May
11
2010
(photo credit: Carlton Ward)
This picture was taken by a motion-sensitive camera trap in the middle of the state near SR 70 and US 27. Florida Panthers are getting scarcer, so this is a really great sighting.
Irene and I explored about ten trails in this area (Highlands County) one month ago. All of it is either hammock land or swampy marshland— the hammocks are so thick and canopied with tall trees, and really quiet and shaded. There’s a constant feeling that one of these panthers could be stalking through the brush, ready to take a swipe with its paw or snatch you into the thicket with its mouth. I was really hoping that would happen. It didn’t.
