Limpkins Love the Mudflats on Lake Tsala Apopka
Low water levels in Florida’s lakes have created fast food restaurants for the limpkins. The exposed mudflats and shallow water along the lakes edges makes it easy for these birds to find worms, apple snails and paper pond mussels. Beware limpkins! Alligators lurk here looking for dinner!
Low Lake Levels are Good for the Birds?
Wood storks, herons and other wading birds benefit from receding lakes. Fish become locked in the small pools left behind when water levels decrease. Wading birds feast on the trapped fish. As a matter of fact, these birds raise their youngsters at this time when food is easily caught. This is a natural cycle that has occurred before people settled in Florida. Soon, the rainy season will begin and our lakes and rivers will swell with water forcing the waders to the edges of the waterways.
Bluebirds are of Least Concern?
When I lived on Long Island New York, it was a special treat to see a bluebird. Here in Florida, bluebirds are a common site and that is not surprising. These beautiful birds thrive in open grassy areas with scattered trees, just the type of habitat found on cattle ranches, horse farms, vineyards and other agricultural areas. This is a good thing for farmers because nearly 70% of the bluebird’s diet is insects.
Bluebird populations increased when settlers cleared land for farms and ranches. In the days before pesticides, farmers realized bluebirds controlled insect pests so they built houses for these cavity nesters. With the decline of farms in the late 1800s and early 1900s, important bluebird habitat reverted to forests. Additionally, two foreign bird species, the house sparrow and the starling, were introduced. These birds competed with the bluebirds for nesting boxes. Pesticides introduced in the 1900s to control insects poisoned bluebirds. All these factors caused a 90% drop in bluebird numbers by 1970.
Fortunately, with the banning of DDT, regulation of harmful pesticides coupled with the establishment of bluebird trails and other nest box projects, bluebird population are recovering. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources has given the eastern bluebird a status of least concern after assessing this species.
What two states is the eastern bluebird the state bird? (Post in Comments)
A Plant that Behaves Like an Owl?
As our day winds down and we relax in the comfort of our homes, nocturnal wildlife awake to start their day. But did you know that some wildflowers also begin their day in the evening? Yes, most plants bloom during the day and this attracts butterflies and bees that sip their nectar. This is the way the insects pollinate the flowers. Have you noticed how those flowers close at dusk. This prevents the evening and night flying insects from robbing the plants of important nectar. You seehe night flyers don’t have the right sized and shaped appendages to gather and distribute pollen for day plants to produce seeds.
However, the evening primrose blooms at dusk when the nocturnal sphinx moths appear. The length of the tongue of these moths kept pace with the elongation of the primrose tubes that hold the nectar. When these moths reach into the tubules, their tongues can just about reach the nectar and this causes the legs of the moth to touch the outstretched filaments laden with sticky pollen. When the moth carries the pollen to another plant, that pollen rubs off fertilizing the flower. If the primrose bloomed by day, many of the daytime insects would rob nectar from the plant without pollinating its flowers.
So the next time you hear an owl calling in the evening, think about primrose flowers bursting open inviting sphinx moths to sip their nectar.
naturechirp 