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January 31, 2008 - Fascinating feeding frenzySA • The Suffolk Times • January 31, 2008 N x ry f_ Suffolk Times photo by Barbara Stoutenburgh Suflolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh Male and female monk parakeets look the same. A native of South America, it has spread throughout the countryside and, because of its fondness for fruit This burr fish can inflate Its body with seawater so that it looks like a rounded is considered an agricultural pest there. They have a good foothold in Florida, ball with menacing spines all about its body. Predators soon learn to leave this where their numbers are closely monitored should they become a problem for little member of the puffer family alone. It can be found from Maine to Florida. the farmers. Fascinating feeding frenzy One of the things that puzzles us down here in Florida is the lack of bird feeders around the homes I would think because of the wide assortment of birds, people would put feeders out to attract them. We put one up when we arrived and waited and waited until we thought there was something wrong with our feed. FOCUS Then one morning at break- 0 N fast a lone grackle (a robin -sized NATURE black bird with b Pa ul a longish tail) y showed u at our Stoutenburgh tube -type feeder, but because of his large size and the small quarter - inch dowels that were used for perches to hold on to, it fluttered around the feeder trying to get at the seed. This fluttering attracted other birds so that now we have quite an assortment of birds taking advantage of a free meal. I'm not too fond of grackles as they are bullies and nest robbers, but when you don't have anything else at your feeder, you'll tolerate the first bird that arrives and so it was with the grackle. Needless to say, from that day on we not only, had grackles galore but spar- rows, cowbirds, doves, a strange little bluebird (no relative to our bluebird) and six handsome green parakeets that take your breath away when seen up close. These colorful "monk" parakeets are becoming quite common here in Florida. It's hard to describe what a thrill it is to sometimes see six of these handsome birds feeding just outside our window. The monk parakeet is not native to Florida; rather, it hails from South America, east of the Andes. The spe- cies is considered an agricultural pest in South America, where flocks of these parakeets can raise havoc with the farmers' fruit. One can imagine the devastation a flock of these aggressive birds could do. If you have any doubt, ask any of our vineyard growers what damage birds can do to their crop of grapes, and you'll know what I mean. As yet parakeets have not caused any major agricultural problem here; nev- ertheless they are being monitored just in case they do become a problem_ The monk parakeet is highly gregarious and often travels in small groups. It is the only member of its family that builds a huge nest of twigs and sticks. These big nests can be recognized in trees or on utility poles Within these huge nests there may be as many as 20 pairs nest- ing. The big nests are used year round, mainly for roosting and storage of ma- terials that are used to repair the nest. Besides the common and boat - tailed v s� fif� i 6 t: grackles that visit our feeder, we had 100 or more male cowbirds descend on us I'd never seen anything quite like it before. Do they flock together here in Florida and then as the weather warms up in the spring head north, much like the male red - winged blackbirds do, and then weeks later the females follow? The female cowbird I've spoken of before is the one that lays its single egg in some unsuspecting bird's nest. From Suffolk Times photo by Russell Stoutenburgh We often see white ibis, with their long, curved, red bills, feeding along the highway and in the wet fields. Evolution has created this odd bill so the bird can reach down and pull out worms and other creatures from a depth that other birds cannot reach. that moment on, the female cowbird has nothing to do with the egg, leaving it to be incubated, hatched and fed by an unsuspecting mother, often meaning the parent bird neglects her own young. I mention this because of the flocks of male cowbirds we've seen down here. We often see groups of white ibis feeding on lawns or just along the side of the highway as we travel about. This white bird with its long, curved, colorful bill was once on the way to extinction — along with the herons, egrets and others — for there were market gun- ners decimating them and other birds that had fancy feathers to be sold to the millinery trade. It wasn't until Teddy Roosevelt created sanctuaries and pro- tected these birds that their destruction finally stopped. We do a lot of walking down here in Florida. Our first choice has always been walking the beach along the gulf One never knows what treasures aught wash up occasionally and then there's always the extra enjoyment when the shallow waves wash over your feet. It's as good as any prescribed therapy you could ask for. The water here is still pretty cool for swimming; yet some of our younger visi- tors think that it is just right. We found this striped burr fish on our walk last week.The last time I saw one of these spiny little fish was out in Ori- ent. I think it was when we were running ecology workshops for young people and one of our stops was always to see Captain John Tuthill at the head of the creek. He enjoyed sharing his treasures that he caught in his fish trap, and on one particular day he had brought in one of these spiny puffers in a bucket of water to show the kids It was interest- ing to see how this chunky little fellow swam. They move by undulating their pectoral and tail fins, much like a sea horse, rather than by bending their whole body and tail like most fish do. This little burr fish has the ability to inflate itself with seawater so that it becomes the size of a large orange cov- ered with sharp spines. Predators soon learn that a meal of burr fish should be left alone. There are tales of fishermen finding their catch choked to death on one of these spiny little critters enlarged in their throat. Their range is from Maine to Florida. The Suffolk Times • January 31, 2008 feedin One of the things that puzzles us down here in Florida is the lack of bird feeders around the homes. I would think because of the wide assortment of birds, people would put feeders out to attract them. We put one up when we arrived and waited and waited until we thought there was something wrong with our feed. FOCUS Then one morning at break O N fast a lone grackl (a robin -sized NATURE black bird with b Paul a longish tail) Y showed up at our Stoutenburgh tube -type feeder, but because of Ills large size and the small quarter - inch dowels that were used for perches to hold on to, it fluttered around the feeder trying to get at the seed. This fluttering attracted other birds so that now we have quite an assortment of birds taking advantage of a free meal. I'm not too fond of grackles as they are bullies and nest robbers, but when you don't have anything else at your feeder, you'll tolerate the first bird that arrives and so it was with the grackle. Needless to say, from that day on we not only had grackles galore but spar- rows, cowbirds, doves, a strange little bluebird (no relative to our bluebird) and six handsome green parakeets that take your breath away when seen up close. These colorful "monk" parakeets are becoming quite common here in Florida. It's hard to describe what a thrill it is to sometimes see six of these handsome birds feeding just outside our window. The monk parakeet is not native to Florida; rather, it hails from South America, east of the Andes. The spe- cies is considered an agricultural pest in South America, where flocks of these parakeets can raise havoc with the farmers' fruit. One can imagine the devastation a flock of these aggressive birds could do. If you have any doubt, ask any of our vineyard growers what damage birds can do to their crop of grapes, and you'll know what I mean. As yet parakeets have not caused an; major agricultural problem here; nev- ertheless they are being monitored just in case they do become a problem. The 'ascinatin renz Suffolk Times photo by Russell Stoutenburghl We often see white ibis, with their long, curved, red bills, feeding along the highway and in the wet fields. Evolution has created this odd bill so the bird can reach down and pull out worms and other creatures from a depth that other birds cannot reach. monk parakeet is highly gregarious an( often travels in small groups. It is the only member of its family that builds a huge nest of twigs and sticks. These big nests can be recognized in trees or on utility poles. Within these huge nests there may be as many as 20 pairs nest- ing. The big nests are used year round, mainly for roosting and storage of ma- terials that are used to repair the nest. Besides the common and boat - tailed grackles that visit our feeder, we had 100 or more male cowbirds descend on us. I'd never seen anything quite like it before. Do they flock together here in Florida and then as the weather warms up in the spring head north, much like the male red - winged blackbirds do, and then weeks later the females follow? The female cowbird I've spoken of before is the one that lays its single egg in some unsuspectins bird's nest. From Suffolk Times photo by Barbara Stoutenburgl This burr fish can inflate its body with seawater so that it looks like a roundec ball with menacing spines all about its body. Predators soon learn to leave thiE little member of the puffer family alone. It can be found from Maine to Florida. d Suffolk Tories photo by Paul Stoutenburgh Male and female monk parakeets look the same. A native of South America, it has spread throughout the countryside and, because of its fondness for fruit, Is considered an agricultural pest there. They have a good foothold in Florida, where their numbers are closely monitored should they become a problem for the farmers. that moment on, the female cowbird has nothing to do with the egg, leaving it to be incubated, hatched and fed by an unsuspecting mother, often meaning the parent bird neglects her own young I mention this because of the flocks of male cowbirds we've seen down here. We often see groups of white ibis feeding on lawns or just along the side of the highway as we travel about. This white bird with its long, curved, colorfu I ill was once on the way to extinction — along with the herons, egrets and others — for there were market gun- ners decimating them and other birds that had fancy feathers to be sold to the millinery trade. It wasn't until Teddy Roosevelt created sanctuaries and pro- tected these birds that their destruction finally stopped. We do a lot of walking down here in Florida. Our first choice has always been walking the beach along the gulf One never knows what treasures might wash up occasionally and then there's always the extra enjoyment when the shallow waves wash over your feet. It's as good as any prescribed therapy you could ask for. The water here is still pretty cool for swimming; yet some of our younger visi- tors think that it is just right. We found this striped burr fish on our walk last week. The last time I saw one of these spiny little fish was out in Ori- ent. I think it was when we were running ecology workshops for young people and one of our stops was always to see Captain John Tuthill at the head of the creek. He enjoyed sharing his treasures that he caught in his fish trap, and on one particular day he had brought in one of these spiny puffers in a bucket of water to show the kids. It was interest- ing to see how this chunky little fellow swam. They move by undulating their pectoral and tail fins, much like a sea horse, rather than by bending their whole body and tail like most fish do. This little burr fish has the ability to inflate itself with seawater so that it becomes the size of a large orange cov- ered with sharp spines. Predators soon learn that a meal of burr fish should be left alone. There are tales of fishermen finding their catch choked to death on one of these spiny little critters enlarged in their throat. Their range is from Maine to Florida.