Haha Now that I have your attention I'd like to show you one of the prettiest places in Florida. It's not all natural, it's Florida cattle land with planted Pine (as a sustainable harvest, many cattle barons have done this over the decades). It is the Avon Park Air Force Bombing Range.
The cattle are mostly cows, mostly pregnant, calves and a scattering of bulls. They are, for the most part, free range beef cattle.
I never realized how pretty cows can be...
The resource office aka ranger station charges a fee for a weekend pass or an annual pass of $40 that allows access to the range on most weekends and some other days when there are no manuevers going on. We go in very early, before the dew has dried
This is a tiny spider web, a bit smaller than a 50 cent piece, woven at the tips of a Dog Fennel branch
The bombing range is along the Lake Wales Ridge, the center spine of Florida, and much of the habitat is pure Florida scrub.
Early in the morning the land is covered in ground mist
The mists often hang in the trees til mid morning
A female American kestrel; Falco sparverius
There were lots and lots of fast moving, little birds, mostly brown ones. Just when I think I can ID some of them I realize how wrong I am! Feel free to help with the IDs
This may be a Palm Warbler
And this one too...
Or they may be entirely different birds...pretty bad, huh?
This burrowing spider was very wary, checking me out and then darting back into her burrow only to check again. I've tried to ID the specific species but I just can't be sure
The range is divided into sectors. Some sectors are open to recreationists all the time, some never and some sometimes. Some of the sectors are used for soil and water testing and while we're allowed in we aren't allowed to stop or get out of the car. We have stopped for pictures but we don't get out.
This is a sign that warns us to stay out....Got our attention! LOL
The USAF and BLM are restoring certain areas and are doing many proscribed burns. As we entered Bravo Sector this trip we were stopped and warned to stay on the road because they were about to start a burn. We watched for a while then decided to move on although we were told we could go around and watch them start the fires
Also in Bravo...this one lone tree burning
A Cypress Dome...there were many, many of these dotted across the landscape. Some are multiple domes all in a row flowing into each other.
Thanks jnana
It's simple to find. From Hwy 27 find Main St, (Avon Park) which I believe is also Hwy 64. Take it east until it dead ends and you'll be at the guard gate. Tell them you are going to the resource office and they'll pass you right through. You have to have $15 cash and a photo ID. They take all sorts of info, give you a pass and send you on your way. There are lots of babies right now...Ü
I thought this was kinda neat...it's a close up of the grasses that make up parts of these huge sectors. The green fronds are Saw Palmetto
The grasses change colors throughout the day. Early mornings the grasses are an orangy red, changing to golden and finally to silver in the late afternoon
This is a mid-day view across one of the sectors. It was a beautiful, windy, cool day
Mushrooms on a charred pine
Had I known we would have made a trip there on Sunday. We were looking for new places to explore. Will definitely go there the next time I'm up that way. Love to explore new places. A couple of months ago got to see Paynes Praire. That was such a treat..
We just made a couple of side trips into Bartow and we went to Bok. We got to walk the entire Pine Ridge Trail at Bok and saw a lot of fascinating things. I even spooked an indigo snake. I'll tell you I was so thrilled to have seen one. Unfortunately it moved too fast to snap a picture. The last time I was at Bok the trail was closed so this was my first time there. So many wildflowers to see. I'm still trying to Id some that I took pictures of. I'm sure that you would know the names of them.
You can see how little these some of these outer sector roads are used
Hey you tricked me. It does remind me of a funny story. A few years ago we were out driving and saw some deer in a field and said to my 6 year old daughter - look some deer, then in the next more remote field there were some cows and I said - look, some wild cows! She said - wow, and later told her grandparents how she saw some deer and wild cows out in the country. It always feels good to remind Ms. Smartypants of that from time to time.
You'll love this place...I have a number for them somewhere that I can give you. I don't know that they are open to the public during the week. We usually go for the entire weekend and stay in Avon Park.
It's about 30 miles south of Bok Tower, a place I've yet to go as an interested adult
Start a thread in Indigenous Plants (or anywhere else you'd like LOL) and I'll be happy to help you ID your flowers.
How I'd love to see an Indigo snake in the wild...you are soooo lucky!
Hehehe Al, cute story. We just pretend they're wildlife and take pictures...they make great subjects.
Co-workers?
These girls look like they're gossiping about us...
A Turkey Vulture. There were lots of Black Buzzards too
This Gopher Tortoise happened to wander into camera range
Just something that caught my eye...
There is one area that has a couple of old tracked vehicles just rotting away...this old rusty tank tread caught my eye too
Co-workers?
This may be a Palm Warbler
And this one too...
These girls look like they're gossiping about us...
As we entered Bravo Sector this trip we were stopped and warned to stay on the road because they were about to start a burn
This is a great thread, just found it. The cows are lovely, I wonder what breed they are? Very nice Floridian. Thanks for posting.
Bartow, Wauchula, Avon Park, and Sebring....Those are all my stomping grounds. So all of these pictures I see every day. : ) It's been years though, since I've been inside the bombing range. Another thing to put on my to do list.
Nice pictures, Floridian. : )
Thanks Stacey, another great set of pictures, and another place om my long list of places to visit one day!!!
LOL Resin, thanks for your IDs and your wit!
Roseone33, thanks...I have no idea what kind of cattle these are. If no one IDs them I'll try to find out next time I'm down there.
You're very lucky BlueGlancer, it's a beautiful area. We lucked across the info in an old Florida wildlife vieiwing guide, a small book published in 1993, republished and updated in 1998. Great little guide, lots of out of the way places to check out and many I've never heard about. Fell in love with the range.
The cows must do okay, you can see the smoke behind this girl.
Ah Ken, I think of you every time I find a place like this...Definitely on "the" list of places to see in Florida
Floridian, I like seeing cows, horses, sheep, goats, llamas and up here musk ox, buffalo, elk, moose... I don't care... all wildlife to me. Thanks for the pics. Got some pheasants?, turkeys?, grouse?, chickens?... I love to see all of them in a green setting... Carol
