An Earthstar is Born

It hasn’t rained in Southwest Florida in a month but I let the kids play in the hose a few nights ago. The result was the emergence of Hygroscopic Earthstars. They are not technically true Earthstars but who cares. They’re just as cool. The hose water gave the fungus just enough moisture to grow fruiting bodies which you see here. 

They have a symbiotic relationship with the Live Oak trees that are growing a few feet away. The fungus helps the tree extract phosphorus from the soil and the tree produces carbs for the fungus. 

The fruiting body emerges from moist soil and the outer layer peels back, forming “rays” that give it a star like appearance. The rays fold under the puffball and lift it up out of the ground enough to help elevate it. When the mushroom is ripe, the rusty colored spores billow or "puff" from a hole like a volcano belching plumes of smoke into the wind. The spores scatter and start the process all over again. I love these things.

You want to own your own company? Start digging.

As of 9/1/2016 I will no longer work for the Everglades Day Safari. This may come as a shock, a pleasant surprise or be met with raging indifference. I will officially be the owner of Everglades Day Safari and here's how it happened.

The first job I ever had lasted one day. I was 13 and was a babysitter for three kids. I don't remember their names but I remember kicking a ball around inside the house with them and the image of the ball rising into the air and striking a magnificent native American sculpture and sending it plummeting to and shattering on the ground is burned into my brain like a picture on a TV that's been paused too long.

My next job didn't last much longer. My mom, in an effort to get me out of our summer camp in NY back in 1984, suggested I call a number in a classified ad asking for "help with yard work, no digging". I spent 10 days with a spade digging compacted dirt out of a creepy old man's carport. I collected my $320 for 80 hours of work and was grateful I didn't end up buried in the carport. I learned to ask at every other job after that if there would be digging.

My first official job was working at McDonalds. Everyone should work at McDonalds for minimum wage. It's inspiring. The perks included a free meal. The longer your shift, the more grade D beef you were allowed to consume.

I paid my way through college in part by working at Pizza Hut. Everyone should be a server at some point in their life. It teaches you to respect servers. I was a waiter and my first customer barked at me "Hey boy. Get over her" and plopped a gooey, half masticated piece of pizza in the palm of my hand. A bolt from the oven had fallen into his pizza and ended up in his mouth and subsequently my hand. No tip. Because clearly it was my fault. The manager was a moron. His mantra was "the customer is always right and the employee is always wrong". I lasted longer than he did.

After graduating from the University of Vermont in 1994 with a degree in Wildlife Biology, CaptainJoe Del Regno hooked me up with a job at Pillsbury because that makes sense. It was ideal. I'd roam the New York country side in search of grocery stores, shuffle around products and remove out of date cookie dough and eat it. Additionally I got to dress up as the Pillsbury Dough Boy or Sprout, the Jolly Green Giant's sidekick. These were $4000 air-conditioned costumes which you could easily hoard cookie dough inside and eat it while walking around at grocery story grand openings. I got fat in 1994.

I quit Pillsbury in 1998 and moved back home to Florida. I worked at the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa for a few months. Got to dress up as Larry the Manatee. In June of that year my mother discovered a classified ad online, printed it out and sent it to me from the home she shared with my step-dad Bill Schreiber out in Montana. It was weird because I wasn't living with them so there was no need to get me out of the house. The ad was for a guide with the Everglades Day Safari in Fort Myers. It required, driving, pointing at wildlife and talking to people. I took a public speaking class in college and sucked at it, terrified to speak in front of people. I still recall staring out at..............what what happened?

So I applied for the job. When the owner called, I was living with my dad while I looked for my own place. I wasn't home at the time of the call but my dad Michael Corradino recalls the owner asking "what's wrong with your son? Doesn't he want a job?" I did but I had to pass a natural history test. Not a problem. Bird. Snake. Some kinda conifer. The owner Bob Cowlishaw had just bought the business the year before and needed a second guide. I guided from 1998-2000 but moved back to Vermont when business slowed. I worked as a Naturalist (not naturist dad) and Park Ranger for the Vermont State Parks (where I dressed up as Woodsy Owl and Smoky Bear - thanks Dennis Rosa and Linda Betts Rosa and Nate McKeen! until 2007 and worked for the Vermont Institute of Natural Science from 2002-2007 (thanks Susan Morgan Hindinger). I loved those jobs and the people I worked with and taught. Some of whom might be reading this if you haven't given up on this to watch a cat video. In 2006 Bob Cowlishaw called me and asked me if I would be interested in the Director of Operations position. I said no at first, struggling with the death of my mother and not wanting to leave the state for sentimental reasons. In 2007 when he called again I said ok.

It has been an interesting 9+ years. The business has grown tremendously. The funny questions are ceaseless. I've worked with many great people. Bob will officially retire on 9/1/16 and I will be the owner. I'm ready. I'm excited. I'll be working with a great team including Randi Rush Morse, Anne Murray Falcone, Em-Jill Holohan, Erin Dahl, Marc Weiss, Jason Calleri, Edward Olesky, Sharon Turrubiaters, Fred Robbins Robbins, Don Blalock and many more in the industry that are just now finding out I like to dress up in costumes. Being an owner already has it's challenges but MariaElena and Junglito are already stepping up to the plate to help.

Wow. Here we go. At least there shouldn't be any digging. Thanks for the classified ads mom.

Death by Glochids (by CJ Moi)

Guest blogger CJ Moi is an enthusiastically ADD OCD writer, speaker, promo agent, educator and naturalist. Once a resident of central Vermont (where she worked with Jungle Pete), her home base is now Seattle. This post is an excerpt from her first ebook, Being Nomad, which releases on February 1. The book is the story of her epic inner and outer journey, car camping and couch surfing for nearly two years across America and beyond, eccentrically rendered in email conversations, blog posts, Facebook posts, and lyrical pieces of writing and poetry. It is available for pre-order until February 1 at the special price of $2.99 at Barnes and Noble and Apple iBooks. Visit Being Nomad at http://beingnomadthenovel.blogspot.com/

Darwin Award Nomination

In Tucson I got my first lesson about the consequences of carelessness. When undertaking a journey like this, when being nomad, one cannot afford to be even a little careless.

I felt that my visit to the southwest would not be complete without trying cactus pads, and being a long time forager in New England, I felt that it would be a total cop out to buy them in a store. So one day I set out for my walk in the desert with a mission to bag me a couple wild prickly pear pads. I captured a green and a red one, not without some wounds to show for it. By the time I got back to the house they had fairly shredded the plastic bag I had bagged them in. Not to be deterred, I got out a knife and tongs and set to work to pull their fangs.

I couldn't quite remember the cactus pad defanging instructions from the foraging books I'd read and I didn't stop to pay attention to what I was undertaking. If I'd taken time to Google it, I'd have recalled that the large canines are not the prickly pear's only defense, and that the best way to thoroughly neutralize the clumps of insidious small fuzzy glochids is by running the pad through a flame and burning them off. Instead, I attempted to cut them all off.

(Nearly a year later in California I finally got to try prickly pear fruits with the guidance of an experienced forager. Despite the hard little seeds throughout the sweet pulp, they are much better tasting than the pads. And their glochids are much easier to avoid!)

But as one begins to cut into a prickly pear pad, it starts oozing a viscous liquid which engulfs any loose glochids. By this time I was getting a bit frustrated with all this painstaking process just for a taste of cactus pad. I hacked off a couple pieces, ascertained that they were glochid-free and popped them in my mouth. The punch line here is that I ended up with a glochid stuck in the back of my throat, just far enough down that I couldn't reach it without a gag reflex and couldn't dislodge it by scraping anyway.

Now I did Google, to find that I had plenty of company in the embarrassing glochid ranks of Darwin Award Nominees. Most accounts said that I'd be fine, albeit with a resident glochid for anywhere from several days to several months - except for a few that recounted the deaths of individuals whose throat swelled up and constricted the air passage so they couldn't breathe. But after a somewhat uneasy night I woke up alive, breathing and with the annoying tickly pain gone - the glochid had apparently dissolved.

Some great forager I was. How could I have been so stupid? To add insult to injury, the damn cactus pad didn't even taste all that great. But already I was at least smart enough to see the lesson here. Pay attention. Think. You can't afford to be careless on the road.

Nonetheless there would be times when I was careless again. Every time was a reminder. Every time the lesson went a little deeper. Still, it sometimes feels like it's only by rather dubious acquiescence from the universe that I'm alive to write this book. 

Help me help a friend fighting ovarian cancer

I have a favor. My friend Michele has been battling ovarian cancer for nearly 2 years. After a second round of chemotherapy, a CT scan today offered positive news and we hope that she continues to improve. The ordeal has taken a physical, emotional and financial toll which is why her friends have set up a fundraiser event this Saturday to help where the insurance companies could not.

Whether you know Michele or not, I'm asking for your help. Help me help Michele and her family. We have collected over 30 prizes which will be part of a Chinese raffle on Saturday. at Skip One Seafood at Fort Myers Beach. You don't have to be there win. We have set up a Paypal account specific for the event. You can buy tickets by transferring money to Michele's Fundraiser account (anhinga8200@yahoo.com) and choosing which prize basket you would like your raffle tickets to be placed in. Or show up at Skip One Restaurant, Fort Myers Beach between 11-3 PM on 9/28 to buy them and place them yourself. We will also have a mini-golf event. 100% of raffle prize money raised goes to Michele's cause. Here is the link to the event - https://www.facebook.com/events/1411094415777398/

The $2 raffle ticket or 3 for $5 prizes include:

Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre (Fort Myers) - Enjoy Dinner and a Show for 2 people.

Canoe Outpost (Arcadia) - Paddle Pass good for one 5,8 or 12 mile day paddle trip on the beautiful Peace River.

Edison & Ford Winter Estates (Fort Myers) - 4 Tickets and Guide Book.

Florida Repertory Theatre (Fort Myers) - (2) tickets to any 2013-2014 Season Show.

Fort Myers Miracle (Fort Myers) - Sky Suite for (10) guests to any 2014 regular season Fort Myers Miracle game

Good Will (Fort Myers) - $50 Gift Certificate

Gulf Coast Symphony (Fort Myers) - 2 tickets to any 2013/14 GCS concert at Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall.

Hampton Inn (Estero) - Gift Certificate for a (1) night stay at the Hampton Inn and Suites Fort Myers/Estero

Holiday Inn (Fort Myers) - 2 nights stay at the Holiday Inn Downtown Fort Myers

Key West Express (Fort Myers Beach) - One Roundtrip Ticket aboard Jet powered vessel between Fort Myers Beach or Marco Island to Key West

Naples Zoo (Naples) - 2 adults 2 children tickets. Enjoy a wildly fun day featuring shows and cruises in a historic botanical garden.

Pure Naples (Naples) - $100 Gift Certificate

Pure Naples (Naples) - Gift Certificate for 2 on the Double Sunshine. Enjoy dolphin watching, sightseeing, sunset cruises and more!

Pure Naples (Naples) - Gift Certificate for 2 on the Jet Boat Odin. Explore Naples’ waterways with commentary explaining the sights and ecology.

Sun Splash! (Cape Coral) - Tickets for 4 day passes. Each ticket allows admission to Sun Splash for one person, valid through the end of their 2014 season.

Outback Grilling Basket - Grilling supplies and Outback Gift Card

Movie Basket - Movie supplies and Movie Gift Card

Wine & Cheese Basket - with Flip Flop Merlot includes two bottles of wine, two wine glasses, knife, cutting board, bottle stopper, two candles, cheese, salami, napkins, dip and assorted crackers

Camping Cooler Basket - includes cooler, lantern, 3 pack dry bags, utensils, relief, water proofing spray, tent repair kit, head bug net, waterproof matches, poncho, whistle, carabineers, bug spray, headlamp

The following are $5 per raffle ticket items

Everglades Day Safari - (Fort Myers or Fort Lauderdale) Gift Certificate for 2 on full day safari. Full day tour includes airboat ride, nature walk, boat cruise, wildlife drive. Lunch is included.

Scubavice (Fort Myers) - One beginner scuba class.

Robert Dellaert Air Expeditions (Fort Myers/Marco Island) - One half hour seaplane expedition

More prizes will be up for silent auction at the event!

Lost & Found at Wendy's

My good friend Rebecca recalled a story from her childhood of finding "monkey" in a bag at Wendy's. This story dovetailed well (or at least like a Peregrine Falcon soaring talons first into a dove) with a story from my childhood of my family walking out of a Wendy's and leaving an ape in a bag for a moment. Follow the link and enjoy.

http://meanlouise.com/?p=7926

Mission: Impossible – the Ground Beetles

Originally published on Audubon Guides on September 4th, 2012

My mother, a park ranger, once held out a cone from an unknown tree and asked a state forester if he knew which tree it came from. “Some kinda conifer”, he answered, as if that was sufficient. He wasn’t wrong. The cone did come from a coniferous tree, but the answer was as helpful as saying “food” when someone asks “what’s for dinner?”

My mother was hoping for the specific tree. Did the forester know the answer or not?  I hardly know anything and nature proves that to me daily with new mysteries. For example, why one morning was there a Ground Beetle hanging from a web-like snare from the bumper of my car? These are large, hefty beetles. Who caught it? And what type of beetle is it? I’ll give you a hint. You’re not going to find out because I don’t know.

Pasimachus Ground Beetle © Pete Corradino

I asked an insect nerd, I mean entomologist, which species it might be and considering there are over 425 different species of ground beetles, I was content to have it narrowed down to the Pasimachus, a genera with at least five indigenous species in Florida. From there he said it was impossible to tell with the photograph provided.

Most of the 40,000+ beetles in the world have hardened elytra that cover over and protect the wings. The Pasimachus ground beetles are flightless and the elytra are fused into a firm shell. They spend their time on the ground, in and under logs and leaf litter foraging for caterpillars, other larvae and other ground insects.

a mysterious situation © Pete Corradino

How this beetle came to be ensnared, flailing its limbs in the breeze like Ethan Hunt on a mission is beyond me. If it was trapped in a spider’s web, I wasn’t curious enough to look up under my car to find out which kind.

It would have been nice to offer you a genus and species name, but the beetle biologist took me as far as I could go. “Some kinda Pasimachus” would have to do. Sometimes identifying insects is a mission: impossible.

What Not To Lick – The Southern Toad

Originally published on Audubon Guides on October 8th, 2012

I had a dream about the game show Family Feud the other night. The one hosted by Richard Dawson, the guy that kissed all of the ladies.

He said “One hundred people surveyed, top five answers on the board. Here’s the question: name me something you lick.”

I couldn’t think. I panicked. Frozen flag poles. Lobsters. Newborns (no that’s what animals do). Toads!

“Show me Toads!”

XXX

Yeah that’s a bad idea. Toads in general have a powerful defense in the form of bufotoxin, a white venomous substance that is secreted through the “warts” on their skin. Licking the neurotoxin of a toad would be harmful and potentially fatal. In fact it’s illegal to produce drugs from toad venom in the U.S.  

Southern Toad © Pete Corradino

I had a dog when I was young that would routinely pick toads up in its mouth, quickly drop them and then froth at the mouth to eliminate the toxin. He often looked rabid. Did he learn? No and he repeated this behavior despite the negative reinforcement of the painful experience. Both the dog and toads survived nonetheless.

The Southern Toad (Anaxyrus terrestris) has bumpy skin with two large kidney-shaped parotoid glands behind the eyes. It is best not to handle toads and these bumps especially should be avoided. Southern Toads can reach lengths of over 3.5 inches, are slow hoppers and are found near water in sandy soiled areas. They’re also the ones hanging around your doorstep at night feeding on bugs. Keep the dog inside. During the day they dig a burrow to protect their moist skin from the long sunny days in the Southeastern United States.

In the spring, females will find a slow-flowing body of water and lay duel strands of thousands of gelatinous eggs that will hatch within 2-3 days. Once the tadpoles develop feet, thousands of them will disperse together on rainy nights, but their neurotoxin offers no defense for what awaits them on the roads.

You may have better ideas of what’s acceptable to lick. Just remember toads are not one of them. 

Wishful Thinking - the Florida Panther

Originally published on Audubon Guides on September 24th, 2012

Twenty seven squirrel monkeys lived on an island at the Florida Monkey Sanctuary in Venice, Florida. They had no interest in swimming to freedom. There was no land close enough on the other side of the encircling moat that offered a chance to leap to. They were content on their island oasis.

My parents ran the sanctuary and we lived on the property when we were kids. One night while my siblings and I slept, our dogs made an awful racket. My mother asked my father to find out what was happening. He listened to the screams from the porch and stepped no further from them. One by one, the dogs returned, limping and bloodied. In the morning, my father investigated. All 27 monkeys were dead. He traced cat tracks the size of his hands; one adult and two kittens and determined that an endangered Florida Panther (Puma concolor coryii) swam across the moat with her young and hunted each and every one. Oddly, she ate none. My father’s theory was that she was teaching her kittens to hunt and quite effectively at that.

The Florida Panther is considered one of the most endangered animals on the planet. Technically they are a subspecies of the Mountain Lion, aka Puma, Cougar, Painter, Swamp Screamer and Catamount (mascot of my Alma mater – the University of Vermont – Go Cats Go!). The panthers are the last breeding population of the cats east of the Mississippi. They once ranged from Alaska, south to Tierra del Fuego in South America. In the United States they are restricted to the western states with the exception of 120-160 panthers that roam from the Caloosahatchee south to the Everglades.

Florida Panther © Pete Corradino

Florida Panthers are slightly smaller than the Mountain Lions out west. Adult males weigh in at 165 lbs, compared to western cats that top off at 260 lbs. Panthers measure over seven feet in length from nose to the tip of tail.

There are many sightings of panthers with descriptions of spotted cats or black cats that I chalk up to wishful thinking. Typically these are Bobcats (Lynx rufus) or a trick of the eye. Bobcats are a third of the size and are spotted with a six inch tailed compare to a three foot tail. The notion of a black panther may come from the black leopards from the Tarzan movies, the political group, their appearance at dusk or melanistic bobcats that have been sighted in Florida. The panther is golden brown with fur similar in color to their food, the White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus).

I was born and raised here and have yet to see a panther. I’ll keep looking and keep up my wishful thinking. 

Catch Me If You Can – The American Oystercatcher

Originally published on Audubon Guides on October 1st, 2012

Catching an oyster only seems difficult to me if you’re tossing one around with your kid in your backyard. For a predator the difficulty is not chasing one down but prying one apart once they’ve located it. The two sides of the bivalve’s shell are bound together by an adductor that protects them from prying intruders. Hopefully.

Considering the difficulty of which it is to open an oyster for a human, the American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliates) is a devastating effective predator of mollusks of all sorts. Juvenile oystercatchers are taught certain techniques by their parents that make a quick meal of mollusks. They are aided by a stout, powerful bill with triangular shaped mandibles in cross section that are reinforced in such a way that they will not bend easily when attacking prey.

American Oystercatcher © Pete Corradino

One method taught, known as “stabbing”, is to sneak up on the oyster while the shell is open even the slightest, stab at the adductor and break the shell open, exposing the meal inside. The second method, “hammering”, is to pry the oyster from the oyster bed or other place of attachment and then use the bill to shatter a hole in the shell. They can then break the adductor and eat their meal.

American Oystercatcher © Pete Corradino

In addition to oysters they feed on a variety of shellfish, crabs and tube worms. Crabs are flipped on their back and stabbed to death with the bill. To locate tube worms, sensitive nerve endings in the bill allow them to sense prey as they probe the tidal flats.

A Willet attempts to drive off an Oystercatcher © Pete Corradino

Occasionally confused with the Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger), the oystercatcher’s mandibles are equal in length compared to the skimmer’s disproportionate upper and lower mandibles. The oystercatcher has a black head, white belly, and sturdy pink legs.

As willets and sandpipers scooted along the surf, the oystercatcher above methodically probed the sand for lunch, ignoring the beachgoers. When you’re a stabber or a hammerer who’s going to mess with you?

Flip Flop - the Coconut Palm

Originally published on Audubon Guides on September 17th, 2012

One of the quickest ways to make an enemy of a native Floridian is to suggest that the Coconut Palm (Cocos nucifera) is not native to Florida. The fastest way is to drive slowly in the fast lane. The iconic palm is found throughout the tropics and grows along Florida’s coast from the middle of the state south through the Keys. As a native Floridian I dare say that of the 85 species of palms found in Florida, the Coconut might not be one of the 10 native species. As more communities require Florida native plantings in their landscaping, the debate over the status of the Coconut Palm has been more heated. Certainly many of these palms have been planted on our shores, but the husked fruit can bob along in the ocean for long periods of time, so it’s not inconceivable that seeds have washed ashore and began growing here on their own. 

A Red-shouldered Hawk on a palm © Pete Corradino

The Coconut Palm is easily the most recognizable palm with its long fronds and bowling-ball sized fruit growing off of a single trunk. It’s valued for the sweet “water” found inside as well as the edible white “meat” on the inside that can be eaten raw or cooked in a variety. It is also used in soaps, shampoos and to make coconut oil. Most importantly the palm provides an aptitude test for young boys who attempt to procure the enticing seeds in a several ways. I've watched a less-than-gifted boy stand at the base of a palm and throw rocks up at a cluster of 10-15 coconuts, inadvertently providing a live demonstration of gravity.

Coconut Palm © Pete Corradino

The tree bears fruit after about five years and continues to grow 50-200 fruit for about eighty years. Clearly, as some boys age they learn the art of coconut retrieval. In Everglades City there is a group of men who drive around in an unmarked white van, locate Coconut Palms, shimmy up the trunk, knock the fruit down and collect them on the ground. Geniuses! These men are doing a public service. One of the fastest ways to determine who the tourists are is to see who parks under a Coconut Palm. Hopefully the White Van Men have already been by.

Coconut © Pete Corradino

I’ve changed my mind. As a native Floridian I’m going to flip flop and claim the Coconut Palm as one of our own. 

When in Drought – The Roseate Spoonbill

Originally published on Audubon Guides on September 10th, 2012

I could be a meteorologist in Florida. In May the weather forecast is a chance of rain through November. The rainy season coincides with the tropical storm season. A nice afternoon rain shower is par for the course on any given day.

Lake Trafford is a 1600 acre inland lake in northeast Collier County. It’s been called the headwaters of the western Everglades. There are no springs or creeks to fill it up. The lake relies solely on rain water. At its deepest point it’s about thirteen feet deep. As the afternoon rains have fallen across south Florida, the clouds have parted as they’ve passed the lake. When Tropical Storm Isaac skirted the gulf coast, rain bands slipped past the lake on either side. The result is a 1600 acre lake that has dried down to about 1200 acres with mudflats extending far out from shore. The lake is more than four to five feet lower than normal.

Roseate Spoonbills on Lake Trafford © Pete Corradino

The consequence is a high concentration of American Alligators, estimated at about 3000-4000. A variety of wading birds are also enjoying the late summer shallows. The Roseate Spoonbills are most conspicuous. In a landscape of leafy greens and muddy browns, the cotton candy pink plumage of the spoonbills is a carnival of contrast.

The bald-headed, spatula-spoon-billed bird has a distinct method of feeding, sweeping the bill back and forth over the shallow mudflats, sucking in water, fish, crustaceans and insects and straining out anything undesirable through its serrated-edged bill. The pink is diet related. Certain algae contain carotenoid pigments which shrimp consume and then pass on to spoonbills. These pigments are displayed in the pink flight feathers as well as the creamcicle-orange tail feathers.

Spoonbill populations have suffered for over a century in part from plumage hunters who collected the feathers for ornamentation in the late 19^th century and early 20^th century. Populations declined further due to the use of the chemical pesticide DDT that caused thinning of the eggshells and low birthrates. The population has increased in the last few years and despite the lack of rain on Lake Trafford, the low water has created a refuge of sorts. If every cloud has a silver lining, than it’s reflection on Lake Trafford is pink. 

Hurriconundrum - The White Ibis

Originally published on Audubon Guides on August 25th, 2012

On Sunday, August 26^th, Tropical Storm Isaac loomed 150 miles southwest of me in the Gulf of Mexico. For five days, hurricane trackers had forecast the storm’s position and strength and offered suggestions of where it might hit. Flooding, storm surges and high winds are a big concern. When the call goes out to evacuate, it’s time to go.

A mixed flock of Ibis, Wood Storks and Egrets © Pete Corradino

Birds and other wildlife are sensitive to barometric pressure changes. When storms rage through, strong fliers will depart in advance of the approaching storm. Tree cavity dwellers like owls and woodpeckers will take shelter while others will simply gran a branch, hang on and ride it out. The ibis can fly at speeds of up to 28 miles per hour, so it is possible that they are the last to go, but Ibis also amass in huge flocks and fly in “V” formation making them conspicuous to even a non-birder.

The White Ibis was named the mascot for the Miami Hurricanes back in 1926 because as the school’s website states, “Folklore maintains that the Ibis is the last sign of wildlife to take shelter before a hurricane and the first to reappear after the storm.” Clearly this is fact because several other websites state that “Folklore maintains that the Ibis is the last sign of wildlife to take shelter before a hurricane and the first to reappear after the storm.”

White Ibis © Pete Corradino

I was born and raised in Florida. In my 41 years I have yet to experience a hurricane (lucky!). I’m sure it made little sense to others that a native Floridian was asking when and if we will need to evacuate. I wonder if the birds do as well. Do they look to the Ibis or decide for themselves when it’s time to go? There are plenty of people who wait until the last minute to evacuate and then it may be too late.

Juvenile White Ibis © Pete Corradino

Thankfully there was no need for me to evacuate and I had the opportunity to watch to see which birds returned first. Keep your eyes open – with storms like these, occasionally a rare species like the Greater Flamingo will have been gusted north and made a rare appearance in Florida. 

Walking on Sunshine – The Sunray Venus

Originally published on Audubon Guides on August 20th, 2012

The gulf coast beaches of Florida are famed for the amazing seashells that wash ashore. Scallops, conchs, whelks, pen shells, turkey wings and a myriad of others become treasures to tourists and locals who are no doubt entranced by the variety of colors and shapes these sea creatures come in. What is easy to overlook, is what is underfoot when we walk in the water along our coasts. The shells we gather were once occupied and lived in a community of unseen denizens in the sand.  

Gulf Coast shore birds © Pete Corradino

Bunche Beach in Fort Myers is a little known, sand and mud bottomed beach between Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel. At low tide, the crowds arrive. Black Skimmers, Laughing Gulls, Royal Terns, Least Terns, American Avocets, Whimbrels, Ruddy Turnstones, Dunlin, Willets and other coastal birds probe the flats in search of bivalves, crustaceans, sand worms and other critters that are vulnerable when the tide falls. One of the favorite snacks of gulls and terns is the radiant Sunray Venus Clam (Macrocallista nimbus).

Sunrays are found in muddy environments where they can burrow up to twenty five feet deep. Storms often send them tumbling up towards the beach where they make easy pickings for birds, raccoons and other coastal species. My son plucked one from the sand. It was empty but the radiant sun burst of color was evidence that it had been freshly vacated. Sunrays, while brilliant with pinks, salmons, grays and blacks will quickly fade in the sun.

Sunray Venus Clam © Pete Corradino

The ligament that holds each valve together was tenaciously protecting a ghost of an occupant. The umbo, the terminal meeting point of both halves was chipped and scratched as if the shell had taken a turbulent ride in the sand. Inside, the shell was porcelain with a faint touch of salmon around the centers.

It’s a beautiful shell and certainly made a good home for the departed owner. Now in my son’s collection of sea treasures, it is a reminder of the mysteries underfoot and the sunshine in the sea.