The Outdoorsman (Fish, Feathers & Fur)

The Florida mink is one of several furry, dark-colored, semi-aquatic, carnivorous mammals and actually are related to the members of the weasel family that includes ferrets, otters, martens and badgers. Minks are generally found throughout Canada and North America in lakes, rivers and marshes. The population of these animals has decreased in number over the past five decades, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

Florida Rabbits and Hares Rabbits are jumping mammals with relatively large hind legs, long ears, and short tails. Like many rodents, rabbits have a pair of long, chisel-like upper incisors. They also have a second pair of incisors behind the first set.

Rabbits eat food plants including elms, grapes, hawthorns, blue phlox, and ash. There are three different types of rabbits in Florida: 1. The black tailed jackrabbit;  2. The eastern cottontail;  3. The marsh rabbit.

Courtesy photos/Wikipedia. Far left, a red tail hawk carries a snake up to a place for a forthcoming meal. At near left, a red tail hawk looks for rodents.

Each day, as I drive the rural roads on the way home, I usually see one or more red-tailed hawks on any given day.

Photo by William L. Newton/Darling NWR. This adult osprey is about to feast on fish.

Almost everyone being by the water has witnessed a brown bird with white markings on its belly hovering over the water, then swooping down to the water and then fly upwards again with a fish in its talons.

Courtesy photo/Google. Contrary to popular belief, toads are not frogs.
While sometimes a term used by a woman to describe her husband with whom she is infuriated, the word “toad” refers to several species of amphibians in the order Anura.

Courtesy photos. At far left, the stages at which an armadillo goes into its protective mode. Smaller photo, the typical image people have of armadillos are the dead ones run over by motorists.

To most folks, an armadillo is a small dead animal lying adjacent to or in the middle of nearly every road in the state of Florida. Of all the 20 species of armadillos only one makes the U.S. its home: The nine–banded armadillo has a range from South Carolina to Florida in the east and to the north commonly to Nebraska.

Courtesy photo. The red fox is a skilled hunter.

 Many of us have read stories about the cunning of a red fox trying to outwit his animal brothers and sisters. Despite their looks of long, thin faces and yellow eyes, contributing in part to their crafty reputations; in real life, red foxes are more concerned with finding food than with playing tricks on anyone.

Photo by Capt. Budd Neviaser. The gray fox is a loveable creature of the dense Florida wilderness that is fast, agile and primarily a night hunter.

The gray fox, species - Urocyon cinereoargenteus, can be identified by its grizzled upper parts, which are silver gray with reddish sides and a white underside. Additionally, it has a pointed nose and a long bushy tail with a black stripe and tip.

They are often found in Florida’s densely wooded areas throughout the state with the exception of the Keys. The gray fox is fast, agile, and can run up to 30 miles per hour for short distances. It is primarily nocturnal spending the daylight hours in a hollow log or underground.

Courtesy photo. Connie Tippins holds her first-place  26.7-pound dolphin caught during the Halifax Sport Fishing Club Tournament held June 6.

The Halifax Sport Fishing Club held its annual ladies tournament – Bruce Tippins put his wife, Connie on the first-place dolphin, which weighed 26.7 pounds. Angela King got first place Wahoo overall winner, and Susan Cloer landed the largest kingfish.

The junior angler award went to Kaitlyn Bumpass. With the good weather recently, the dolphin bite offshore remained quite hot with many fish weighing up to 40 pounds being brought to the dock.