Hardwood Hammock
Habitat
(Ficus aurea)

Click on the picture for the sound of the hammocks
Created By: Rebecca S.
      This natural community can be found throughout Florida and occurs primarily in patches or narrow bands of forests and along the edges of rivers. This plant community is quickly shrinking today due to  residential and commercial development especially in South Florida. The Hardwood Hammocks are often dominated by large oaks, the most impressive of which are the southern live oaks, usually covered with Spanish moss and other epiphytes(bromeliad). Hardwood forests are covered by evergreen, broad-leaved trees that are called hammocks, a name that means shady place. Sabal or Cabbage palm grows abundantly in many hammocks.

     The Hardwood Hammocks in Northern Florida have an extraordinary diverse species of trees and shrubs than any other plant community in the continental United States.  The hammocks of South Florida and the Keys, gowing on a rocky limstone soil, are especially interesting because they contain tropical hardwood trees and wildlife common in the Bahamas and other tropical areas.

      The diversity of plant communities provides an ample habitat for the bobcat, gray fox, white-tailed deer, songbirds, and wild turkey. Summer breeding birds include wood thrush, hooded warblers, and prothonotary warblers.  Migratory waterfowl, including teal, wood ducks, and mallards, can be seen on the ponds November through April.
 

 Hardwood hammocks are small islands found in the freshwater plants of the Everglades. They consist of of hardwood tropical trees and smaller plants that grow about 10 feet above the water level and the rest of the terrain.

                                                Animals of the Hammocks

Click on the animal below that you would like to learn more about:
Raccoon  Tree Frog  Green Snake Box Turtle Tree Snail Grey Fox 
Otter Bobcat Barred Owl