Florida: Natives, Invasives and Visitors

 

A Wood Stork (Mycteria americana) carrying nest material.
Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Palm Beach County, Florida. 

We went to South Florida this April and I was struck by how many new animals have taken up residence since I left for college.  Most of the native species are still present but new, exotic and sometimes invasive species have experienced explosive growth.  

American Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) are decidedly native.  They have prowled what is now Florida for millions of years.  These reptiles can reach truly titanic size; 15 feet in length and weight of up to 1000 pounds.  American Alligators are carnivores and they feed on a wide range of prey; from snails and snakes to fish and frogs to turtles and even cats and dogs.  Diane and I were hiking in a wetland preserve and someone said, “That gator is carrying something big in its mouth”.  It was indeed.  A ten-foot alligator was hauling a dead eight-foot alligator across a pond.  We don’t know how the smaller gator perished, but cannibalism is well documented in American Alligators. 

 

An American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis)
 hauling a dead gator across a pond.
Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Palm Beach County, Florida. 

One of the first exotic reptiles to arrive in Florida was the Brown Anole (Anolis sageri).  This resident of the Bahamas and West Indies probably reached the Florida Keys in the late 1800s, stowing away on cargo ships.  By the 1970s the Brown Anole had reached Miami then exploded across the Southeast. They are invasive and can outcompete native species like Carolina Anoles (Anolis carolinensis).  Brown Anoles are now found from Georgia to Texas and even in Southern California.  Males have an extendible orange dewlap they use to attract females and scare off rivals.  We happened upon a male Brown Anole that was flashing his colorful throat patch on a tree branch.  A smaller female came running up the branch and they commenced mating.  Another generation of the exotic Brown Anole is coming. 

 

Brown Anoles (Anolis sageri) mating.
Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Palm Beach County, Florida. 

It was breeding season for birds in Florida too. Native wading and water birds were nesting, and baby birds were in abundance.  Wood Storks (Mycteria americana) are black and white giants.  Standing over three feet tall, they build haphazard stick nests and raise ungainly chicks.  The young Wood Storks were still in the nest and covered with white down.  Their first flight feathers were just poking through, and they were exercising their wings in preparation for life in the air. 

 

An adult Wood Stork in its nest tree. 
Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Palm Beach County, Florida.

Juvenile Wood Storks in their nest.
Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Palm Beach County, Florida.

Anhingas (Anhinga anhinga) had babies in the nest too.  These birds have a long, thin neck and a sharp beak they use to spear fish.  Anhingas swim with their body submerged and their neck above water giving them the common name Snakebird.  The sight of adult Anhingas feeding their young was impressive.  The juvenile Anhingas shoving their dagger-like beaks into the throat of their parent was harrowing.  So much could have gone wrong, but it didn’t.   

Video of  an Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga).

Green Cay Wetlands, Palm Beach County, Florida. 

 

Adult Anhinga feeding young.
Green Cay Wetlands, Palm Beach County, Florida. 

Common Gallinules (Gallinula galeata) are native species in the Rail family (Rallidae).  They had babies too.  Young Common Gallinules do not hang around the nest long after hatching.  They quickly begin walking across floating vegetation and fending for themselves.  These juvenile birds were fluffy black balls of feathers with red beaks and incredibly long toes. 

An adult Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata).
Green Cay Wetlands, Palm Beach County, Florida. 

A fluffy juvenile Common Gallinule.
Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Palm Beach County, Florida. 

The Gray-headed Swamphen (Porphyrio poliocephalus) is also a member of the Rallidae.  This large, iridescent purple marsh bird is native to Asia and escaped from captivity in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992.  It is now found in many wetlands of peninsular Florida where it competes with native rails.  We watched as a Gray-headed Swamphen walked through a marsh, snapping off plant stems with its strong beak, grasping the vegetation with its feet and eating it. 

A Gray-headed Swamphen (Porphyrio poliocephalus)
walking through the marsh. 
Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Palm Beach  County, Florida. 

A Gray-headed Swamphen holding a Rush (Juncus sp.)
 in its foot while it eats. 
Green Cay Wetlands, Palm Beach County Florida. 

A Bahama Mockingbird (Mimus gundlachii) was the most interesting non-native bird we saw on this trip.  This bird’s normal range is the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Cuba and Jamaica.  Bahama Mockingbirds are larger than the Northern Mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos) that are native to Florida.  They also lack the white wing patches and white outer tail feathers of the Northern Mockingbird.  Bahama Mockingbirds are rare but regular visitors to Florida. This particular bird was hanging around the campground of Jetty Park at Port Canaveral.  The Bahama Mockingbird was singing and chasing Northern Mockingbirds within sight of the giant cruise ships that take tourists to its homeland.  This Bahama Mockingbird was a visitor but  probably did not ride a cruise ship to Florida.  It may have been blown to Florida by a storm or just wandered across the water. 

 

A Bahama Mockingbird (Mimus gundlachii))
singing in Jetty Park.
Brevard County, Florida.

I think the most spectacular native bird in Florida is the Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris).  The males of this small songbird are kaleidoscopic in color.  They have a blue head and wings, red breast and rump, and a green back.  The females are more sedately hued, sporting a uniform green color.  These brilliant little creatures breed from the Southeast to the southern plains. Painted Buntings winter in south Florida, the West Indies and Central America.  We found several male and female Painted Buntings at a wetland preserve in Palm Beach County, Florida where they winter and pass through on migration. 

 

A male Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) singing his song.
Green Cay Wetlands, Palm Beach County, Florida. 

Florida is a magnet for people.  Americans and Canadians flock there in winter for relief from the cold.  People from the Caribbean and Latin America arrive daily seeking a better life.  It is no wonder that wildlife from many parts of the world are also mixing with the native species.