Florida still has plenty of wildlife but you don't usually see it driving down a parkway. The panthers, which are the same as mountain lions, are making a comeback as well as bears. When I was a kid you seldom heard of a bear sighting in Florida...........now I hear of them quiet often. Bobcats, foxes racoons, possums, otters, etc are plentiful. You just have to know where to find them. They are after all wild animals. Sea turtles can be seen around June and July coming to shore to lay their eggs and it is nothing to see Dolphin and Manatees if you are out in a boat. My parents live outside a town called Clewiston, on the southern side of Lake Okeechobee, and they have gators, bobcats, racoons, otters, foxes, gopher tortoises, and a wide variety of bird species which visit their property. I even have racoons, possums, about 5 different type lizards (including Knight Anoles and Iguanas), geckos, a gopher tortoise, numerous types of birds including a red tail hawk and parrots, numerous species of butterflys and I live in town. I have a half acre lot as does everyone on my street so we're not crammed up like some towns but it is still in town. Unfortunately development is crowding our wildlife, but thanks to individuals making their property small refuges and conservation groups do their part we do still have quite a lot of wildlife here.

Sure looks like a first year, immature, Cooper's Hawk. BN

I agree, immature Red-tailed Hawk. BN

I fully agree. I have a pair of birds apparently nesting somewhere on my property that I frequently see mating (or snagging birds from my birdfeeder. . . .) that I can't get close enough to with my binoculars to readily identify. Although I have fairly positively identified Coopers as being around, this pair could be either species. What's interesting is that I also have mated pairs of both Red Tails & Red Shoulders on the property, & the 3 pairs are always bickering between themselves. Even the crows won't get involved when they're going at it - lol!