New Florida Trip (nothing much to) Report
I spent a 3 days in Florida after Christmas. It was mainly to take my kids to Harry Potter World, but I tried to squeeze in some mammal watching too. It was, though, very squeezed and I didn’t see anything notable.
I spent an hour at Coral Gables Golf Course in Miami at dusk. A few years ago this was a good site for Florida Bonneted Bats (they have audible echolocation) but I didn’t hear a squeak, though my son spotted one bat, species unknown. Perhaps the colony has gone? Does anyone know…
I also spent a couple of hours at night and dawn up and down Flying Cow Road near West Palm Beach. The road runs alongside the west bank of a canal (with a gated community on the east side, which made me a bit nervous when I was spotlighting!). This is reported to be a location for Roundtailed Muskrats. I saw several burrows and may have heard an animal plop into the canal at dawn, but I didn’t see any. One to return for.
Jon
vdinets
The last time I checked (last April) you could still see a bat or two at the golf course, but it took a while. Nobody knows where the colony was in the first place, so it’s unknown what happened to it. They usually fly fairly high and are not easy to hear, except in late summer/early fall when abundant biting insects seem to draw them lower.