Central Florida Weekend, March 2026
Charles Foley and I spent the weekend in Florida on a brief jaunt in search of three target mammals. We also took time to dream dreams about the future of mammalwatching while indulging our shared passion for gas station candy. Fun fact: not only is Charles a fellow fish-phobic, but he also shares my revulsion for egg whites and my love of M&Ms. With our perfectly evolved taste buds I cannot imagine a better dining companion. This is likely why we agree that pot noodles, when served properly, are a three star Michelin dish. Serving them properly’ means serving them anywhere in West Papua or Sierra Leone.
My 2025 trip report with Todd Pusser gives more details on Three Lakes WMA and Ocala NF both of which we visited. Once again my target species were – still – Eastern Spotted Skunk, Florida Mouse and Southeastern Pocket Gopher. Charles was keen on finding these but also had hopes for Oldfield Mice and Eastern Woodrats.
A few hours at Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area produced White-tailed Deer and rabbits which were most likely Eastern Cottontails though I wasn’t paying attention. This area supports – or recently supported at least – a very high density of Eastern Spotted Skunks. But the vegetation is thick and the skunks secretive. We hoped that some of the prairie might have been recently burned to give us a chance for skunk spotting. We weren’t in luck.
An evening around Kissimmee Prairie was better for mammals with many Common Opossums, Mexican Long-nosed Armadillos, Common Raccoons, White-tailed Deer and Marsh Rabbits. But although we got a whiff of skunks once or twice we didn’t see one (though I have seen Striped Skunks here). An enormous Feral Pig – which we initially mistook for a horse! – and a Brown Rat completed the mammal haul.
Golden Mouse (Ochrotomys nuttalli)
We spent two evenings in Ocala National Forest, inspired by Venkat Sankar’s 2024 trip report, and focussed on some of the same roads as Venkat did in 2024 and Todd and I did in 2025.
Rodents were thin on the ground early in the evenings but activity picked up after 10pm both nights.
I saw what was very likely an Eastern Woodrat in the thermal. And we saw numerous beautiful Golden Mice. The stretch of Forest Road 86 close to Shady Lake seems reliable for this species based on my and Venkat’s previous trips. Golden Mice are cooperative, tending to freeze in a bush allowing themselves to be photographed. This was not the case with the more terrestrial rodents. We saw a few animals on the ground but thermal views only for most of them.
Late on our second night we finally had good views of a larger mouse feeding on the ground. It ticked all my boxes for Florida Mouse: chunky, large ears, orange on the flanks with a darker rump. Without having had the animal in the hand I don’t think I could swear it wasn’t a Cotton Mouse. But that species seems to be absent from – or very rare in – the sand pine scrub in Ocala. Given that was the habitat we were in – and right next to an armadillo/ tortoise burrow to boot – we are claiming our Florida Mouse. Venkat saw Oldfield Mice here but we didn’t see any mice well enough to be sure.
There were plenty of gopher diggings in Ocala but all seemed a week or more past their sell by date. Not sure what is happening but the area looked pretty dry and perhaps the gophers would have been more active after rain.
Eastern Spotted Skunks have escaped me pretty much annually since my first attempt in 2012. This is becoming a nemesis species of Fisher proportions. And, just as with the Fisher, the consequences of the curse are getting more serious after each fail. True, I have not yet lost my rental car keys in the snow, gotten multiple speeding tickets or been instructed to leave the country to get a new visa (all Fisher related). But on this trip we took a wrong turn 1 minute from our hotel and were surprised to see Google maps announcing we were now an hour and 15 minutes from our destination. After several minutes of disbelief I asked Charles to Google “longest stretch of road in the USA without an exit”. Yep. Welcome to the Florida Turnpike.
I am concerned what will happen if I try for the skunks again.
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