Florida Natives

Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut is hosting its first-ever Florida manatee – an 800 pound creature rescued last week from the waters of Cape Cod Bay in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

Sarah Callan from Mystic Aquarium said it’s uncommon, but not unprecedented for manatees to travel this far north. But biologists got concerned when the animal didn’t head back south, as water temperatures drop. “Typically they are in water temperatures ranging from about 75 to 80, 84 degrees,” Callan said. “We actually picked her up just in time because water temperatures in Cape Cod are at 67 right now.”

After being pulled from the water, the manatee was driven to Mystic Aquarium. It was lifted by crane into a pool – and will stay there briefly before being flown to an animal rehab clinic in Florida. “Basically we’re the holding facility for her, just to make sure that she’s eating well and that her health is good,” Callan said.

Callan said the animal is eating well - getting about 80 pounds of lettuce and spinach daily.

The Florida manatee is federally protected, but numbers have been increasing in recent years. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, more than 6,300 manatees are now in Florida, up from around 1,000 in the early 1990s.

The animal at Mystic is recovering and officials say it’s not on view to the public.

A thousand years before big game hunters who used what are known as Clovis spearpoints spread across North America, earlier arrivals were living near Florida’s Aucilla River alongside mastodon and other animals now long extinct. So say archaeologists who spent four years investigating an underwater sinkhole known as the Page-Ladson site, located in northern Florida east of Tallahassee.

Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis) mother and chick, Northern FL, USA

Everglade Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis plumbeus)

The endangered Everglade snail kite’s diet is almost exclusively made up of apple snails. As you can imagine, this makes the management of apple snail populations critical to the recovery efforts of snail kites in Florida.

photograph by Andy Morffew | Flickr

“Everyone should believe in something; I believe I’ll go fishing,” H.D. Thoreau famously said. With that spirit, BLM Eastern States employees, along with dedicated  volunteers, host fishing on public lands events throughout the east!

Eastern Lubber Grasshopper (Romalea microptera), Levy County, Florida, USA

These large robust flightless grasshoppers are found in and around habitats with dense vegetation across much of the SE United States. The nymphs (juveniles) are black, with yellow stripes. The adults may reach a length of up to 8 cm. Here you see a typical adult color pattern, but there is also a color phase of black adults. These grasshoppers are toxic, and these toxins may cause severe vomiting or even death in various predators.

Being a nature photographer seems great, maybe I should try…

Gopher Frog (Lithobates capito), Southestern U.S.

Hear the deep vibrating snore like call here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOagTL4Wrmk

Black-bellied Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis)

Long-legged, boisterous and sociable – these are words often used to describe the Black-bellied Whistling-Duck. If you live along the Texas coast, consider building a nest box for these beautiful birds. You can make a nest box out of half-inch marine plywood.

Learn more from the USDA Forest Service website:

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/wildlife/nesting_birds/birds1.htm Photos: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Alan D. Wilson

That’s Not a Bird