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Visitors and staff observe flora and fauna from the boardwalk on a daily basis. Below are some of the highlights reported since April 17, 2025!

To find out what to expect in a particular season, check out our Seasonal Nature Viewing Opportunities page. 

Birds:
Solitary Sandpiper
Wood Stork
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Green Heron
Tri-colored Heron
Little Blue Heron
Black-crowned Night Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Swallow-tailed Kite
Red-Shouldered Hawk
Limpkin
Purple Gallinule
Mourning Dove
Common Ground Dove
Barred Owl
Chimney Swift
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Great-crested Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
Tufted Titmouse
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Waterthrush
Black-and-White Warbler
​American Redstart
Northern Parula
Palm Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Painted Bunting
Boat-tailed Grackle

Butterflies:
Cloudless Sulphur
Zebra Longwing
Gulf Fritillary
White Peacock
Great Southern White
Clouded Skipper

Other Invertebrates:
Dragonflies
Damselflies
Grasshoppers
Apple Snails
Fireflies

Reptiles and Amphibians:
Carolina Green Anole
Cuban Brown Anole
Banded Watersnake
Red-bellied Turtle
Florida Green Watersnake
Soft-shelled Turtle
Peninsula Cooter
Alligator 
Pig Frog
Green Treefrog
Cuban Tree Treefrog

Mammals:
Raccoon
Opposum
Gray Squirrel
Cottontail Rabbit
River Otter

Blooming Plants:
Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata)
Swamp Lily  (Crinum americanum)
Lanceleaf Arrowhead  (Sagittaria lancifolia)
Pond Apple (Annona glabra)
Saw Palmetto (Serenoa repens)
Beggartick  (Bidens alba)
Tickseed (Coreopsis leavenworthii)
Elderberry (Sambucus nigra)
Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
Nuttall's Thistle (Cirsium nuttallii)
Purple Thistle (Cirsium horridulum)
Cardinal Airplant (Tillandsia fasiculata)
Northern Needleleaf (Tillandsia balbisiana)
Dingy Flowered Star Orchid (Epidendrum anceps or amphistomum)
Leafless Beaked Ladiestresses (Sacoila lanceolata var. lanceolata)
Leafy Beaked Ladiestresses (Sacoila lanceolata var. paludicola)
Cigar Orchid (Cyrtopodium punctatum)
Delicate Ionopsis Orchid (Ionopsis utricularioides)

Want more info?

Find more sightings, or report your own on our , , or !