These Mottled Ducks (Anas fulvigula) are commonly found in my back yard. They are spring residents in most of the local ponds of the community. They are fun to watch especially when the chicks follow the hen. Sometimes these birds are difficult to photograph because they are always on the look out for the Red Hawk which resides near by. The featured photograph is a mated Mottled Duck couple with female on left male on right.
What does this guy want with my spot? Juvenile little blue Herron in water with spotted white feathers changing in color to blue
Those pesky neighbors need to be chased away. Mottled duck drake and hen.
Sharing the shore with a hungry ibis.
Hen taking shelter in the high grasses
Are they gone yet? The bill of the female has a black with yellow tip
My hero! It’s OK honey. They’r gone.
The new clutch on a late afternoon trip
The chicks getting bigger.
“Watch out got the hawk, turtle, eagle, snake, alligator” … “OK mom”
The Red tailed Hawk that rules the pond.
These mottled ducks are very similar to the Mallard ducks in Michigan with which I am familiar. They are easily distinguished by the yellow bill.
Mottled Ducks form pair which bonds earlier than most other duck species. They typically pair in November well before the breeding season which starts the following spring. Male Mottled Ducks tend to remain with their mate well into the incubation period and sometimes later.
If you like it click like. Enjoy it then share it. If you have experience say it in comments.
If you wish to receive notification of new posts, enter your email and click on subscribe.
The solution for low production is: light control, frequent water, fertilizer and pest control.
I worked diligently to encourage the orchids to grow this year because of the very poor performance of the last three years. Until last November all 12 of the vandas died. We explored the use of soap applied to control pests. The cattleya stopped all activity and what was left were leafless vertical branches. The phalaenopsis bloomed but minimally. In the face of this discouraging result I developed a new strategy. I gathered all of the plants in a protected but bright area in the courtyard with no direct sunlight and no rain. I replumbed the area to allow a garden hose attachment. I installed a timed, directed mist water spray system and I began an aggressive fertilization program. I used a soap spray to reduce the probability of pest growth. The results were prolific beyond my expectations! All of the plants grew doubling the size of the plants with new stems and leaves. In the home courtyard there are 20 phalaenopsis and 13 cattleya orchids. Most of the season has favored the phalaenopsis species where the plants have simultaneously provided at least 145 blossoms with a maximum production of over 220 during the three months. The cattleya have been growing but less prolifically with episodic blooming from some plants yielding about 30 blooms. They may still produce for the next two months. The cover picture is a cattleya with its second yield this season.
The phaleanopsis in the lanai orchid garden. You can see the irrigation lines leading to the plants.
The plants were watered with an automated misting system timed to 5 minutes on alternate days. They have been generously fertilized on alternate weeks. The first blooms came in early February and have persisted until now where I expect all to be lost in the next two to three weeks. The peak blooming period was one week before Easter (approximately March 14).
The Price of Production:
Now that the wet season has begun the watering is reduced and just in time. One plant has its first outbreak of mealy bugs (Coccoidea). These showed up on the crotons on the other side of the yard about two weeks earlier. I removed the crotons from the yard and sprayed them with an insecticidal soap. None the less here we are with an infection showing up on two of the phalaenopsis plants.
I first cut away one leaf that was highest infected and explored the specimen using the microscope. After identifying bugs accurately as mealy bugs. I treated all surfaces of the plants and the surface soil with a thorough spray of 70% alcohol.1 Orchids have succulent leaves and tolerated this treatment. After the alcohol evaporated I followed up with a spray of insecticidal soap.
Use as a direct aerosol spray from bottle.
Put into water solution and apply with sprinkler can
Mealybug eggsCotton like nest protecting the bugs Ants are attracted to the sugary exudate from the bugs. The flying ants help to transport the eggs to a new location.
Plan for next season:
I think this has been a fair trade. Pest control is necessary to counteract the high fertilizer and water schedule. The ants are attracted by the mealybugs’ sugar, therefore, lowering the bug population will lower the attraction of the ants and reduce the spread of bugs. For the summer I have reset the watering timer lowering the watering rate. This is for two reasons. The plants have recovered from their earlier experiences and are now lush. The rainy season will begin soon with humid days. I also reduced the fertilizer concentration but I keep the same schedule. The plants need to rest. This will reduce the growth of the bugs. I will continue the alcohol and soap on scheduled basis to kill any remaining bugs before and during their next hatch. For next season I will Introduce new plants into the colony including dendrobium and cattleya orchids.
There are a few stragglers from the early spring flowering trees. See the previous post on Spring tree blossoms. We now have a new collection of flowering trees that have captured my attention because of their spectacular blooms. These trees are not seen by the seasonally migrating residents nor by the tourists because they have returned home to their residences in the northern States. These are the next group of trees preparing for the new summer season.
I have included five flowering trees present along the streets of the city of Naples. It is difficult to express the overwhelming verdant, colorful canopies stretched over the avenues. A later post will specialize on plumeria varieties.
The cover image is a sample of a Southern Magnolia showing the leaf, bud, blossom and seed pod.
Flamboyant Royal Poinciana Tree (delonix regia). This huge tree is approximately 45 feet in height and width. The leaves are small almost like a locus tree. I found three variant colors of this species; red. orange and yellow.Flamboyant Royal Poinciana tree blossom detail. This is the most vividly colored tree that I’ve ever seen.The classic five petal flower of the Poinciana similar to the Bauhania and the Trees of ChristmasHere is a yellow variant of the Poinciana. It is native to Australia and Malaysia. This specimen is about 40 feet tall.These yellow blossoms are so densely packed it is difficult to isolate only one as an example.Cassia tree (Senna polyphylla) along the road side as I was bicycling along.Desert Cassia tree blossoms before the tree leafs develop.Pink Shower tree (Cassia javanica). This is one of a group of these trees at an entrance to one of the local subdivisions. Really spectacular but still delicate, it is breathtaking. Yes you can side trip on bicycle from the Ark.Pink Shower blossoms. Pretty in pink with a touch of white and highlights of yellow stamen. The blossom of the Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora)Large blossom and evergreen shiny leaves are distinctive characteristics of this one of five Magnolia varieties.Magnolia seed pod. It has such strange morephology.Here is a small version of one of many very large magnolia trees.
There is a constant change in tree blooms throughout the year here in SWFL. The beauty and adventure of discovery adds delight in the journey. This is the third in a continuing series of blooming trees. All of these are located on the Everglades Ark Epicollect5 data base.
Thanks for your interest. I hope that you enjoy the trip through my eyes. Look for the Plumeria show in a post that is still to come. “Like” if you like it. Comment as you wish.
To receive notice of new posts please enter your email address and click on subscribe.
Plant paracites are inevitable in the garden and may result in leaf damage and defoliation of the plant. In the past I used chemical agents such as Chlordane, DDT and Sevin. Subsequently I have seen the light and use much less toxic agents such as soap. The active ingredients are potassium salts of fatty acids also known as soap salts. This solution is not toxic to the plant and breaks down without leaving toxic residue in the soil. The soap works only when wet and loses its effectiveness after it dries. Plant watering washes away most of the residual soap. As you will see it is effective in controlling soft bodied insects and pests like these mealybugs. Mealybugs are insects of the Pseudococcidae family.
Croton leaf with mealybugs overwhelming the plant.Plant mealybugs terminated after one application of soap solution. (~ 40X magnification, incident lighting)
How to make soap insecticide for insect control at home:
Make your own solution at home. Purchase a bar of unscented lye soap. (About $3.50) Grate about one third of the bar and add it to about double the volume of hot water. Gently stir until dissolved as much as possible. This makes 12 oz (1200 ml) of saturated solution. Don’t be surprised if it doesn’t all dissolve. Place this into a storage container with a cover for further dilution down to 1 to 2% solution. For application use an 8 oz (700 ml) hand held spray bottle fill it nearly full of water and add a teaspoon (5 ml) of the saturated soap solution. Spray the plant on all sides with the diluted soap solution once per week or as needed. Repeat once per month for maintenance. Replace equal volume of tap water into the concentrated solution as it is deleted until any undissolved soap disappears. Remake the concentrated solution when the supply is exhausted. Depending on the amount used, this supply of solution from one bar may take years to deplete. There are numerous home recipes on the internet but the main ingredient is soap.
This shows the soap bar wrapper.
Discussion:
Before treatment look to see if the problem is the result of a soft bodied pest. I use the microscope. You can use a magnifying glass. This observation is made because the soap will do nothing against bacterial, fungal, viral or other parasites. The first line of defense may be to hand remove the pest. Trimming a leaf with early signs is easy. When hand removal is not possible then other agents may be used. Horticultural soaps also known as biorational pesticides can be used. These include horticultural oil and insecticidal soap sprays. Biorational insecticides are typically used to target soft-bodied pests like caterpillars, mealybugs, whiteflies, spider mites or aphids. They provide a relatively non-toxic alternative to conventional insecticides, with few ecological side effects.They can be used on indoor and outdoor plants, including vegetables. Before eating be sure to wash your produce. There are commercially available plant-derived insecticides like neem oil and pyrethrum, and microbial pesticides like Bt. Even with commercial agents, repeat applications may be necessary to get the best results. Obviously I can check the leaves with microscopic observation to see the efficacy of the application. Again, you can use a simple magnifying lens. Be attentive to the weather conditions and the time of year. Cold will also act to control these insects.
The featured images illustrate only one portion of the great complexity in the organization of bird orders. A problem arose when searching for an acceptable naming system that would be meaningful and easy to use. Classically there are thousands of bird varieties with more than 40 orders. This is obviously not going to work for citizen scientists unless they are essentially ornithologists. Alternatively, I selected a new method of ordering birds. Naming of the birds is built on bird “clades” * . This method is based on Avian DNA and evolutionary periods. It covers almost all of the post Cretaceous epoch until today.
For management of the Everglades Ark database I needed to call birds by names to distinguish one from another. I searched the internet resources for a simplified method of naming the birds without individualizing each animal. I decided that this could be done in a two-step fashion. Step one is field observation where a reduced drop down list could be used for organized sorting. The second stage is to enter the common name and scientific name after the field observation.
There is a continuing discussion regarding the classification of birds and which order belongs in which clade. Despite these discussions the organization is sufficient for our purposes. On the Everglades Ark Epicollec5 site the new list of avian clades puts most orders into five major clades listed here:
Strisores — nighthawk, frogmouths, diurnal swifts, hummingbirds other nocturnal birds
Inopinaves — all landbirds and songbirds, including raptors, hawks, owls, toucans, falcons, parrots.
This is based on the following scheme published in Science News:
Fig 1. Top half
Fig 2. Bottom half
This illustration shows the organization of the bird orders and their partitioning into subgroups called clades. The illustration continues from Fig 1 lower left to Fig 2 upper right.
Phylogeny of birds:
“The five major, successive, neoavian sister clades are: Strisores (brown), Columbaves (purple), Gruiformes (yellow), Aequorlitornithes (blue), and Inopinaves (green). Background colors mark geological periods. Ma – million years ago; Ple – Pleistocene; Pli – Pliocene; Q. – Quaternary. Clade numbers refer to the plot of estimated divergence dates. Illustrations of representative bird species are depicted by their lineages.” **
It is easy to see that the “green” Inopinaves have the largest number of orders mostly from the Quaternary period. The “blue” Aequorlitornithes has the second largest number of orders and they are from the Pliocene period. I expect that the greatest number of observations will be these two clades.
Because of the DNA portions that each clade share I can speculate that related clades will suffer from virus diseases that attach to the similar DNA and RNA sites. I will surveil the literature over time to see if there are corresponding connections.
GO BLUE! Maybe the UoM should have the armadillo as the school mascot (Defense! Defense!) I couldn’t help myself.
Easier to observe in the back yard than in the zoo, Armadillo are mammals of the order Cingulata where as ant eaters and sloth are from the order Pilosa. Both are somewhat related in classification and are grouped together in the magnorder, Xenarthra. Without careful understanding of the anatomy the distinction can be seen only by dissection. “The lumbar vertebrae are xenarthrous; that is, they have extra contacts (joints, or arthroses) that function to strengthen the lower back and hips.”1 This facilitates the use of the forelegs for digging. The distinction can be seen in their behavior where the primary method used by anteaters and armadillos to obtain food is by digging for insects and roots. I made the distinction in the Everglades Ark Epicollect5 database to make observation data collection in Africa easier.
Armadillo with a handler at the Naples Zoo. Although it is brown, it still has nine bands. Whether they are pinkish, dark-brown, black, red, gray or yellowish in color they are still all the same species. No need to go to the zoo, this grey nine banded Armadillo was in my back yard digging for insects. Great fun to watch!Usually a twilight animal, a pair of armadillo are busy in full daylight. It must be mating season (early summer) where the morning temperature is still cool.
Armadillos have a really bizarre reproductive metabolism.2 They exhibit “obligate monozygotic polyembryony” where each fertilized egg will divide into quarters to produce four separate embryos thereby giving birth to litters of four genetically identical young. Additionally their ovulation period can be varied depending on available food resources. The fertilized egg may stay in the uterus for about 14 weeks before implantation into the wall for the four month gestation period.
These animals were really clever in their defensive behaviors. They have “armor plated” skin on the outside of their bodies, they have a low metabolic rate and body temperature, Among their defensive behaviors they can curl into a ball shape, climb, swim and jump. They are omnivorous and nocturnal. Although they are not indigenous to Florida they are considered native to the Americas. They are not an endangered species.
You might recall another animal with similar behaviors. Check out Gopher tortoise in the Everglades Ark.
Wouldn’t It be interesting to see ant eaters in the back yard ?
Caution: Armadillos dig holes and eat ground dwelling bird and reptile eggs. Try not to pick them up.
Giraffes are so unusual. They are big with extraordinarily long necks and legs and their coloration is vividly variegated. it is hard to imagine that they are camouflaged in the wilderness. They are one of my favorite animals.
Zoo encounters are interesting reminders of the real world beyond the confines of our daily lives. Nothing in a zoo, however, compares to the sight, sounds, smells and surroundings of animals in the wild. I highly recommend the experience of seeing the wild surroundings of our remarkable resource of four million acres of the wilderness of the Everglades National Park and associated state parks around us. Everglades Ark is my attempt to bring the wonders of it to you. Later this year I will be in Africa to observe and photograph the sanctuaries of the Okavango Delta in Botswana and the Maasai Mara in Kenya. I hope that you will see many examples of how this sample of Africa compares to our wilderness in SWFL.
Giraffe in the Naples zooSnack from one of the guests for the Giraffe at the Naples ZooBrother giraffes at the zooGiraffes in the wild
Zoos which have value depend on money and leadership:
Zoos and nature reserves have several agendas which are not necessarily well understood and not always well directed. Superficially these nature reserve areas are entertainment to the public for a price. The public is invited to see and in some instances interact with the captive animals. It is almost like a circus. They also have another agenda which is to preserve some of the animal species in a protected environment. The price paid to see and interact with the animals is the welfare of the animals and the admission for the public to enter. Zoos are very expensive to operate in numerous ways. The two biggest costs are protection and preservation of the animals and protection of the public. I have looked at the literature regarding the effectiveness of the missions of zoos. The information is sparse and scientific studies are few and not well documented. A small number of zoos are well endowed and have the opportunity to facilitate breeding in captivity, promotion of species survival in the wild, and provide research into physiology and pathology that effects both the wild animal populations as well as humans.
Here is your citizen naturalist participation assignment: Go out and enjoy the wild world around us.
Feel free to participation in a discussion regarding the topics in the comment box below.
The Everglades Ark data base site at Epicollect5 needed an update of its classification of mammals under the listing of Animals. Here is the new listing as extracted from a variety of web available references. This is intended to simplify the gathering of information by reducing the need for enumeration of in-field choices while still providing an orderly database look-up. This will be especially helpful when comparing observations from diverse ecosystems including Florida, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South America, the Middle East, and other areas of the USA. The animals are listed by order with examples. This is not intended to be encyclopedic. It does, however, provide space for the observer to enter notes or comments such as genus and species. The example, order or both of the animal can be listed.
Just lying, watching the sunset over the ocean on the beach just in front of the palm trees. Check out the feet. What order is it?
Is this next mammal the same order as the animal shown above?
Standing on the Savana of the Massai Mara
Mammal Classification by Order
Order
example
Metatheria
marsupial – kangaroo, opossum
Edentata
armadillo, sloth, anteater
Pholidota
pangolin
Carnivora
seal, bear, wolf, badger
Rodentia
rodent
Lagomorpha
rabbit
Cetacia
dolphin and whale
Artiodactyla
even-toed ungulate: goat, hippo, giraffe
Tubuldentata
aardvark
Dermoptera
colugo
Insectivora
moles and shrew
Chiroptera
bats
Hyracoidea
hyraxes
Primates
primates
Perissodactyla
odd-toed ungulate: horse, rhino, tapir
Proboscidea
elephant
Sirenia
manatee
Expanded but simplified categorization of Mammals
Answer to the above question: it is a Perissoxactyla (tapir) lying on the beach in the Osa peninsula park in south west Costa Rica facing the Pacific Ocean. If you said yes; sorry it is not the same order as the Elephant. It is not just the noses but also the feet.
If you like it, click it. Your thoughts are also welcome in the comment area below.
This zoo is not a cat house. It is a house with a cat collection. Here are a few photos of some of the species. I hope that you have an opportunity to visit and contribute to the work of the Naples Zoo.
African Serval (Leptailurus serval). In my opinion this is the most beautiful and agile of all of the cats at the Naples Zoo. It was shown at the demonstration theatre.Cheetah. One of the pair in the featured photograph.Two siblings of the three younger male lions in the lion area which at this time has three young males and an unrelated mated pair of mature lions.The male lion. He really opened his eyes when the nearby male crocodile was bellowing a few meters away. That sure got my attention too.Florida panther in captivity rehabilitating before release back to the wild.
This visit to the Naples Zoo was done in preparation for my trip to Africa later this summer. I anticipate the African photo safari will be a rewarding adventure without the obstructions. The greatest difficulty I encountered here were the bars and fencing that obstructed a clear view. All of the images required extensive editing with Photoshop to make the images publishable. The zoo makes an excellent effort to maintain security for the public and the animals. On the other hand the zoo provides a predictable access for all of us to enjoy. The Florida panther is shown to demonstrate the typical enclosure fencing. I included it to remind all that the fencing may be more for the protection of the animals than for the people. Please recall the tragic death of the Malaysian tiger, Eco, about which I previously posted at Ode to Eco.
When I return from Africa we can compare the animals and ecosystems of both locations.
If you like Everglades Ark content please click on like or make a comment in the spaces below.
If you wish to receive notifications of new postings enter your email and click on subscribe.
This is what our butterfly garden is all about. You never know which butterflies flutter by.
Gulf Frutillaria (Agraulis vanillae). We will explore the Frutilleria, Queen and Monarch in detail later. Schaus’ swallowtail (Heraclides aristodemus ponceanus). An endangered species.Southern White (male)Long Wing Zebra (Heliconius charithonia). The state butterfly of Florida!Monarch (Danaus plexippus L.)White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae). Somewhat rare.Mangrove Buckeye (Junonia genoveva)
Please feel free to contribute comments on this site through the box at the bottom.
References for plants and butterflies for Florida:
There is an existential relationship between butterflies and specific plants. This has been discussed in previous postings. See Milkweed and Monarch and OE.
The classic example of this is the Monarch and the milkweed plant. This specific relationship exemplifies mutualism. The milkweed is a mildly toxic plant which the Monarch larva, caterpillar and butterfly can tolerate. This gives the multiple staged Monarch an environmental advantage. The toxic product of the plant is not metabolized by the insect; however, it is retained in their body during the caterpillar and butterfly stages. The toxic material residing in the very helpless stage makes the caterpillar less inviting to birds and other prey. The toxic chemical tastes bad and in sufficient quantities poisons the prey. The milkweed benefits from the butterfly pollination and thus facilitates propagation of its species.
Monarch laying eggs on Milkweed
Other relationships exist between the butterflies of different species and their feeding plant habits. Most insects feed on plant nectar and when coincidentally accumulating pollen on their bodies transfer that pollen to another plant of the same species. This results in cross polination and promotes fertility and diversity of genetic material in the various species. This sweet substance is often the source of nutrition that is sought after by the adult butterflies. The plant leaves are nutritious to the caterpillar stage of the butterflies.
The “butterfly plants” themselves are interesting to people because they attract butterflies and other insects such as bees and because they are very beautiful. Unfortunately, the blossoms are usually small and don’t get the deserved attention. I believe that their beauty is underappreciated. In this blog we can enjoy them for just their flowers. Shown here are plants from one private garden at one residential site. If you look at the epicollect5 data base you can find it close to observation #122
A portion of a typical butterfly garden area with wire fencing to protect against rabbit invasion Epicollect5 site 122.This is a great scene of a mixed field of flowering plants that provides a variety of colorful blossoms. It is endlessly entertaining for easy viewing of a broad selection of butterflies.
I’m sure that you will appreciate the coming blog site which will show the wide varies of butterflies that I have seen in the changing seasons of Florida. Click through the following series of photos to enjoy close up views of the blooms.
Whether you plant them in pots or in the yard you will get a double bonus, beautiful blossoms and butterflies.
Making your garden:
Large or small, make it fun and easy to maintain. Plan for about six hours of direct sunlight mostly in the morning. Pick a location that has plenty of hedges, shrubs, and trees around it to provide places for butterflies to take shelter from the elements and local predators. Alternatively, make a safe spot. Install some fencing or trellis around the edges, and plant some vining flowers next to them to make your butterfly garden a beautiful and thriving focal point. Diversify your flowers to provide both food and nesting environment for a variety of butterfly species. Provide some open spaces for sunning and some water or close proximity to water. Importantly avoid pesticides and use native plants. It is OK to set out a small plate of sweet ripe fruit on occasion for the butterflies.
Click on Butterfly attracting plants to see a work-in-progress list of plants and associated butterflies that I have assembled from observation in existing gardens in SWFL.
Check out this observation from our Epicollect5 site 122 through 129.
Site plan of a well designed butterfly garden with morning sun and water proximity.
Please contribute your thoughts or experiences in the space below or simply click like!
Milkweed plants are the sustaining plants for the Monarch and Queen butterflies. They also are the vector for transmission for the protozoan parasitic OE (Ophryocystis elektroscirrha) infection. The three are intimately related. The Monarch depends exclusively on Milkweed for survival. The butterfly and its parasite cannot propagate without the plant. The insect and protozoan both mature through their growth and reproduction cycles* in perfect harmony on the leaves of the milkweed. Apparently, at this stage in our environment no Monarchs been found in the wild without some level of the parasitic infection. The infection is apparently only a matter of degree. Compared to uninfected individuals Monarchs have reduced survival rate and longevity, lower reproductive success, and compromised flight ability. This substantially alters their ability to migrate and reproduce. We have seen this in an earlier blog posting.
Healthy Milkweed leaf underside showing Monarch butterfly egg in direct center. (1:1)Microscopic enlargement of healthy Monarch egg on Milkweed leaf. (~800X)Milkweed leaf ladened with OE (1:1)OE parasites on Milkweed leaf erupting from infected Monarch egg in initial single cell stageOE parasite single cell stage spreading onto Milkweed leaf OE parasite spread throughout leaf attached to small cellular fibers. *The butterfly scatters spores on the eggs and milkweed plant. The parasite is ingested by the larva which erupted from the egg. We are highlighting the right side of this diagram.New caterpillar hatchling larva starting to eat.Hatchling larva covered with OE monocytes.The larva will ingest the OE which will mature and divide in the caterpillar gut while the larva mature through the caterpillar and crysalis stages. When butterfly breaks through the chrysalis its wings are distorted, it is deformed and covered with spores. The OE in the spore stage will repeat the cycle.
Investigation of this process is important to the survival of the Monarch butterfly population. I highly recommend that you participate in a citizen scientist project. It is sponsored by the Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens GA, 30602. Check out their site at Project Monarch Health.
Your comments and contributions to this topic are welcome. Please enter them in the comments box below. Please check out the recommended readings to discuss topics of prevention and control of OE.
We discussed Monarch Butterflies on several occasions and we saw the normal wing anatomy under the microscope. On this occasion I was speaking with a neighbor who was raising butterflies in tents in her back yard. She was happy to rescue the little caterpillars and protect them from predation. She did point out one of the butterflies who was not doing very well. I collected it and brought it home. I had a suspicion that it was ill and was not going to survived. I suspected a protozoan, Ophryocystis elektroschirrha (OE) infection. I baged it and put it in the freezer to euthanize it as recommended.
Featured image is a healthy male monarch butterfly as noted by the two darker spots in the dorsal veins of the tail wings.
GROSS EXAMINATION:
The butterfly was unable to fly and its wings were all crumpled up. It was thrashing about on the ground. Post mortem I photographed the remains which had not changed significantly from the time I found it. It shows a typical irregular wing deformity characteristic of a OE infection.
Newly emerged Monarch Butterfly with distinct symptoms of OE infection.
MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION:
I placed the specimin in a paper envelop to avoid spreading spores. With rubber gloves and cotton pliers the remains were placed on the stage of the microscope. These are bright field flash illuminated images. I looked for the telltail OE spores on the abdomen and wings. I’m not an expert in insect paracytology and I could be misinterpreting these observations. None-the-less here is what I found.
This 200X magnification of the wrinkled dorsal surface of the Monarch wing with shows scales and pollen. (photoflash exposure)Another area of the Monarch wing at 100X (photoflash exposure) This is a sample of scrapings from the abdomen and underside of the Monarch wings magnified to 400X (bright field transmitted light). There is no sign of spores.
Using the microscope I also examined the envelop that held the remains and found no sign of OE spores.
RESULTS:
Without evidence of spores my suspicion remains the same. This still could be a OE parasite infection based on behavior and gross appearance. The spore count could be insufficient to be seen or the infection could be in an early stage. I will continue to look for other Monarchs with similar signs and inspect them for spores. Examination for OE would make an excellent citizen scientist community investigative effort.
I informed my neighbor of my findings and recommended that she follow the recommendations of Project Monarch Health. This site is readily available to all readers who enjoy observing these beautiful creatures. It is especially helpful for the hobbyist who wishes to grow them in their yard in tents.
OE is a common and debilitating parasite of monarchs that can cause deformity and even death.
Heavily infected monarchs with clearly visible signs of OE infection (e.g., deformity) should be euthanized by freezing.
Monarchs with lower spore loads can be released, provided that the captive rearing conditions did not foster parasite transmission.
Containers, cages, surfaces and nets that contact adult monarchs should be carefully sanitized with 20% chlorine bleach to kill OE spores and prevent transmission.
Infected monarchs should not be kept as pets (as an alternative to euthanasia), as this will result in high rates of OE contamination to future generations of monarchs reared in the same household.
My general sense is that raising butterflies with good intention of preserving them from predators may in fact put them at a greater risk. Concentrating the insects may promote higher cross contamination. The grossly infected die but when the tent full of Monarchs with low to moderate levels of OE are released they spread the disease through the outside population.
Roseate Spoonbills (Platalea ajaja) and Wood Storks (Mycteria americana) share the limited water in the marsh during this dry period before the monsoon season. They both feed in the shallow marshes but do not compete for the same prey. The Spoon Bills are bottom filter feeders while the Storks pick up insects and small fish. The Spoon Bills spend much more time preening than the Wood Storks. I find this particular group appealing because of the stark difference in the feather colors and behaviors of the two species. The spoonbills are so much more flamboyant than the severe storks. Both are iconic birds of SW FL. The feature image is an overview of the flock of birds including the spoonbills, wood storks as well as snowy egret and maybe a blue heron.
“I hope you don’t mind me drying my plumage here.” I emphasized the visual line of interest here.“There! Now I’m all clean and dry. Arn’t I beautiful?” I really like the reflections in the water in this image.“Eeeks! Goodness Chickie! Can’t you do that somewhere else? I just got done doing my feathers!”At last some peace and quiet in this stand of isolated mangroves that has water at this period of high tide.
With diminished water and a protracted drought, water dependent birds are crouded together. These conditions make photography interesting. The birds may be more remote and thereby technically more difficult to photograph. The more compact group with more variety improves opportunities to observe bird behavior. The best approach I had for the group image was still at a distance of 150 meters. The image was just at the limit of the hand held 300mm lens that I had in my bag. I casually followed one bird through the afternoon and in the late in the day it sought an isolated area away from the flock. The fill-in-flash picked up the brilliant colors.
Make a comment: Which bird images do you prefer, roseate spoonbills or flamingos?
Spring is here and so is another seasonal group of blooming trees. Most of the blooms of Christmas have fallen and some still linger on but all are interesting and beautiful. It seems that the Christmas tree blooms have lasted until two weeks ago and so this new group are a good replacement. The feature picture is a Plumeria.
Golden Trumpet tree (Tabebuia chrysotricha)Golden Trumpet blossomPink Trumpet tree (Tabebuia chrysotricha)Pink Trumpet blossomJacaranda(Jacaranda mimosifolia)Jacaranda(Jacaranda mimosifolia) blossom. Plumeria or frangipani (Plumeria rubra)Coral Bean or Cherokee Bean tree (Erythrina herbacea)
The Golden Trumpet trees are found throughout the neighborhoods here in Florida and are such a bright harbinger of spring that they are even mentioned in the Naples Botanical garden bulletin. The Pink Trumpet trees are planted along the centers of the boulevards in our neighborhood. They are both members of the same genus and species. They both also make such a magnificent presentation that they are just unavoidable eye candy. In Florida, most plumeria tend to lose their leaves in the winter months and enter into a dormant period. Plumeria are now just coming to bloom. I found at least 6 with various colors within easy bicycling distance. There are several of the Jacaranda trees in the area however I had to wait two weeks to find a good full tree specimen that photographed well. This outlier here is the Coral Bean tree. It is a native to Florida and relatively hard to find. The green pods mature to a dark brown in the fall and will have red seeds that are quite poisonous. Locations for all of these observations are listed on the Epicollect5 database site
Be sure to describe the spring blooming trees in your area.
If you wish to have notification of new postings please enter your email and click on subscribe.