Orcas sighted off Key Largo. This is a really big deal. Orcas, sometimes known as killer whales hadn’t been sighted off the keys in half a century or so. Lots of whales have been extending their range of late since the end of whale hunting in the 70’s. However Orcas have a gestation period of a 15-18 months so they’re relatively slow to increase their population. But this is a really great sign.
Five bear cubs and mama bear crossing the road. This many cubs aren’t really rare to be born, however keeping this many cubs alive is indeed rare. Evidently this is a really good year to find food. Also the mama bear has been really lucky keeping away predators.
COCAINE SHARKS!! OMG WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE. Or not. This is the latest BS story in an incredibly long line of scare headlines about sharks. Look for more as we get near to next year’s 50th anniversary of Jaws. And no, there are no sharks hopped up on cocaine cruising the shoreline.
The first successful American Oystercatcher pair at Fort DeSoto Park in Pinellas County hatched a single chick this week. Oystercatchers nearly went extinct early in the 20th century due to demand for feathers and destruction of oyster beds. They’ve made somewhat of a comeback in the last decade. So good to see.
Via @AudubonFL on Twitter
Just an incredible sight. These Swallow-tailed Kites will spend the winter in Columbia and Brazil before returning in about March. Seeing a tree full of swallow-tailed kites just made my bucket list.
Via @CorkscrewSwamp on Twitter
An incredible, yet creepy picture. This is low-light photography of alligators cruising the Myakka River State Park southeast of Sarasota. Alligators are primarily night hunters. One of the main ways to keep yourself safe from alligators is not to get in the water at night. The photographer is Larry Lynch and his website is Larry M. Lynch Photography. Some really good wildlife pictures if you’re looking for a print.
Via @everglades on Twitter.
The Miami Herald has some pretty apocalyptic quotes about coral dying around Florida. I’m not sure what to think about this. There are some fairly apocalyptic quotes in the article. But in the summer of 2020 there were also lots of articles about coral dying. Also in the article I couldn’t always tell whether they were talking about small, shallow-water human attempts to grow coral animals were dying, or were they talking about coral reefs in general. I will have to do some additional reading to make sense of this. I’ll write it up here when I do.
Gypstacks, what are they and why are they an environmental problem? That’s a question I’ve been thinking about. Gypstacks are the huge piles of waste from phosphate mining that are relatively common in Central and North Florida. The EPA will allow the mining company to pile them up to 520 feet. Every few years there’s some kind of accident that creates an ecological problem. So what to do? Mosaic, the main gypsum miner still in Florida, has asked the federal EPA to be able to used the material to build substrates for roads. Approval for this will be a long time coming. I’m researching this for an upcoming article.
And last, but certainly not least is my article on lichens, particularly a lichen called usnea. I wrote an article this week about the history of usnea being used as an antibiotic treatment to heal wounds for many centuries years in many different civilizations. Short read, but interesting if I do say so myself.