Category: Environment

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New winter diet for the manatees

Lettuce is being stocked in the Indian River manatee buffet to feed the local population that migrates to the estuary during the colder months of the year. So far, the manatees are skipping the buffet, which does not bode well for the local manatee herd that is still weakened from 2021.

The supplemental feeding program established by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is in response to an Unusual Mortality Event that has seen 750 deaths (all causes) on the Florida Atlantic coast in the 12-month period ending in November 2021.

A healthy adult manatee is nearly 10 feet long and approximately 1,000 pounds. They require 4%-9% of their body weight (40-90 pounds) in food each day. In the wintertime, the favorite hangout for the Atlantic coast manatees is the Indian River Lagoon, which traditionally feeds the herd with the local seagrass.

According to FWC, “since 2011, persistence of algal blooms has resulted in reduced water clarity and light penetration” and a “dramatic reduction” in sunlight getting to the seagrass at the bottom of the lagoon. The seagrass “in this region and specifically in the Indian River Lagoon has declined significantly.”

Due to the shortage of their natural food, the region saw a significant number of emaciated manatees last year, and as more resources, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have been brought in to help with the response, a joint unified command team was established.

According to a press conference held on Jan. 13 by the joint unified command team, so far this year, the temperature in the area had been warm and manatees had not yet started to congregate in the Indian River Lagoon. But as January temperatures were starting to drop, more and more manatees would start to migrate to what is described as their “capital” for wintering.

What the manatees are seeing when they enter the Indian River Lagoon is not the lush seagrass fields they are hoping for, but a “desert,” according to Martina de Wit, a research scientist with FWC. This is the cause of the starvation we saw last year and may recur when more manatees show up in their wintering grounds.

The state allocated an extra $8 million recently to help alleviate the dire situation, and a feeding program was born. In captivity, manatees do eat lettuce but require “a week or so” before accepting it as food. In the wild, no observed feeding has occurred, as of the Jan. 13 press conference. But the FWC expects “some adjustment period when switching to a different diet,” and when the realization of lack of natural seagrass sets in, the FWC “expected that manatees can adapt to [lettuce] without any major issues.”

When asked by a reporter, “Why lettuce?”, and not some other natural vegetation, the FWC is concerned with introducing invasive species or extra nutrients to an already fertilizer-rich ecosystem, which is causing clarity issues in the first place. The lettuce that is not eaten is removed. Given the quantity of food required (40-90 pounds of food per adult animal), it’s difficult to harvest that amount of food. This is the reason it’s still illegal for the public to feed manatees.

Feeding manatees is meant as a short-term bridge until longer-term habitat restoration and improvement projects get traction. According to Ron Mezich, the provisioning chief, the lack of local seagrass donor beds is a major hurdle for the nursery that is planned to help regrow the seagrass that has been lost.

Meanwhile, Joint Command Rescue Chief Andy Garrett said that efforts to bring up more rescue facilities are ongoing. His team gets alerts from the public about distressed animals, and in 2021, a record 159 manatees were rescued and 115 went to the rehab facility. So far in the past month, 23 manatees have been rescued, and the facilities are near capacity. More facilities are being brought up, and Garrett encourages the public to call the hotline when they see an animal in distress.

As the temperatures cool, more of the manatees are expected to require help. Let us all hope that the wild manatees take a liking to lettuce and that the seagrass nursery flourishes in the Indian River Lagoon.

To help with both the rescue and the feeding program, you can donate to the Manatee Rescue & Rehabilitation Partnership or the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida. It will take a significant effort to save many of the gentle giants, as the FWC works to reverse the desertification of their winter capital.

 

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Falling for February skies

From the Heart Nebula in Cassiopeia to the Rosette Nebula in Monoceros, there is a lot to love about the night skies of February.

This month’s asterism challenge for beginners: the Winter Hexagon. An asterism is a picture in the sky that is not an official constellation — it might be a small “picture” within a constellation (Orion’s Belt within Orion, for example), or it might consist of stars from two or more constellations. The Winter Hexagon falls in the second category as it includes bright stars from several prominent constellations.

Starting with Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, move clockwise to the hexagon’s vertices at Procyon, Castor and Pollux (a single vertex), Capella, Aldebaran, and Rigel. Connecting Rigel and Sirius completes the hexagon. Good luck!

Celestial highlights this month:

  • 1 — New Moon. It’s the best time of the month to look for Deep Sky Objects. The temperatures should be comfortable, so take a telescope or binoculars and get out to a dark location.
  • 2. Just after sunset, Jupiter and a very thin crescent Moon should make a beautiful pair in the Western sky. This “conjunction” will place them within about 4 degrees of each other.
  • 9. Venus reaches its peak brightness, as seen in the morning sky just before daybreak.
  • 16 — Full Moon. It’s nicknamed the Snow Moon by some ancient Native American tribes.
  • 16 — Mercury Mornings. Little Mercury is hidden by the Sun’s glare most of the year, but in mid-February, it will be about 26 degrees above the horizon just before the Sun rises. This is one of your best chances to see it this year.
  • 27. There will be a conjunction of Venus, Mars, and the crescent Moon in the Eastern sky before dawn. They will appear in a straight line low on the horizon.

Not just love is in the air this February. Here are some interesting launches:

  • The United States Space Force is planning two launches this month using a powerful Falcon Heavy rocket from SpaceX and an Atlas V 551 rocket from United Launch Alliance. We haven’t seen a Falcon Heavy launch since June 2019, so it is a long-awaited treat! No specific launch date has been set as of this writing.
  • There is also a tourism mission planned by a private company called Axiom, which will use a Crew Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket. Again, no launch date has been set as of now.

Hope you love these winter nights, stargazers!

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Beautiful Japanese gardens right in our backyard

 

After I moved to South Florida last summer, I heard about the numerous wetlands walks, nature preserves, and wildlife parks in the area. I was planning to explore many of them, especially if they were all outdoors, as it was still the middle of the COVID pandemic. 

One place that was recommended to me often was Morikami Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach. So I decided to go there with relatives when they came to visit. And I liked it so much, I went back again a couple months later with other visiting family members.

The first time I went, I was floored by the beauty and tranquility of the park. I’ve been to many botanical gardens and similar lushly landscaped parks, but I hadn’t been to one like Morikami before. They call it “Roji-en: Garden of the Drops of Dew,” and it was designed by Hoichi Kurisu. The park comprises six distinct gardens that are inspired by significant gardens in Japan. 

After arriving, you go through a large building that houses the museum, gift shop, and café, and once outside, you descend down a wide staircase to a utopian setting below. There is a gorgeous pond in the center, with walkways that lead to the left and right of it, which make a large circle meandering through the different gardens around the pond. 

In addition to the abundant trees, topiaries, plants, flowers, stone structures, and bubbling brooks, we enjoyed peeking over bridges and seeing fish, turtles, and even an alligator sunning itself in the pond. In the various quiet oases we found, one highlight was the traditional bonsai garden. And we discovered other peaceful green corners where we could immerse ourselves in the serenity and zen of the place.

Being from out of state, I was surprised to learn about the century-old connection between Japan and South Florida, where “a group of young Japanese farmers created a community intended to revolutionize agriculture in Florida,” according to Morikami literature. My mom and I were fascinated to hear about the rest of its history:

“In 1904, Jo Sakai, a recent graduate of New York University, returned to his homeland of Miyazu, Japan, to organize a group of pioneering farmers and lead them to what is now northern Boca Raton. With the help of the Model Land Company, a subsidiary of Henry Flagler’s East Coast Railroad, they formed a farming colony, Yamato, an ancient name for Japan.

“Ultimately, the results of their crop experimentation were disappointing and the Yamato Colony fell far short of its goals. By the 1920s the community, which had never grown beyond 30 to 35 individuals, finally surrendered its dream. One by one, the families left for other parts of the United States or returned to Japan.

“In the mid-1970s, one of the last remaining settlers, George Sukeji Morikami, then in his 80s, donated his land to Palm Beach County with the wish for it to become a park to preserve the memory of the Yamato Colony.” Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens debuted in 1977, as a living monument and a bridge of cultural understanding between George Morikami’s two homelands.

After we learned about the history of the place and strolled through all its verdant gardens, my family and I walked over to the open-air terrace café and had delicious Bento Boxes for lunch. 

It was quite a day enjoying what are the most authentic Japanese-style gardens outside of Japan and then topping it off with an equally authentic Japanese lunch.

To visit, go to https://morikami.org.

Jennifer Merrill is a recent transplant to South Florida from northern states. 

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Now’s the time for dolphin fishing

Now’s the time for dolphin fishing

It used to be that May and June were the best months for dolphin fishing in South Florida, but that has changed. August and September are now the best times for catching the colorful, delectable fish from Palm Beach to the Florida Keys.

“I think the last few years, August is the peak,” Capt. Abie Raymond said. “September usually has some big ones, but not as many numbers.”

Raymond is a Miami Beach native whose Go Hard Fishing (gohardfishing.com, @abie_raymond) offers offshore and inshore charters as well as trips in Miami-Dade County’s freshwater canals for peacock bass, largemouth bass, and clown knifefish.

In addition to witnessing firsthand the transition from a springtime dolphin bite to a summertime bite, Raymond has come up with a couple new techniques for catching what is considered one of South Florida’s favorite saltwater fish to eat.

For starters, he uses minnow-sized pilchards that he nets before he heads offshore to attract dolphins to his boat around weed lines, weed patches, and floating debris, which he searches for from the tower of his 28-foot C-Hawk center console.

“It fires the dolphins up and it gives you more opportunities,” said Raymond of the inch-and-a-half-long baits. “They keep the dolphins around your boat. You don’t have to worry, ‘Oh, where’s my rod? Where’s my bait?’ while the dolphins are swimming by.

“You just grab a scoop and throw it overboard. The baits swim back to the boat for shelter and the dolphins bust them all over the place for 10 minutes while you’re taking your time, rigging your rod, tying a new plug on, a jig, whatever you want.”

Raymond said the idea came from seeing dolphins spit out little baitfish as they jumped or hit the deck of his boat. He also saw the baits after filleting dolphins.

“Their stomachs are packed with them. That’s the kind of stuff they’re picking out of the seaweed,” Raymond said. “So I figured they’ve got to eat the heck out of them and they’re not going to get full on them. That’s the beauty of it. You’re not going to overfeed them like you would with big bait. Even if the fish shut off, you throw a scoop and they start blowing up. It turns them on immediately.”

The tactic worked to perfection on a trip with Raymond and his father, David, out of Bill Bird Marina in North Miami Beach.

After Raymond spotted a couple of dolphins near a weed patch from his boat’s tower, he climbed down, dipped up about eight of the little baits, and flung them into the water. Those two dolphins and a bunch of their schoolmates quickly surrounded the boat. 

Raymond baited several lightweight spinning outfits with small pilchards as well as with some bigger pilchards.

At one point, David Raymond and I were both reeling dolphin to the boat and a third fish was on an outfit that Raymond had hooked while he was trying to reel up the bait to get the line out of our way. He stuck that rod in a rod-holder so he could gaff our fish.

Raymond’s dolphin outfits — a 10-pound Ugly Stick rod with a 3500 Penn Slammer reel spooled with 20-pound braided line with a 2/0 J hook — produced a fun, exciting fight with the schoolies, which weighed 5 to 10 pounds. 

“The braid is so strong and so durable,” Raymond said, “and those little reels now are so capable drag-wise, it eliminates the need for heavy tackle.”

Raymond does bring out heavier spinning outfits — 7-foot rods with Penn 7500 Spinfisher reels with 20-pound braid — for another new tactic for catching dolphins around weed lines.

He uses a fishing kite to put a skirted ballyhoo 50 feet behind his boat and another skirted ballyhoo 100 feet back. With his boat 100 to 150 feet away, Raymond trolls the baits along weed lines and across weed patches. The lure-ballyhoo combos look like flying fish, which dolphin love to eat, as they skip across the water.

Raymond wriggles a dead ballyhoo back and forth with his hands to break the entire spine, which gives the baitfish life-like movement when it’s in the water. He also breaks the tail to prevent the bait from spinning, squeezes out any intestinal matter, and breaks off the bill with an upward snap.

He inserts a 7/0 Mustad 3407 triple-strength J hook through both lips and through the front of the bait’s skull to keep the hook in place, and slides a weighted skirt or feather — a Jet Head, Billy Bait, or Sea Witch — on top of the ballyhoo. 

The lure’s weight helps keep the bait in the water instead of flying above it. Raymond uses a 1-ounce skirt on the far bait and a half-ounce skirt on the short bait.

The hook placement in the ballyhoo’s head instead of its belly, as in a trolling bait, is virtually weed-proof, especially positioned directly behind a skirt.

“If you have to go through patchy grass, it doesn’t matter because your hook is out of the water,” Raymond said. “We’ll drag the baits right over it, and that’s what makes it advantageous. You don’t have to worry about constantly picking grass off your baits.”

Now’s the time for dolphin fishing

And that means you can spend much more time enjoying the best dolphin fishing of the year.

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FWC putting a stop to S.T.O.P

and 2 other sea turtle rescue organizations in Broward County

In a ‘David and Goliath’-esque confrontation, Broward County sea turtle rescue organizations may soon have to turn in their night goggles.

Sea turtle

In a letter dated March 26, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) declared a “change to the Disoriented Hatchling Recovery Programs.” 

“While working to decrease impacts from one form of disturbance, lighting, Disoriented Hatchling Recovery Programs increase another form of disturbance, human presence on the beach at night,” states the letter. “We are notifying you that it is FWC’s intent to phase out these programs over the next few years.”

The Sea Turtle Oversight Protection (S.T.O.P.), Sea Turtle Awareness Rescue Stranding (STARS), and South Florida Audubon Society (SFAS) were all blindsided by the notice. 

“It came without warning,” says David Young, chief operating officer of SFAS. He and his colleagues wonder why the FWC would do something contraindicated and not justified. “We all have a passion for the species,” he says. 

Kristine Halager, the principal permit holder for STARS, says in a statement, “Our presence on the beach not only ensures the safety of hatchlings but also serves as eyes on nesting females that may come ashore while we are present.”

Halager has made suggestions to the FWC, including limiting volunteers, having them check nests every 30 minutes, and leaving the beach so they don’t draw attention to themselves. She also has suggested enforcing the current light ordinances. All suggestions were denied.

Florida beaches are key nesting areas for sea turtles. Almost 70% of the nation’s sea turtles nest on Florida’s beaches.

Almost 90% are loggerheads (Caretta caretta), a threatened species; green turtles (Chelonia mydas), endangered; and leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea), critically endangered.

As any visitor to the beaches in Pompano, Fort Lauderdale, or Hollywood can see, from March 1 to Oct. 31, volunteers rope off the nesting areas of sea turtles so the hatchlings may hatch undisturbed. 

Volunteers also come out at night to help guide the hatchlings to the ocean so they’re not distracted by the bright lights along A1A. Hatchlings are drawn to those lights and may end up dazed and confused, in storm drains or parking lots, unable to orient themselves to the ocean.

sea Turtle

According to the Broward County Sea Turtle Conservation Program and Nova Southeastern University, in 2020, there were 2,596 loggerhead nests on South Florida beaches, 246 green turtle nests, and 28 leatherback nests.

Sea turtles live mostly in the ocean, but females return to the beach to lay eggs. Once she lays her eggs, she digs a nest and covers it with sand. She returns to the sea, leaving the eggs unprotected — and this is where the volunteers step in.

Females nest every two or three years and lay several nests, containing approximately 100 eggs. The eggs incubate for 60 days, and when they hatch, volunteers are needed to prevent their disorientation.

While STARS currently holds one permit, SFAS holds two, and S.T.O.P., which originally had five, now has two permits, each allowing capacity for the permit holder and 24 volunteers.

Volunteers undergo specific training as part of the permitting requirements.

For this season, Young says, “it’s business as usual. Our current number of volunteers (49) are trying to get out on the beaches seven days a week so we can prevent disorientation.”

He continues, “We’re doing what we do and not worrying about next year.” 

Taking a different approach is S.T.O.P.’s director, Richard WhiteCloud, who calls his turtle family “Passionate. Coffee addicted. Probably crazy” on his website. In 2007, S.T.O.P. was the first program of its kind to rescue and release hatchlings disoriented by coastal lighting.

Volunteers have rescued approximately 250,000 hatchlings, according to S.T.O.P.’s figures. In 2019, its 121 trained volunteers spent thousands of hours patrolling 18 miles of beach from dusk till dawn, rescuing 29,650 hatchlings.

“I’m not sure where FWC derived their numbers,” WhiteCloud says, referring to the letter that cites the volunteer presence as a hazard to the turtles (e.g., “Human presence on the beach at night as a significant threat to nesting and hatchling sea turtles”).

“Our hearts are broken,” he says. “Now we will risk legal action to save the turtles. Under no circumstances should they die due to the inappropriate actions of the FWC, the agency entrusted with protecting them under the Endangered Species Act.

“People need to pay attention to what their governments are doing,” says WhiteCloud. “We provide a free service. We’ve donated hundreds of thousands of dollars in resources without receiving any federal or state monies.”

Unlike Young, who plans a “wait and see” approach, WhiteCloud says S.T.O.P. will seek legal action.

Carol Lyn Parrish, spokesperson for the FWC’s south region, said that her agency is proactive in working with local government lighting appropriate for the turtles. They believe that the Broward County rescue groups should “focus on activities that protect both mother turtles coming to lay their eggs as well as hatchlings trying to make their way to open water.”  

“The FWC must weigh monitoring activities for the greater good of the species and is doing so by attempting to minimize all forms of disturbance on the beach at night,” according to the agency. “This includes reducing volunteers sitting near the many nests on Broward County beaches for extended periods of time while still providing the ability to respond to and rescue disoriented hatchlings.”

Wilton Manor resident David Walker, a former biological scientist with FWC, is the Audubon Society’s urban conservation director and a volunteer since 2014. He spends many evenings on Pompano Beach and estimates he has helped tens of thousands of disoriented hatchlings get to the ocean.

“It’s very satisfying to save an endangered animal,” he says. In early June he watched 90 leatherback hatchlings come out of their nests and helped direct them toward the ocean.

“It’s unfortunate how the FWC and the other organizations tasked with their rescue can’t find a compromise,” says Walker.

Noting that only one out of 1,000 hatchlings makes it to adulthood and returns to the beach, Walker says, “When I release a hatchling, I could be assisting that one sea turtle that may have died if I wasn’t there. That’s a great feeling.”

To visit, go to browardaudubon.org or seaturtleop.com.

Note: Palm Beach County is not affected by this notice. Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton is open to the public for guided tours, and the Florida Atlantic University lab is raising turtle hatchlings for its studies. Also, Gumbo Limbo’s sea turtle rehabilitation department is busier than ever, and it constructed a new surgical room on-site last year to treat and rehabilitate sick turtles. To visit, go to gumbolimbo.org.

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Mounts Botanical Garden Offers Escape from Summer Heat

Mounts Botanical Garden offers escape from summer heat

What to do in the dog days of summer?

After the beach and pool, why not explore nature at Mounts Botanical Garden, Palm Beach County’s oldest and largest botanical garden? Or better yet, bring your pooch on July 11 as the garden hosts its monthly Dogs’ Day in the Garden, a dog- and family-friendly event.

“Dogs’ Day in the Garden offers dog owners a chance to step away from their routine outdoor walks and enjoy a different, relaxing environment with their fur babies,” says Melissa Carter, a spokesperson for Mounts.

Mounts Botanical Garden offers escape from summer heat

“The dogs love being in our garden with so many new ‘sniffs’ and the chance to see other dogs and people,” she says. “The Mounts Botanical Garden also offers a great backdrop for family photo ops.”

The Garden takes its name from Marvin Umphrey “Red” Mounts, the county’s first assistant agricultural extension agent, who established and cared for the Garden’s collection of fruit trees to help produce new food resources.

A quiet, tropical oasis located behind the Palm Beach International Airport, the Garden spans 4 acres and boasts a collection of 25 display gardens containing more than 5,000 species of tropical and subtropical plants, including Florida native plants, exotic and tropical fruit trees, ornamentals, herbs, palms, roses, cacti, succulents, and bromeliads.

The various gardens include the Rose and Fragrance Garden, Garden of Tranquility, Herb Garden of Well-Being, Florida Natives Garden, and Children’s Maze Garden, among others.

For kids, the Children’s Maze Garden offers opportunities to learn and explore. Hedge mazes evolved from the knot gardens of Renaissance Europe. They are known for their mystical and magical quality. This maze was created in the 1980s from a sweet fragrant shrub whose white flowers bloom twice a year. 

At the center of the maze stands the Bo Tree, said to be the species of tree that Siddhartha Gautama, the spiritual teacher known as the Buddha, sat under when he attained enlightenment.

Each garden is created as a living exhibit, with plants chosen specifically to tell a story about choices that visitors can make within our subtropical climate. The gardens illustrate what area residents can emulate in their own spaces, large or small.

The Herb Garden of Well-Being showcases herbs and how they affect our lives and sense of well-being through culinary, medicinal, ceremonial, and aromatherapy applications. 

Natural elements of stone, wood, and living plant materials are combined in the Garden of Tranquility, as well as an Indonesian, hand-carved wall juxtaposed with elements from other Asian influences. The objective is to inspire peace and tranquility — a spiritual place for the mind and soul.

In addition to roses, the Rose and Fragrance Garden boasts the fragrant flowers of the Ylang-Ylang Perfume Tree, Angel’s Trumpet, and the Longan Tree, one of the oldest trees in the Garden.

The Florida Natives Garden uses native plants to help preserve the state’s natural resources. Increasingly, our native birds, butterflies, and wildlife rely on gardeners to replace natural habitats lost to development. Those native plants include the Wild Coffee native shrub and the Firebush, which attracts hummingbirds and butterflies. 

In bloom in July are the Rainbow Shower Cassia (Cassia x nealiae), the Verawood (Bulnesia arborea), and the Trai Tich Lan Perfume Tree (Fagraea ceilanica), with its large, creamy, trumpet-shaped flowers.

August awaits the blooms of the Summer Poinsettia (Mussaenda philippica), the White Crepe Ginger (Costus speciosus), and the fragrance that became famous as Chanel No. 5 Eau de Parfum — the Ylang-Ylang Perfume Flower (Canaga odorata).

In June 2017, the Garden created the Windows on the Floating World: Blume Tropical Wetland Garden as a way of conserving and protecting freshwater. The wetland garden was designed to highlight the wetland ecology and to protect Florida’s fragile wetland system. 

Designed by artists in collaboration with Palm Beach County’s Art in Public Places program, the garden, a microcosm of tropical wetlands, features open-gridded, 4-foot-wide walkways on the surface of the wetlands. 

Within these walks are four “windows” planted with aquatics and changed out with rotating and seasonal botanical exhibits growing from submerged containers. Four circular, etched-glass, interpretive viewers are strategically located throughout the garden to educate and engage visitors on key components of a wetland.

Bromeliads grow wild and cover the natural stone walls; aquatic life and wading birds are abundant; and wildlife can be seen foraging for fish, clams, and snails in the muck and shallow pools.

So, while you may not find silver bells or cockle shells, you will find a respite from the outside world, a chance to unwind with or without your pet, and appreciate nature in all its glory.

Mounts Botanical Garden

Mounts Botanical Garden is located at 531 N. Military Trail, West Palm Beach. Sunday, July 11, is Dogs’ Day in the Garden, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Last entry at 2 p.m.) Cost: Free for members; $10 for nonmembers; $5 for children 5-12. For more information, visit mounts.org.

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Sunshine, Wildlife, and Cane Toads: My First Year in the South

Sunshine, Wildlife, and Cane Toads: My First Year in the SouthA year ago, I moved to southeast Florida from northern Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. Besides arriving in a new part of the country in the middle of a pandemic, which presents its own set of challenges, I encountered a lot of new and different things to contend with in my adopted state.

Born and raised around Chicago, I moved to the D.C. area after college, got married and raised kids there, and then decided to move to Florida after a divorce and job layoff last year. Why not start fresh in a new place, where I wouldn’t have to deal any longer with snow and ice? The lingering image that had always been in the back of my mind was to someday live in a warm and subtropical place, surrounded by palm trees, and somewhere near the ocean. And so that’s what I ended up doing when the opportunity unexpectedly presented itself. 

I took the settlement checks from both my divorce and my full-time job and put them toward the purchase of a nice “villa” home in Florida. And so in July 2020, I suddenly found myself moving still further south and east from where I had originally started (cold, windy Chicago). My dog Lex, a Pomeranian mix, and I arrived last summer to this sunny and humid part of the country and began to put down roots, and I soon discovered a lot of differences here. 

Sunshine, Wildlife, and Cane Toads: My First Year in the South

I have no regrets, but here are some observations from my first year in Florida:

  • Lizards in the house. I didn’t know that there would be so much wildlife around my new neighborhood. While I appreciate all the birds, geese, ducks, and rabbits lollygagging around my lakeside community, and I’ve gotten to enjoy the various lizards darting around the lawn, I didn’t expect to be sharing my home with the geckos.  These quick creatures like to sneak into the house and creep around the rooms, hang out on the ceiling, and pop out and startle me.
  • Cane toads that could kill my little dog. Of all the animals I’ve encountered in southeast Florida, including alligators at the wetlands reserves, the scariest for me are the ugly toads that secrete powerful toxins that could take out Lex, horribly and painfully, within 30 minutes if I’m not constantly vigilant outside.  
  • Hurricanes! Two weeks after I moved to Florida last July, Hurricane Isaias hurdled in from the Atlantic and joined me here. I got a very quick lesson on preparing for tropical storms and securing my hurricane shutters.  While my windows were tightly covered for a couple tumultuous days, it was dark and depressing in my house. I was so happy when Isaias finished up his visit and rolled away.
  • Gated communities. Yes, I live in a secure, gated community, and as a single woman residing alone, I am relieved to have that protection.  But what I have found in this part of the country is that there are so many gated communities that it’s not easy to just drive through neighborhoods here and explore. When I lived in Virginia, I could run through any neighborhoods I felt like. Here, I can’t do that. I have to keep to my own community or on the busy roads around it.
  • More tattoos than I’ve ever seen before. I didn’t know before my move that Florida was the land of full-body tattoos. While I have had friends and family in my life who have sported one or two small tattoos, I was in for a surprise when I arrived here and saw that they are etched all over people’s faces and limbs, in every corner of the region. 

Like the colorful tattoos, I am getting used to all the differences in southeast Florida. I enjoyed my first warm winter here, although I missed the changing of the seasons in the fall and the spring. But I am glad my winter coat is packed far away in a bin in the closet, and I don’t ever have to shovel out my car again. I’ll take it.

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World Oceans Day: Tips for a healthy future

The United Nations’ World Oceans Day is June 8. The oceans cover over 70% of the planet. They are our life source, supporting humanity’s sustenance and that of every other organism on Earth.

Below are some tips and resources so that every member of the family can take part in a healthy future for what many people call the “blue heart” of our planet:

Protect your local watershed. Regardless of how far away you are from the ocean, your local watershed is connected to it. By taking steps to understand and protect the rivers, creeks, streams, and other bodies of water that flow into our communities, we can help ourselves and the ocean. EarthEcho’s annual Water Challenge runs from March 22 through December 31 and is a great way to join millions of people worldwide who are doing just that! Visit www.monitorwater.com to learn more.

Use soaps and detergents that are phosphate-free. Think of it this way: Whatever goes down the drain can end up in local waterways and, ultimately, the ocean!

Reduce your overall water usage and conserve vital groundwater by switching to low-flow showerheads, faucets, and toilets.

Opt for landscaping that uses native plants and minimizes your impervious surface. Plant vegetable gardens and native pollinator patches instead of high-maintenance lawns to avoid chemical pesticides and fertilizers. This benefits both your health and the ocean’s health, as these avoid toxic runoff that is causing coastal “dead zones”around the world.

Practice food with thought. Whenever possible, look for sources of food that are local or regional in origin. Farmers’ markets and community-supported agriculture can provide an abundance of affordable and healthy seasonal foods that contribute to the economic health of community farms and other businesses. When you buy local, you are also helping reduce emissions that contribute to climate change, a significant factor in ocean health.

Make sure your seafood purchases are sustainable. Marine Stewardship Council (www.msc.org/home) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (www.asc-aqua.org) labels, as well as local sustainable seafood guides, can help. For making good choices when eating seafood at or from restaurants, we like the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch app (www.seafoodwatch.org/seafood-recommendations/our-app).

Use mineral-based, reef-safe sunscreen. Or where possible, opt for barrier covers like lightweight clothing or long-sleeved rash-guard swimwear (www.ewg.org/sunscreen).

Make repairing and reusing priorities in your home. Invest in high-quality pieces and consider consignment options to give your clothing longer wear. Repair or refurbish furnishings and small appliances. While these may not seem like the most obvious actions to take for ocean health, manufacturing and transport create significant amounts of carbon dioxide emissions, contributing to climate change. The ocean traps a quarter of those emissions and 90% of the excess heat they cause.

Ditch the plastic habit. Plastic pollution is now found in every part of the ocean and poses one of the biggest threatsto ocean sustainability, marine life, and critical seafood resources.

  • Take the reusable water bottle habit to the next level by investing in metal or silicon straws, reusable grocery bags, reusable food storage like jars and silicon bags, and personal-care products like toothpaste tablets and shampoo bars to reduce plastic waste.
  • Get a filter for your drain or a microfiber-catching laundry bag to reduce the microplastic fibers in your wash water/greywater.

For more information and resources, please go to www.earthecho.org.

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Another busy storm season predicted

By Aaron Krause

Hunker down for yet another hectic hurricane season this year, say AccuWeather forecasters. However, in 2021, the period of intense storm activity from June 1 to Nov. 30 won’t quite match 2020’s record-breaking season of practically nonstop action.

AccuWeather’s team of tropical weather experts, led by veteran meteorologist Dan Kottlowski, predict that this year, 16 to 20 named storms will form, including seven to 10 hurricanes. Of the storms expected to reach hurricane strength, weather experts believe three to five will become major hurricanes. Such storms are Category 3 or higher that carry maximum sustained winds of 111 mph or greater.

Experts consider a normal season to be one carrying 14 storms ⎯ with seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes. Last year’s season produced 30 storms, including 13 hurricanes. Six of those reached the major hurricane threshold.

It was a record year with 12 named storms making landfall in the U.S., overtaking the previous record of nine direct strikes in 1916.

In fact, forecasters had to turn to the rarely used Greek alphabet for just the second time to name the storms. Forecasters use Greek letters as names when they have exhausted the list of a year’s assigned proper names.

But the weather service will no longer use Greek letters, instead developing an alternate overflow name list. Journalists and the public were asking more questions about the names than the storms themselves.

Also, say goodbye to Dexter, Dorian, Leah, and Laura. Officials have permanently retired these names, following the tradition of not reusing the names of particularly destructive storms.

Forecasters this year will step up to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System weather model, which should improve predictions on tracking, intensity, and landfall locations.

According to a statement from the National Hurricane Center, the start of the 2021 hurricane season remains June 1. Weather experts had been considering changing the start to May 15, due to an increase in tropical activity in the Atlantic basin over the past decade.

Since 2011, 10 named storms have formed in the Atlantic before June 1. Eight of those happened since 2015. The years 2012, 2016, and 2020 featured seasons that not only saw storms before June but experienced more than one storm before the official season start.

While the 2021 hurricane season’s official start date will remain the same, there has been at least one change. The Miami-based National Hurricane Center started issuing tropical weather outlooks on May 15, two weeks earlier than normal.

To determine how active a hurricane season will be, weather experts consider factors such as the strength or weakness of systems like El Niño and La Niña, short-term climate fluctuations caused by the warming or cooling of waters in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. When the water in the equatorial Pacific is warmer than average, forecasters typically declare it an “El Niño.” When the reverse is true, weather experts call it a “La Niña.”

Locally, ongoing work by Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) will help speed electricity restoration following major storms for Coral Springs residents.

“Florida Power & Light Company customers in Coral Springs continue to benefit from the company’s ongoing work to strengthen the energy grid and improve service reliability,” company officials wrote in a press release.

“FPL investments, which include strengthening power lines and poles, trimming trees near power lines, installing smart grid technology, and undergrounding power lines in select areas, help make the grid more reliable day-to-day and speed restoration following major storms,” according to FPL.

“For more than 15 years, FPL has been improving the energy grid, making it stronger, smarter, and more storm-resilient to keep the lights on for customers in good weather and bad,” said Eric Silagy, FPL’s president, and CEO.

Improvements in place last season, for example, prevented some 150,000 potential outages, Silagy said.

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Tips from Florida Power and Light Company

Save energy and money this spring with simple tips from FPL

By Andre Sowerby-Thomas

While spring is the season of new beginnings, it is also the season of more sunshine and as the weather heats up, spring also brings increased energy usage – especially as many of us continue to spend more time at home.

To help you save energy this spring, Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) is offering some simple tips.

  • Check windows for air leaks: Check your windows for drafts. Re-caulking and using weather strips can help to keep the warm air outside.
  • Leave incandescent bulbs behind: LED bulbs are 85% more efficient than incandescent bulbs and last 10 times longer.
  • Try to block out the sun: Use thermal-backed drapes for your windows and sliding doors and keep them closed during the sunniest parts of the day to help keep your home cool.
  • Always turn off your fan: Ceiling fans cool people – not rooms. Turn ceiling fans off when you leave a room. Leaving them on in an empty room can drive up energy costs.
  • Never leave your A/C filter dirty: Be sure to change the filter and make a habit of doing so within the timeframe recommended for your model.
  • Inspect the ceiling for duct leaks: If the ceiling is dirty around your A/C vents, that is a good indication of leaks in your ducts. Contact an A/C contractor to perform a duct test if that’s the case.
  • Consolidate electronics with power strips: Easily turn off a group of electronics at once when they’re not in use by consolidating several plugs onto a power strip. This could save you up to $100 a year.
  • Get energy savvy: Install a smart thermostat and control the temperature of your home from anywhere. When used appropriately, these can help a single-family home save about 3% of total energy costs.

Looking for more ways to save this spring? Check out FPL’s various energy saving programs, like our ceiling insulation and A/C rebates, no cost On Call program and free Energy Analyzer tool at fpl.com/save/programs.

 Andre Sowerby-Thomas is FPL’s Home, Business and Energy Solutions expert and residential contributor to Watt’s Happening, a blog by FPL focused on helping residential and business customers become energy savings pros. For more than 15 years, Andre has helped customers improve their energy efficiency and lower their home/business energy costs.

 

 

 

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Springtime fishing in the Everglades

By Steve Waters

When water levels drop in Everglades canals in the spring, the fishing is as good as it gets.

How good? So good that Capt. Alan Zaremba says there’s no such thing as a bad cast. Just get your lure somewhere on the water and chances are excellent that you’ll get a bite.

The reason is that as water levels fall in the marshy interior of the Everglades, bass and other species are forced into the canals that crisscross the River of Grass.

“You can catch bass here year-round, but this is the time of year when you can catch a lot of bass. They’re concentrated, coming out of the marsh areas,” said Zaremba, of Hollywood, who specializes in guiding anglers for peacock bass in South Florida’s urban canals, but focuses on the Everglades this time of year.

“This year we’ve got optimal conditions. So depending on when the rainy season kicks in, which I figure is usually the third or fourth week in May, get out now while you can and enjoy it.”

On a typical day, Zaremba might have two anglers catch and release well over 200 largemouth and peacock bass in an eight-hour trip. In addition, his charters catch bluegills, spotted sunfish, shellcrackers, speckled perch, chain pickerel, mudfish and non-native species such as oscars, Mayan cichlids and jaguar guapotes.

On a recent two-hour trip late in the afternoon, Zaremba and I caught about
40 largemouth and peacock bass, as well as some Mayans and oscars, using a 5-inch Bagley Minnow B floating jerkbait on 6- to 7-foot medium action spinning rods with 15-pound braided line and 20-pound monofilament leaders.

Sometimes the bites would come as soon as the lure landed on the water.
Other times bass would hit after we’d reeled back the lure almost to Zaremba’s flats boat. And several times we got bites when the lures were simply sitting on the surface while we were deep into conversations about fishing, family or current events.

“Anybody can throw it and catch fish,” said Zaremba of his favorite lure,
which he sells on his website www.worldwidesportsfishing.com. “It will catch all different species, so they don’t have to be a Joe Pro, and I think that’s important. You can drag it out the back of the boat and something’s going to hit it. You could be talking to your partner and something comes up and hits it. Sometimes we catch two bass at a time on those lures.”

Other lures that Zaremba likes when Everglades water levels are low include topwater plugs such as Baby Torpedoes, Chug Bugs and Pop-Rs, and his fly-fishing customers have great success throwing poppers and woolly buggers. Zaremba also likes seven-inch Gambler ribbontail worms, which can be reeled on the surface through the lily pads, hyacinths and other vegetation that lines most canals to imitate a small snake.

Zaremba said live worms such as nightcrawlers will catch oscars, Mayan
cichlids, spotted sunfish and bluegills. He added that live shiners are not necessary or as effective as lures.

“You’ll catch more fish on the artificials right now than you will on live bait,”
Zaremba said. “And how many dozen live baits would you have to bring out here to catch 200 bass? You’re going to need a lot of shiners.”

The other attraction of the Bagley Minnow B is that it can be fished a variety of ways and it holds up well even after catching hundreds of fish in the Everglades, which run from Tamiami Trail to the Broward Palm Beach county line west of U.S. Highway 27 and from Loxahatchee
National Wildlife Refuge to Sawgrass
Recreation Park east of 27.

“They last a long time,” said Zaremba of the jerkbaits, which he upgrades with Daiichi blood-red treble hooks. “And I can use it twitching on the surface. I can use it as a jerkbait down below. And I can troll with it. Anytime you can work something a bunch of ways, you can target different things.

“If you find the bass are out on a deeper ledge, they’ll come up and hit that
jerkbait, which might be going down only three feet. But it’s giving off enough flash and it also has a rattle in it, so it makes a little more noise.”

Good spots to fish include the canals along Interstate 75, which is more
commonly known as Alligator Alley. Lots of smaller bass bite in the finger canals north of the Alley on the west side of U.S. 27. As water levels continue to drop, the fishing will only get better everywhere.

That makes this a great time to introduce youngsters to fishing. Growing
up in Miami, Zaremba said he and neighborhood kids would fish in local
canals. Given the residential and commercial development in South Florida
over the past few decades, kids no longer have that type of access to fishing.
Bringing them out to the Everglades for a few hours of catching fish can hook them on the sport.

It helps to use what Zaremba calls his three-stop rule for kids:
“Stop and fish for a while and when they start getting antsy, you go for a little boat ride.

Start fishing again. They start getting antsy, go for a little boat ride. That gets them back in the groove again. Start fishing again and when they get antsy for the third time, it’s time to go to the house, whether that’s two hours, three hours, four hours, five hours. Every kid’s different.”

But they’ll all love catching lots of fish.

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SoFlo Gardening: March 2021

What to Plant

Annuals/Bedding Plants: Dianthus and other cool-season annuals continue to flourish. Consider planting warm-season annuals such as angelonia, was begonia, and zinnia at the end of the month.

Bulbs: Plant dahlia, canna, and glorious bulbs for spring and summer flowering. Provide stakes as needed to support growth.

Herbs: Consider growing edible ginger. Plant rhizomes in well-drained soil in full to part sun.

Vegetables: Begin planting warm-season crops, such as beans, tomatoes, squash, and corn, early in the month for late spring harvest. Protect from frost.

What to Do

Azaleas: Prune azaleas when they have finished blooming to reduce their size and improve the form.

Shrubs and trees: Prune when the dormant season ends and new growth begins.

Palms and shrubs: Fertilize palms, azaleas, camellias, and other ornamental shrubs if needed. Choose a fertilizer in which at least 30% of its nitrogen is slow release.

Irrigation: Check your sprinkler system for problems such as broken or misaligned spray heads.

Source: University of Florida IFAS Extension

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