Returning to Florida

After we have been away from our Florida property for six months, it with some uncertainty that we return to a place which we have ignored for so long. Although the grass gets cut occasionally, little else has been done to this yard which had suffered so much damage from the recent hurricane. But to my surprise and delight, aside from a mountain of yard work needed, the place was beautiful with flowers and new growth after the destructive winds broke so many trunks and branches. So here are a few natural highlights from the first couple of weeks back.

Our yard contains about 165 species of native and non-native plants in approximately a 50:50 mixture. The last hurricane damaged both types and a very high storm tide killed any salt intolerant plants within 50 feet of the lower lying Lemon Bay shoreline. I had also removed an 80 foot tall Norfolk Island pine and five cabbage palms that were in danger of falling down. Our black rat population is much reduced for unknown reasons- but possibly the reduction in cabbage palms which provided cover and food?

Butterflies and pollinating insects were much in evidence on native and non-native flowers. This monarch was resting/basking on a leaf- remember that these local monarchs are a sub-tropical race that does not migrate to Mexico. It does no harm to feed them nectar since otherwise they will die. We get little reproduction on milkweeds since the local paper wasps eat the eggs and caterpillars. A Gulf fritillary that lays eggs on passion vines is shown here feeding on an ixora. This non-native flower has a very long corolla tube and so only a very few insects with long tongues can reach the nectar. Our large yellow elder was just finishing blooming and was attracting many insects- this mangrove skipper just crawled into the huge flowers which seem designed for pollination by large bees. The mangrove skippers were also interested in the native firebush flowers which have very narrow corolla tubes. The much smaller non-native but gorgeous metallic green Mexican orchid bees are successful in feeding from firebush since they have a very long proboscis. The large carpenter bees cannot access the firebush nectar via the “front door” but bite the base of the flowers and “steal” the sweet reward. There were many sulphur butterflies around, mainly cloudless such as this one on their caterpillar food plant, cassia.

My first job on returning was to set up our three dripping water baths for the birds. It does not take our resident and wintering birds long to discover this bonanza of drinking and bathing water. The yellow throated warbler is a regular visitor- these birds likely breed in N FL or along the SE coast- we have them breeding on our NC Haw River preserve. This male prairie warbler also comes daily for a bath- it may even be a local breeder in the mangroves or further north. Palm warblers are winter residents that breed in far northern US or Canada. The cardinal is likely a resident but not the catbird which migrates north in the spring. The young male painted bunting is a rare treat which was likely hatched along the SE coastal plain. The local “bully” the mockingbird is a resident as is the female osprey that has a nest next door in a tall Norfolk Island pine. The osprey has a favorite perch on a dead black mangrove killed by the hurricane. In the shallow bay water underneath there was a female blue crab (note red tip / “lipstick” on main claw) which had lost one of its main claws in a battle of some sort. The oysters on our mangroves appear unusually healthy- many seem to be alive and thriving. I find it amusing that various well meaning folks have initiated a program to string oyster shells under local docks as a substrate to increase their population- in fact they do very well if not better on our native mangroves which have many positive ecological qualities. You do not need need to plant mangroves- only let some of the numerous seedlings grow and thrive. Two fish I noticed were a needlefish and a small barracuda, both of which are tropical representatives in our local fish populations.

Aside from all the work involved in returning to our FL home after six months away, I was not disappointed in the wonderful panoply of plants and animals that greeted us! There is no greater pleasure in gardening than providing habitat for wild animals.