This is a Barred Owl that visited our yard yesterday. Based on ‘smaller’ size, a male, I think. In most species, males are larger than females . This is called ‘male-biased size dimorphism’. Owls & other raptors tend to be exceptions. Males tend to be the smaller of the pair.There are multiple theories of why […]
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It’s mid-September, the heat has finally broke, and Female and immature Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are putting on the last few grams to get them across the Gulf of Mexico. It seems that one criteria for deciding if it is time to go is they can’t see their feet 🙂 As a bonus, this is the time […]
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After the flurry of spring arrivals it may seem that Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have disappeared from our flowers and feeders and the wild. This is mostly an illusion. Females, who most years out number males, spend the summer doing all the parental duties (males leave after the fun part). Moms do all that is necessary to […]
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Of the 553 bird species reported in eBird for Florida (sixth in rankings of states), Florida Scrub Jays are the only bird species that lives exclusively in Florida. I am Floridian by birth, and an avid birder, but I was surprised to learn this fact just a few short years ago. I suspect it was […]
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May 25, 2023, in the Sackett v. EPA ruling, in a 5-4 majority, SCOTUS justices returned to a different 2006 opinion expressed by Justice Antonin Scalia that holds that jurisdiction over adjacent wetlands requires “first, that the adjacent [body of water constitutes] . . . ‘water[s] of the United States,’ (i.e., a relatively permanent body of water connected to traditional interstate navigable waters); and second, that the wetland has a continuous surface connection with that water, making it difficult to determine where the ‘water’ ends and the ‘wetland’ begins.”
This eliminates any consideration of a ‘significant nexus’ that considers science that connects water movement, underground or seasonal, and which may provide one or more of the significant environmental services. It eliminates federal protection of ‘isolated’ wetlands and move protection jurisdiction to states. Where often the long-term sunk (pun intended) costs of losing wetland environmental services is overlooked in favor of short-term economic development cash.
Read MoreBlack Skimmers are one of many shorebird species that form breeding colonies and lay their eggs in small scrapes directly on dunes & beaches. Their species survival strategy is simple: Large numbers in a breeding colony, sometimes mixed, for more lookout eyes, effective egg camouflage, and short incubation\fledgling times to minimize the open exposures. This […]
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Looks like a hawk. Scavenges for carrion like a vulture. Is actually a falcon. Common in open grasslands, rangelands, and scrubby areas of South & Central America, a small population, about 1,000 individuals, lives in the similar dry prairies with scattered palm cabbage of south-central Florida. Most of which are within large private cattle ranches. […]
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Cedar Waxwings are winter resident fruit specialists here in metro-Atlanta. But because they are late nesters & can be short-haul migrants, going only as far north as the high-elevations of the North GA mountains, they will hang around gorging on spring\early summer berry crops. Native serviceberries are a favorite. Waxwings will gather in small flocks […]
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The only population of Snail Kites in North America is in FL. There are 1,000 birds, up from 10 in 1965. They are listed on the federal & state endangered species lists. Snail Kites are extreme specialists. Armed with a strongly curved bill, purpose built for plucking meat from a shell, their diet is almost […]
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Prothonotary Warblers should be known, in my opinion, as the field mark appropriate, easier to remember & pronounce, Golden Swamp Warbler. This is another example of obscure 18th century conceitful naming. Prothonotaries are papal clerks that wear yellow robes. Yellow being the only common characteristic & certainly not a connection known by common folks, especially […]
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