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Happy Fall! It’s finally arrived... if only on the calendar. There’s been a small drop in temperature (the 80’s instead of 90’s) and the mosquito count is noticeably down. I don't want to jinx us, but we're two months shy of the end of 2024 Hurricane Season and we haven't had a powerful hurricane... yet. Hurricane destruction comes in waves; first from the wind and water, which results in power outages, broken infrastructure, roofs opened and while mosquitos are eating you alive, the second wave of destruction which I fear most begins, when the unemployed surfers with chainsaws appear and start cutting down our mangrove shoreline to improve a view.  Distinctive snorkel roots from the Black Mangrove stick out from the ground like fingers, and grow alongside Red Mangrove prop roots. The strongest hurricane winds do not uproot the mangroves, but can shake the trees so violently that the bark peels off, exposing the cambium layers to salt spray and waves, quickly killing the tree. Both dead and living mangroves are protected as outlined in the 1996 Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act. There are very specific regulations and heavy fines for illegal mangrove trimming. Florida law allows property owners and/or professional trimmers to trim mangroves to improve their view or access navigable waterways. Visit https://floridadep.gov and search for Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act to learn more. Always check with local environmental officials before trimming mangroves.  A white ibis observes from a mangrove branch.  A roseate spoonbill probes for mollusks and other invertebrates in the sediment. The Keys have four tree species in their mangrove forests: the Red Mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) with it’s spider-like prop roots and cigar shaped seeds, the smaller White Mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa) with it’s pea like seeds, the dark barked Black Mangrove (Avicennia germinans) whose distinctive aerial roots stick up from the ground like thin fingers, and Green Buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus), the tree with the distinctive bark which looks as if it want to come off.  Red mangrove seeds develop on the tree and when they fall into the water they soon sprout roots along rocky coastlines.  White mangrove seeds are pea-like. All mangroves disperse their seeds by water. The red mangroves are particularly important because their high arching prop root systems entrap sediment and decayed organic materials, making them not only an essential habitat in the marine food chain, but also “land-builders” which have formed over 200 islands in Florida Bay. Mangroves are cold sensitive plants, that range from the St. Johns River on the East Coast, down through the Florida Keys, and up Florida’s west Coast to Cedar Key. North Key Largo is home to about 8,000 acres of mangroves. Mangroves are the nursery for the oceans. When they are destroyed it upsets the ecosystem. Fishermen know that 75% of the game fish and 90% of the commercial species use mangrove roots and shallow waters to shelter from predators until they reach a size large enough to fend for themselves. Mullet, mangrove snapper, snook, tarpon, shrimp, sea trout and blue crab call the mangroves home. The American crocodile lives in the mangroves and the mangrove water snake hides out among the tangle of prop roots and branches. Bottlenose dolphin feed on fishes associated with mangrove systems.  Manatees are frequently observed swimming in proximity to mangroves. Manatees (Trichechus manatus) feed on seagrasses and other submerged aquatic plants and are frequently observed swimming in proximity to mangroves. On a visit to my favorite mangrove lined canal, I sensed a photograph, however the water needed cleaning of a landscaper’s errant grass clippings that littered the surface. As I skimmed the water with a net to catch the clippings, my splashing attracted a West Indian manatee. Next a small nurse shark swam by... the place was alive. I thought all I needed to complete the scene was a bird. As I positioned the camera to capture the photo, a green heron flew in and perched on one of the prop roots. At that moment I felt as if I were Dr. DoLittle on an animal adventure. The rare and endangered Mangrove Diamondback (Malaclemys terrapin) only lives in the brackish back waters of the Florida Keys and Everglades. White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) feed on crabs and Roseate Spoonbill (Ajaia ajaja) prey on mollusks and other invertebrates living within the sediment. The entire Everglades population of the wood stork (Mycteria americana) nests only in mangroves.  The reclusive Mangrove Diamondback terrapin lives in the brackish waters of the Florida Keys and Everglades. Photo by: Morgan Barnes  Pelican guano coats a small mangrove island. The Red Mangrove, the “walking tree” found growing on the shorelines, is the basis for an impressive natural ocean filter system for litter dumped at sea, highlighting the importance of individual and organized coastal clean-up efforts. Back in the early 80s, my husband Ted and I would explore the mangrove shoreline, and leave with treasures like old buoys and wormy driftwood. It was athletic work as we balanced on the giant prop roots and labored to free a piece of debris from the mangroves. We called the shoreline our “Overseas Lumber Company.” Once home Ted would rip the driftwood into strips and make the most beautiful wormy frames for displaying my photographs. As I sit musing about some of the best times of my life, Ted appears steadied by his walker. I great him cheerily “Happy Fall!” He replies, “Trying not to.” All we need to do is understand some words and the context helps us out with the rest.  Red mangrove shoreline at dusk. Seagrape trees often grown near red mangroves.  A little green heron sits undercover of the mangroves.
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I admit it. It was an innocent mistake, your Honor. I plead guilty of feeding the wildlife. It’s just my spoiled indoor cats refused to eat the little crunchies of kibble left in the bottom of the bowl. It was no more than a tablespoon worth, but I tossed it onto the ground. I’m sorry. I realized my error when upon return to the scene of my transgression, a giant raccoon was scratching the ground where I had thrown the kibble. This Northern Raccoon (Procyon lotor) looked pretty healthy. Its fur was bushy and there were no obvious scratches. I stood in the shadows of the garage and watched from a safe distance as I didn't want the critter to take offense and come after me. It turned its head toward me. With brown eyes with black fur surrounding its eyes, the raccoon looked like a burglar caught in the act of stealing, in broad daylight no less.  A group of raccoons on the edge of the woods. This black and white photo is vey much how a raccoon would perceive the world since their vision is rendered in greyscale. Urban wildlife is not rare, it’s only difficult to see. Animals stay hidden during the day in nearby natural habitat or in quiet crevices around the home, then come out at night to forage. That’s why we call them night critters. Proof of their work can be seen in the morning as shown by overturned garbage cans and contents strewn across the driveway. My yard is a pretty happy, nutritious place for critters to live. There are lots of native plants and fruit trees, a pond with frogs, crawly insects, small lizards, snakes and nesting birds that all reside there.  This baby raccoon was seen high in a tree, it’s fur was still wet from days of tropical rains.  The base of a hollowed out tree provides a suitable place for a raccoon den. It is best to let wildlife forage naturally, but the crafty raccoon has adapted to begging for food in urban areas. Perhaps this raccoon’s well-nourished state is courtesy of the resort’s kitchen dumpster. My suspicion was confirmed as a result of research conducted at Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge, to see how human activities relating to unsecured trash and feral cat feeding stations, influence the movements of raccoons and possums. They trapped local possums and raccoons, fit them with radio collars and released them in the area where they were captured. Researchers found out a number of these animals with collars would go up to Ocean Reef and eat each night.  Nimble paws and a keen sense of touch helps the raccoon find its food. The raccoon’s scientific name is Procyon lotor, when translated means “washing bear.” When a raccoon wets its paws, the water stimulates the nerve endings and heightens their sense of touch. Researchers had a serendipitous discovery when in September 2022, a GPS collar attached to a possum gave off a mortality signal, which is emitted when an animal goes several hours without moving when it should be active. The signal began moving, and it continued to stop and then move again over the period of a few days. The researchers discovered that a Burmese python was responsible, as it ate the possum and the radio collar was now inside the snake. They changed the focus of the collared raccoon and possum research toward tracking python.  This collared raccoon was known as “Fighter” - he was covered with scars and a truly wild raccoon who never went into people-occupied areas, such as neighborhoods or the waste transfer station. There aren’t many raccoons like him anywhere in the world. Photo by: Mike Cove Since 1995 when the Burmese python arrived in the Everglades, there has been a decline of 85% to 100% of the population of medium sized furry animals such as raccoons and rabbits due to the python. When the python swam 25 miles south to their new hunting grounds in North Key Largo, small furry creatures such as the Key Largo woodrat began disappearing. Camera traps placed inside woodrat nests provided evidence when a python preying on a woodrat was caught on video. Raccoons have few natural enemies other than man, and automobiles kill more raccoon than anything. Luckily for the raccoon urban food resources do allow these mesopredators - medium sized carnivorous animals such as raccoon and possum - to occur at much higher densities than the natural environment supports, which could indirectly help them sustain some of the python pressure compared to that in the Everglades.  An x-ray image of a python taken by researchers in Key Largo shows a GPS collar that had been fitted on a local opossum. Photo by: Kelly Crandall Animal survival success depends on how well they adapt to life with humans. The greatest concern with raccoons is the diseases and parasites they carry. Canine distemper and rabies will kill raccoons, and raccoon diseases can affect unvaccinated pets. The risk of rabies is small. The Monroe County Health Department, whose records go back to 2012, reports there have been no cases of rabies in Monroe County.   Seeing a raccoon out during the day does not mean it is rabid or dangerous. If it is quiet, and few people or dogs are around, it may come out to forage for food. According to the April/May 1988 editions of The Ocean Reef News:
“The fourth case of rabies in two months occurred in Key Largo March 4th, 1988. Two confirmed cases determine whether an epidemic rating is issued. Rabies, or neurotropic rhabdo virus, has been documented in raccoons at mile markers 101, 99 and two cases at mile marker 94, Key Largo. In each case raccoons approached humans during daytime hours acting erratically. Soon after, the animals were found dead and diagnosed in post-mortem as having rabies.” “Monroe County health professionals warn county residents to avoid all wild or unvaccinated animals and this, unfortunately includes squirrels. While many residents possess great affection toward squirrels and their antics, the very treat you present to a squirrel may act as an invitation to less desirable animals. There’s so many critters here in the Florida Keys, I’ve been able to write about a different variety each month. So far I’ve covered those who are feathered, furry, or scaly, from a spectrum of soft bodied insects to mammals, amphibians to birds, with some that slither, run, scurry or crawl and others that sail freely on the wind.   The male Golden Silk spider is a fraction of the size of the female. It’s been educational and enjoyable, photographing and researching each subject. Up till now… my current subject spiders creeps me out. I am not really afraid of them, but I don’t like looking at them either. There’s probably some good reason why at Halloween a lot of decorations depict spiders. Arachnophobia!!  A Cellar spider (Pholcidae sp) was attracted to the moisture in my kitchen sink. When I was five years old, sleepovers at my friend Jennifer’s house were fun, and spiders were part of the excitement. The rarely used room where we slept had pecky cypress wood covering the walls and ceiling. and brown spiders the size of silver dollars hung from webs in the dark, dusty corners. (I guess the spiders were what the monsters ate when they came out from underneath the beds.) Researchers believe we are not born with the fear of spiders, but instead are taught this behavior. Children are curious about spiders, and will capture them and watch how their tiny bodies move via their eight long legs until a parent/teacher intervenes, with the message of “be careful, they bite.“  Southern Black Widow spiders (Latrodectus mactans) are a venomous spider found throughout the Southeastern U.S. Credit: James L. Castner UF All spiders bite, however only two of them in Florida will provoke a strong reaction in humans: the Southern Black Widow spider (Latrodectus mactans) and the Brown Recluse spider (Heteropoda venatoria). According to the Florida Poison Information Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami (1-800-222-1222) if bitten by a Black Widow you will likely experience severe stomach pain, and you should go to the emergency room immediately. The Black Widow received its name from the belief the female spider would kill and consume the male after mating.  Brown Recluse showing “violin” shaped marking. by Jean Woods The Brown Recluse spider is typically found in Central and Southern Missouri… not here. The only documented case in Florida of a Brown Recluse spider bite involved a sailor who was bitten on the hand by a male Brown Recluse in the cargo hold of a naval ship in Jacksonville. The Brown Recluse spider bite causes pain, blistering and frequently necrotic lesions in humans. They are often blamed for mystery bites, wounds and bacterial infections that require treatment with antibiotics— a misdiagnosis by the public and doctors who are not trained in spider identification, nor have seen the spider inflict the bite. There are more than 250 species of spiders in Florida. Around the house, spiders are beneficial insects who consume flying insects, cockroaches and other small domestic pests. In the wild spiders spend their days hiding in leaf litter, and under debris, and emerge at night to hunt. They also spin elaborate webs in clearings to catch flying insects who cannot see the webs until they are ensnarled. Once in their web, the spider bites it’s victim and a small amount of venom is used to immobilize the insect, then dissolve it into a “smoothie” for the spider to ingest as they cannot eat solid food. A spider may bite a human if held or pinched; the bite may hurt for a while but quickly goes away and is much less severe than a bee sting.  The Mabel Orchard Orbweaver (Leucauge argyrobapta) has an orange and green, almost metallic colored body. I have a general rule when walking in the woods: always go with someone else, and let them lead the way. This is because my attention is usually behind the camera lens and I have a bad habit of walking into spider webs. The two methods people use to avoid walking into spider webs are (1) Carry a long stick to brush away webs in the path, (2) Avoid disturbing the web by walking around it. The second method respects the spider’s efforts making a web which is light, elastic and stronger than steel, and is how the spider, who may have poor eyesight, senses vibrations from their prey, as the web acts as an extension of their sensory system.  This Ghost spider (Genus Habana) was hiding among the leaves in a fruit tree. Most spiders have eight eyes and eight legs. and come in a multitude of colors and can be patterned. Some have tiny hairs on their legs that can sense electric charges around plants or the movement of air emitted from a flying insect’s wings. Not all spiders spin webs, and those that don’t, rely on their better eyesight to capture prey.
Pest control is a choice, and my preferred method is preventing a bite by wearing gloves while working where spiders may be found, and shaking out shoes that haven’t been worn recently before putting them on. You can deter spiders by turning off outside lights at night, so not to attract flying insects, a spider’s preferred food. Realize that proper identification of the spider is the first step, and if the spider is beneficial, let it be. |
CAROL ELLIS
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September 2024
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