The site that now houses Pinecrest Gardens was once home to Parrot Jungle, a famous Miami attraction. The original Parrot Jungle was opened in 1936 by Franz Scherr, and the botanical garden/ wildlife park attracted millions of visitors there before relocating to Watson Island on Biscayne Bay in 2002.
The parrots and wildlife exhibits are gone but the winding paths through the original botanical gardens remain, as do the ponds and fountains which are home to carp, turtles, iguanas, ducks, and geese.
While admiring the gardens, we noticed these unusual anoles darting amongst the rocks and shrubs along the path. After some research on the internet, I believe them to be
Anolis cristatellus cristatellus, the Puerto Rican Crested Anole. It was an exciting discovery because I have not yet photographed this species of anole. It is one of the numerous non-native species of lizard that has colonized South Florida. Unsurprisingly, we did not see a single native lizard during our walk.
Note crest along spine esp. on tail
Juvenile maybe
In other news, we are keeping a close eye on Hurricane Ike. The track looked very bad for us yesterday, a Category 4 headed directly for South Florida! The models have shifted the path further south and west now so for now it looks like the worst of it will miss us. Let's hope it continues on this path and also continues a trend of weakening over the next couple of days.
