own.  I think it's really important that people get off the couch and get into all natural places.  In recent history I feel like a ton of people are just getting really disconnected from nature.  We were once living in nature and everyday we experienced it.  It seems we've now outsmarted nature and have made things easy.  I almost went on a rabbit trail there but I'm bringing it back to the main topic.  There is some interest in finding snakes and it's not an easy thing to do so I wanted to give people a few ideas on what to look for and notice in nature when they're looking for wildlife.  I also wanted to give the lazy people (sometimes me) an option as this is generally a more productive method and it's easy, road cruising.  Yeah basically when you notice good conditions you just drive down back roads in the middle of nowhere.  It can actually be really relaxing and somewhat therapeutic.  These two episodes were shot over the summer so there was a decent amount of road cruising done and I wanted to show a variety of species.  Anyway, I hope it gave y'all some things to think about and I hope y'all find some really awesome wildlife!

Southeast Road Trip!

This was an awesome trip!  If you want to read more about it you can go back to the original post about the trip here.  I really like going to new areas and exploring.  This was the first time I had been to Tennessee on my own and I definitely need spend more time up in the hills.  It's so beautiful up there!  I hope y'all enjoy the video :)

Gopher Tortoises!

As a kid I grew up alongside gopher tortoises and they were just always cool to see.  I knew nothing about their protection so I would always pick them up and check if they were male or female by looking under them, checking for the indention that would signify its masculinity.  Even as a kid I got to watch two males fighting over territory and I ran in and separated them.  I was always taught that you shouldn't fight so my childish mind thought the tortoises shouldn't fight either.  When filming this episode some of the footage actually came from the land that I grew up on and possibly some of the same individuals that I played with as a kid.