Newsletter

What's that sound? Just a woodpecker making a racket. We have 8 different species of woodpeckers that live in Florida, and all of them are adept at being loud when they want to be.

You’ve probably had a close brush with ferns. Ferns are everywhere. More than likely, each of you reading this is not far away from a living fern plant right now. The distinctive shape of the fern frond is so well known that they can be recognized at a glance.

It’s early May here in South Florida, and that means that the rainy season is starting to get in gear. This is one the largest seasonal shifts here and a number of behavioral and physiological changes accompany it for numerous plants and animals. However, this time we’re going to be talking about

The term ‘vulture’ has gained numerous negative connotations in our language. The idea of feeding on the dead is abhorrent to humans, and so our modern vernacular has demonized them to an extent. However, some earlier cultures actually venerated vultures and I think that much more appropriate, as

In April, there is one bird that has taken a long journey and is just starting to arrive. They are the reason why this time of year is always one of my favorites. Swallow-tailed kites are back.

This week, we’ll be talking about the distinction between two related and important terms and looking at examples of each here in South Florida. These terms are ‘exotic’ and ‘invasive’.

Have you been paying attention to the birds recently? If so, you might have noticed that their behavior has shifted a bit. That’s because the time of year is mating season for most birds in south Florida.

We’re now in the middle of the dry season here in Florida. We see the effects of this everywhere. The water in ponds recedes and their banks expand. The cypress trees lose their needles and animals shift their behavior to correspond to the changing environment.

Florida in general, and south Florida in particular, have become a well-known hotspot for non-native invasive species. Our subtropical climate provides an excellent territory for introduced species to gain a foothold.

We have lots of jokes about snowbirds, but we often don’t think about the origin of the term. Because of the near-constant warmth here, we have a huge number of year-round avian residents, so it can be easy to forget about our migrants. However, there are plenty of birds that use Florida only as a