For a few years the Marie Gallante sail-tailed anole could be seen in southwestern Florida. It was apparently extirpated by the occasional freezes.
This is a pretty, large (males to about 9 inches females significantly smaller), bluish headed anole with a yellow-green body color. Males have a prominent tailfin. This anole, Anolis ferreus by name, is endemic to the island of Marie Galante in the Lesser Antilles. In the 1990s several examples (adults of both sexes and hatchlings) were seen and photographed in Lee County, FL, but the small population seems no longer extant.

Disturbed during an evening crawl, this canefield king coiled and hissed rather than hurrying away.
Florida’s not like it used to be. But that’s no secret. Native Floridians and long-term residents have known this for decades. And since I’m one of the latter and I have an interest in natural history I’ve noticed and disliked the trend, the never ending conversion of natural areas to macadam covered parking lots and shopping centers. When I started coming to Florida in the mid-1950s US 27 was a 2-lane road that was clad down to Lake Okeechobee with woodlands and a few pastures and south of the Lake was edged on the east by an Australian pine rimmed canal and Everglades and on the west by Everglades, Everglades, and more Everglades. Somewhere to the west of Okeelanta was an area termed “the peanut patch” in which were a dozen long unused migrant laborers houses, all of which were then home to what seemed an endless number of beautiful deep orange Everglades rat snakes.

Female Cuban treefrogs can attain a length of more than 5 inches.
I had been told for years that the ”Dreaded Cacophony” was coming. And about 12 years ago it finally got here. The “dreaded cacophony” had become a reality. I think it was first heard in Alachua County, FL in a tiny temporary runoff puddle by the post office. Then, that same year it a second cacophony was heard a few miles away in an even smaller puddle at the entrance of a subdivision. The noises sounded like a series of rivet guns badly in need of oiling. The next year it was heard from a couple of more ponds and the year following from still more. The cacophonists were here and it seemed they were here, despite winters that were a lot colder than those where they had evolved, to stay.

This is a very pretty male red-cheeked mud turtle.
The turtles of the genus Kinosternon are distributed southward from extreme southern New York and North Carolina to northern Argentina. The common name—mud turtle—aptly describes most not only in color (muddy brown or gray—some species do have contrasting colors—white, yellow or red-- on the cheeks) but in preferred habitat as well.

A profile of a 5 foot long green anaconda in Amazonian Peru.
“Anaconda!”

That word always brought an excited response from our tour clients in Amazonian Peru. As a matter of face, the finding of one of these potentially giant water boas brought feelings of excitement from us, the tour leaders.

It is the green anaconda, Eunectes murinus, that occurs in our region and unlike some areas of northern South America where the species is considered common, we always considered ourselves lucky if we found an example on any given trip.

The large-headed anole is very locally distributed in South Florida.
This is a confusingly variable, sexually dimorphic (males being the larger (to 8 inches) and bulkier) trio of anoles. Several anole species lack the ability to change colors from brown to green or vice versa, and these 3 are among the “unables.” Two of these, the Puerto Rican crested and the large-headed anoles may occasionally assume an olive gray blush, but they are unable to become the bright green that is so often associated with anoles.