OT Exciting Wildlife Sighting Today
Rod Peterson -- Ormond Beach
>SWMBO and I had to drive some friends down to Port Canaveral today and on the way back decided to take a leisurely secondary route up US-1. There are some sections of US-1 that I hadn't been on for nearly 50 years and I didn't recognize a thing.
Just south of Oak Hill, and a little before 3 p.m. on a decidedly empty stretch of road, I noticed a large animal crossing the road in front of us. At first I thought it a dog, because of the size, but as I watched, it became readily apparent that it had a feline shape and gait. It also was clearly much bigger than any domesticated cat—I'd guess 40-50 pounds or more. The coat seemed to be a dull brown and had a subtly mottled appearance—more of a variation of the shade of brown, as opposed to spots. The whole encounter only took a few seconds.
Curious as to what it might be (I had an idea), I called my old high school buddy who works for The Nature Conservancy and is quite knowledgable about Florida wildlife. I asked him if it could have been a Florida panther (an endangered species animal). He indicated that reports are periodically received about them, but most experts are quite skeptical and usually demur in favor of a mistaken ID based on a bobcat sighting. We discussed the tail, which seems to be a principal taxonomic marker, and I assured him with 100% certainty that it was not at all bobbed, but was quite long, much like that of a Golden Retriever (yes, I know—dog).
We left the conversation with the knowledge that my friend was jealous as he had never seen one, and that despite the rarity, based on my description (with which SWMBO completely concurred) we most probably had seen a Florida panther. When I got home, I went to the web and found pictures of both bobcats and panthers, and if there's such a thing as more-than-100%, I am convinced more than ever that a panther (or painter, as they are sometimes called) is what we saw.
We're not birders or wildlife observers generally, but I have to say, although it was no Ivory Billed Woodpecker, I feel pretty special to have seen such a rare creature today.
Oh, it went into the woods, so maybe this isn't as off topic as one might think.
Rod
