Nature Achieves a “New Balance” After Hurricane Milton

As I write this in the first week of December it has been about 7 1/2 weeks since hurricane Milton sent a devastating salt water storm surge across our beautiful barrier island of Manasota Key. Of course we take a chance by living in such a location in a very old ground level CBS house. We paid the price in partial destruction of the dry walls, furniture not made of solid wood, family mementoes and appliances, and yard plants not resistant to salt water. After taking a detailed inventory of my cherished plants, I can report that many are recovering but some are lost and have been cut down. The first photo shows a tree climber trimming my most valuable wildlife plant, a massive and very old strangler fig. I had assumed it was lost since I could not see any leaves regrowing. To my great relief the climber found tiny shoots sprouting which I could not see from the ground and copious milky latex gushing from the cut branches. .Many other plants in lower elevations of my lots such as mango, firebush, elm, loquat, orchid tree and myrsine were cut down and piled along the street for pickup and mulching by county contractors.

Unlike the case with hurricane Ian in September of 2022 which had high winds which were very destructive of mangroves, Milton’s damage was primarily by a large storm surge. Thus early successional white mangroves shown here recruiting naturally along a tidal lagoon in Lemon Creek Wildflower Preserve remained very healthy. Butterflies are still slow to recover possibly in part because of the time of year and lack of flowers. This recently emerged white peacock butterfly is shown basking to warm up on a cool morning. I found a rarely seen Io moth caterpillar which may have been feeding on white mangroves nearby. A yellow elder that has come into bloom atypically after the storm caused a loss and regrowth of leaves is shown attracting a very bright Mexican orchid bee. Inland at Kiwanis Park away from the storm surge I was surprised at how many bowl and doily spider webs were present in a fresh water marsh.

Alligators seem unaffected by the storm; here a young gator is basking in a shallow area of fresh water. Black iguanas in my yard have survived perhaps too well during the storm. Although I enjoy watching these non-native ctenosaurs they are beginning to cause some concern as they eat the new leaves from my favorite orchid tree. I wish they would feed more on the mulberries which have more numerous leaves. Although native rabbits can be troublesome by eating flowering plants it is not practical to fence iguanas out to control them as you can do with rabbits.

Birds seem to be rebounding well from the hurricane. This shrike is one of many I have observed perched up high watching for prey items on the ground. Catbirds which winter here but do not breed have received a bonanza of mulberry fruits which are being produced the “wrong” time of year following the loss and regrowth of leaves. This catbird is even trying to swallow two mulberries at once! The out of season flowering by mulberries in apparent response to defoliation and regrowth of leaves .is quite interesting. It will be intriguing to see if these plants will fruit again in the spring as normal after such an abnormal event.

Aquatic birds seem to be thriving. A cattle egret is here shown foraging in a weedy field of Mexican clovers. This juvenile green heron was fishing in a tidal area as was this great blue heron at our dock. Now why is this magnificent bird called a “blue” heron? Great GRAY heron would be a better name, but there is often no accounting for the common names of species. The anhinga is most often seen in fresh waters and this one has caught an African tilapia by pursuing it underwater until it is exhausted. A characteristic behavior of aquatic birds especially in winter is to feed in mixed species flocks- this seems to increase the chances of successful prey capture for the different species. In this tiny tidal pond there were (count them if you can) six species feeding together- great egret, tricolored heron, snowy egret, white ibis, boat tailed grackle and green heron.

The continuing saga of whether eagles or ospreys will nest in a tall Norfolk Island pine next door continues. I have not see the pair of bald eagles for about a week and a pair of ospreys has been present instead. This photo shows the female (note “dirty” breast) calling from the tallest point. But if either pair wants to nest they must begin construction of a nest soon.

To give some perspective on the historic occurrence of these hurricanes, consider the tree ring count of this large slash pine which died and fell down recently on Venice Island near the ICW. This tree is in excess of 80 years old and has been growing VERY slowly as it aged in a nutrient poor coastal island habitat. But the fact that it survived this long indicates that there have not likely been any highly destructive storms during its lifetime. Storms and red tides are a natural part of the environment which are most likely facilitated by increasing pollution and global warming. In my opinion there is no long term solution that does not involve reduction of the primary cause of most global problems, namely a rapidly increasing and unsustainable human population.

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