Wading Birds
The icons of the Everglades — long-legged hunters working the wet prairie at sunrise.
- •Great blue heron
- •Great egret
- •Snowy egret
- •White ibis
- •Roseate spoonbill
- •Wood stork (endangered)
- •Tricolored heron
- •Glossy ibis
Our Platform
Wildlife & Habitat Protection
Montura sits at the edge of one of the richest wildlife landscapes in North America — the northern Everglades, Big Cypress, and the Florida Wildlife Corridor. The animals on this page are not in a brochure. They live in your back yard, your pasture, your canal. Protecting them starts with knowing what's here.
Why this matters in Montura
Working ranches and rural homesteads are the connective tissue of the Florida Wildlife Corridor. Subdivisions and industrial mines break that corridor. Every acre of pasture, wet prairie, and pine flatwoods we keep intact is habitat we keep alive.
Clean water, healthy soil, and dark night skies aren't just nice to have — they're the conditions panthers, wood storks, and gopher tortoises need to survive. The same fights that protect our wells protect our wildlife.
Field Guide
Wildlife of Montura
A short field guide to the species you'll actually see, hear, or cross paths with in and around Montura Ranch Estates.
Birds of Prey
Hawks, eagles, and owls patrolling Montura's skies, pastures, and tree lines.
- •Bald eagle
- •Osprey
- •Red-shouldered hawk
- •Red-tailed hawk
- •Crested caracara (threatened)
- •Swallow-tailed kite
- •Barred owl
- •Great horned owl
Large Mammals
Montura sits inside the Florida Wildlife Corridor — the working land panthers and bears depend on.
- •Florida panther (endangered)
- •Florida black bear
- •White-tailed deer
- •Wild hog (invasive)
Small Mammals
The quiet workforce of the pine flatwoods and palmetto scrub.
- •Bobcat
- •Coyote
- •Raccoon
- •Virginia opossum
- •North American river otter
- •Nine-banded armadillo
- •Marsh rabbit
- •Gray fox
- •Florida bonneted bat (federally endangered)
Reptiles
From keystone burrow-diggers to apex predators in the canal.
- •American alligator
- •American crocodile (threatened)
- •Gopher tortoise (keystone, threatened)
- •Eastern indigo snake (threatened)
- •Eastern diamondback rattlesnake
- •Cottonmouth (water moccasin)
- •Snapping turtle
- •Florida softshell turtle
- •Freshwater turtles (cooters, sliders, musk)
- •Green anole
- •Cuban night anole
- •Gecko (Mediterranean & tropical house)
- •Iguana (invasive)
Amphibians & Fish
Life in the canals, sloughs, and seasonal puddles that fill our backyards.
- •Pig frog
- •Green tree frog
- •Southern leopard frog
- •Largemouth bass
- •Florida gar
- •Bluegill
- •Bowfin (mudfish)
Pollinators & Insects
The smallest workers — and the easiest for any resident to support with a garden.
- •Monarch butterfly
- •Zebra longwing (Florida state butterfly)
- •Gulf fritillary
- •Native sweat bees
- •Carpenter bees
- •Honey bees
- •Dragonflies & damselflies
Wetland & Marsh Life
The species that depend on standing water — and on us not draining it.
- •Sandhill crane (threatened)
- •Limpkin
- •Apple snail (native)
- •Florida cooter turtle
- •Purple gallinule
- •Common gallinule
- •Black-necked stilt
The habitats we protect
Lose the habitat, lose the wildlife. These are the landscapes Montura is built into — and the ones the coalition organizes to defend.
Pine flatwoods
Slash pine over saw palmetto — home to gopher tortoises and red-shouldered hawks.
Cypress sloughs
Slow-moving forested wetlands that hold water through the dry season.
Wet prairie
Sawgrass and wildflowers — the wading-bird buffet.
Oak hammocks
Shade islands of live oak and Spanish moss, full of songbirds and bobcats.
C-139 basin & canals
The waterways that feed the Everglades — and our wells.
Wildlife corridors
Working ranches connect Montura to Big Cypress and the Florida Wildlife Corridor.
What you can do
- ›Report poaching & wildlife crimes — FWC Wildlife Alert: 888-404-3922 or text Tip@MyFWC.com.
- ›Drive slow at dawn and dusk — panthers, deer, bobcats, and bears all cross Montura roads.
- ›Don't feed wildlife — fed bears and alligators become dead bears and alligators.
- ›Leave gopher tortoise burrows alone — they're a keystone species and protected by Florida law. Over 350 other species use their burrows.
- ›Keep cats indoors — free-roaming cats kill billions of native birds and small mammals every year.
- ›Plant native — milkweed for monarchs, passionflower for zebra longwings, firebush and beautyberry for birds.
- ›Support working ranches — they're the reason the corridor still exists.
- ›Show up for water fights — clean canals and protected basin lands = wildlife survival. See C-139 Basin and Sand Mine.
Montura Ranch Estates, Hendry County, Florida