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At a recent “Luck of the Irish” event at Ocean Reef, two very lucky rehabilitated Red Shouldered Hawks (Buteo lineatus) were featured as they were returned to the wild by the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center (FKWBC), who made the rescue and eventual release possible.  Red Shouldered Hawk in Transport Cage. Bayleigh MacHaffie, FKWBC Operations Director with the first of two hawks set to be released to the wild on this day. The release. took place in a relatively natural area, from a dock close to the mangroves. Before the release Erin Allison, Executive Director of the FKWBC, gave a brief history of both hawks. One had been at the center for nearly five months, being treated for damaged feathers, head trauma, a yeast infection and conditioning for flight. The second hawk came in about two months ago after a suspected car hit. It had severe head trauma, couldn’t stand and exhibited neurological symptoms. The initial head swelling was quick to resolve, but it took about a month to regain its ability to fly.  “Ready to Go!" Reluctant at first, the hawk had to figure out what was happening. Then within seconds it flew off toward the mangroves.  Ready - Set - Not so Fast! The first hawk was slow to figure out what was happening, but within seconds it flew out like a dart! The second hawk was to be “toss-released” - where the bird is taken out of the enclosure and tossed into the sky. But the hawk had other ideas, as it unexpectedly flew out between the legs of Bayleigh MacHaffie, Operations Director. Both releases were celebrated by oohs, aahs and applause from the crowd of approximately 40 persons.  Nearly 40 onlookers of all ages came out to witness the release, learn about the injuries and rehabilitation of the two hawks. The Florida Keys Wild Bird Center’s mission is to rescue, rehabilitate and release injured or orphaned birds. “Keep Them Flying” is the motto of the FKWBC and their mission is to rescue, rehabilitate and release wild birds. Their bird sanctuary in Tavernier (93600 Overseas Highway) is open to the public Monday to Sunday, from sunrise to sunset. It is a beautiful spot in a mangrove forest, where visitors may walk on a boardwalk and view 40 non-releasable birds— those that due to their condition cannot safely return to nature.  The second hawk was “On a Mission!.” Though a “toss-release” - where the bird is taken out of the enclosure and tossed into the sky - was planned, the hawk unexpectedly flew out between Bayleigh’s legs. These hawks got a second chance… others are not so lucky. Habitat loss, scarcity of food and places to raise their young, and dangerous obstacles take a terrible toll on bird populations. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) as of 2017 top causes of bird mortality: collision with building glass (600 million), collision with vehicles (215 million), poison (72 million), collision with electrical lines (25.5 million), collision with communication towers (6.6 million), electrocutions (5.6 million) and cats (2.4 billion). If you find an orphaned or injured bird, what should you do? The first thing is to call the FKWBC. Bird Emergency Hotline (305) 852 - 4486 ext. 1 They will guide you on the phone, and walk you through the situation. The best thing to do is to safely contain an injured bird with a towel or a blanket, place it inside a warm dark crate or box, and bring it to the FKWBC. If the bird is on the road in an unsafe place such as a bridge, the FKWBC works with local law enforcement to make sure everyone involved is safe. The FKWBC admits birds into their hospital 24/7 and have a staff member on call to respond to new intakes after hours. There is an after hours drop box (Sunset to Sunrise) at the hospital so anyone can bring in a bird at any time. Instructions are to text/call the FKWBC once you’ve dropped off the bird, and they will respond immediately to intake and start treatment.  Red Shouldered Hawk perched in the sun just outside a tree filled area in my yard. Below are photos showing a rescue that occurred in April 2016. If the finder is unable to contain the bird, they ask you to keep eyes on the bird until they can get there to rescue the bird. Every situation is unique, but they do what is best for the bird. If someone has a contained bird from Ocean Reef, the FKWBC will meet at the front gate or at the Circle K in Key Largo. They also work with Everglades Outpost in Homestead, who has a drop off spot for injured birds found on the mainland. In 2016 I witnessed the rescue of a baby Red Shouldered hawk who fell out of its nest high in a mature Gumbo Limbo tree in my neighbors yard. The FKWBC responded, and enlisted the help of the Florida Keys Electric Coop (FKEC). Once the bird was checked out, and found uninjured, the FKEC worker in the bucket truck returned the bird to its nest.  A cooperative effort. The Florida Keys Electric Coop (FKEC) and the Wild Bird Center team up on a rescue. Bernie Lietaert (no longer with FKEC), Isaiah Leake, two FKWBC employees/interns, Sara Hamilton, Lance Good (no longer with FKEC), and FKEC Right of Way Crew Leader Marcus Martin. Here we are in 2025. Red Shouldered hawks are frequently seen in my yard, however the hawk nest in the Gumbo Limbo tree next door … it’s gone. The homeowner took down the trees, preferring a grass lawn instead. It is curious that we hear a lot about the loss of tropical forests in countries far from our shores, but remember… the Florida Keys is also a unique habitat with tropical forests… located right here which also needs our protection. We must preserve native habitat, and rehabilitate our developed spaces with wild-life friendly plants wherever possible.  The rescue effort made possible utilizing the FKEC bucket truck. The man in the bucket is Isaiah Leake. There are simply not enough native plants left in the “wild”… that is, not enough undisturbed habitat remaining in the Florida Keys, to support the diversity of wildlife we would like to see survive. A healthy earth full of a diversity of species takes more than luck. It takes people, dedication and effort. We are lucky to have the FKWBC in our community.  A baby Red Shouldered Hawk sits beside its parent after being rescued from it’s fall to the ground.
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A manatee is a harmless, slow moving aquatic mammal - not a fish - with a light brown to gray hide, often covered with barnacles and algae. Their nickname “sea cow” comes from their diet of seagrasses and aquatic plants, found in shallow waters adjacent to tropical shorelines. Fossil records indicate manatees were present in the bays and rivers of Florida about 15 million years ago.  A family of manatees, one with a mutilated tail, forage in an Ocean Reef channel. In 1951 Everglades National Park biologist Joseph Moorea began the now-standard practice of identifying individual manatee by the propeller scars on their backs caused by careless operation of motorboats. In 1832 when Audubon visited the Keys he wrote about “those singular animals called Sea Cows or Marratees [sic], and he had conquered hundreds of them…because the flesh and hide bring ‘a fair price,’ at Havannah [sic].”  1890 John and Eddie Pent and a crowd around a manatee on a Coconut Grove pier. (Credit: Archives State of Florida) In 1891, Kirk Monroe wrote that the manatee “abounds” in Biscayne Bay and related an incident in which his Miami neighbors killed one of a “herd” of five, supplying the “settlement of 100 souls with meat for three days.”  Indians killed the manatee for food- fried, grilled, or boiled or dehydrated by smoking beside a fire under a chickee hut. They’d trade the hide for coffee, sugar and salt. Bones were used for rituals. In 1893, Florida law made it illegal to kill or capture manatees. Despite the law, the waters of the Keys were akin to the wild west… albeit a wet and wild frontier. In 1919 Zane Grey, renowned author of westerns, and President of the Long Key Fishing Club, wrote: “Who fishes just to kill? At Long Key last winter I met two self-styled sportsmen. They were eager to convert me to what they claimed was the dry-fly class angling of the sea. And it was to jab harpoons and spears into porpoises and manatee and sawfish, and be dragged about in their boat. The height of their achievements that winter had been the harpooning of several sawfish, each of which gave birth to a little one while being fought on the harpoon! Ye gods! It would never do to record my utterances.”  The Save the Manatee Committee was established in 1981 by Jimmy Buffett and Gov. Bob Graham. Committee Chairman Jimmy Buffett and Pat Rose, Department of Natural Resources, review a script promoting awareness and education about the endangered West Indian Manatee. (Credit: Archives State of Florida) Miami’s boom of the 1920’s gave rise to greater populations living in South Florida, particularly near the coast. Then came the bust and Floridians resorted to hunting manatee to put food on the table to survive the Great Depression of 1929. Historically, the Seminole Indian Tribe used the manatee for food, traded the skins for essentials, and used the bones in rituals.  Manatees search for fresh drinking water, but never feed or water them. This could attract them to dangerous areas, like docks, putting them at greater risk of a boat strike. It is also illegal to feed and water manatees. Manatees are thermoregulators, meaning that they attempt to maintain a constant body temperature. In nature, manatees retreat to deeper areas where a layer of salty bottom water helps to trap heat and allow for warmer conditions near the bottom. Like manatees, Florida was settled by people seeking refuge from the cold. As populations grew, so did the range of the manatee. who were frequently seen in canals and yacht basins, attracted by a new form of warm-water refuge caused by population growth. The advent of large power plants aligns with the manatee’s expansion up the Atlantic Coast of Florida. Power plants were constructed in Fort Lauderdale (1926), Palm Beach (1946), and Ft. Pierce (1945), and later up the Gulf Coast to Ft. Myers and St. Petersburg (1958) and Crystal River (1966).  1980’s Highway billboard By the early 1970’s it became clear that the manatee was struggling with the effects of living close to man. Boat collisions, habitat loss, seagrass decline, coastal development, human interaction, toxic red tide algal blooms and climate change impacts threatened their existence. The Marine Mammal Protection Act was passed in 1972. In 1975 the Florida Legislature named the Manatee the “Florida State Marine Mammal”. and in 1978 enacted Florida’s Marine Sanctuary Act. The Save the Manatee Committee was established in 1981 by Jimmy Buffett and Gov. Bob Graham to promote awareness and education about the endangered West Indian Manatee.  Today it is illegal to pursue, harass or play with a manatee. Man hugging a manatee Miami Seaquarium circa 1987 (Credit: Archives State of Florida) In 1991, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) aerial survey of the population of the Florida manatee revealed only 1300 individuals. By 2016 things were improving, and the manatee moved from an endangered status to a downgraded threatened status. In 2019 the USFWS estimate of Florida Manatee was about 6300 individuals. The 2022-23 USFWS survey estimated Florida Manatee numbered 8,350–11,730. With 3,960–5,420 on the west coast and 3,940–6,980 on the east coast. The manatee’s history in Florida is linked to population growth and development, and their survival in our modern era is unclear. The fact that this creature has persisted to this day gives me hope for the future.   A Florida “Save the Manatee” license plate is a smart way individuals may support manatee research, rescue, and monitoring efforts, to guide conservation actions. “I see said the blind man as he picks up his hammer and saw,” is one of my favorite expressions, where “see” refers to sight or understanding. and the moment when I finally recognize what is going on. It was just a regular trip to the mailbox; on the way I’d glance at the bed of aloe vera plants with their tall bloom spikes, hoping for a hummingbird to hover on by. Surely one day I’d see a hummingbird as each Fall Hummingbirds leave their breeding grounds throughout the Eastern United States, and winter in the Florida Keys. while others take their fly-way South through Texas to Panama.  Ruby-throated hummingbird approaching an aloe vera flower. Surely they were present in my yard. Yet they eluded my vision until I took the time to sit and wait, camera in hand, for the invisible to appear. To say I'm a multitasker would be accurate, while I sit in wait for the hummingbird, the phone rings and now I’m also talking to a client about art work when suddenly I blurt out “Wait wait I gotta go… It's here…” My reaction to spotting my first hummingbird could have been likened to giving birth to my first child. But in a flash it was gone again.  Ruby-throated hummingbird male hovers in midair while sipping nectar. I silenced the phone, and waited with my strict attention on the flowers. In about 10 minutes the bird returned. I lifted my camera, pulled off some shots and I captured that amazing bird approaching, hovering, and nectaring on an aloe flower. The photograph revealed it was a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris), its name referring to the ruby-red feathers on the male bird’s throat.  Firebush (Hamelia patens): a Florida native with orange-red flowers Having finally seen a hummingbird in action, I can truly appreciate these amazing little helicopters, as they swoop down from the treetops, hover in midair while sipping nectar, then zip away all in the blink of an eye. They are so small, about 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 inches, weighing less than a quarter of an ounce, a hummingbird could easily be missed. Perhaps you could hear them coming by the humming sound caused by the rapid beating of their wings… that’s why they are called “humming” birds. Ruby-throated hummingbirds’ wings beat at an amazing 55 beats per second. They have to keep moving since hummingbirds have tiny feet, which is great for aerodynamics, however there's a downside: these birds cannot walk. They can only perch or scoot sideways.  Firecracker plant: with red, tubular flowers, growing 3-4 ft. tall and 6 ft. wide Hummingbirds need to feed every 10-15 minutes which increased my opportunities for getting a photo. They can only feed from dawn to dusk so they must consume more than half their weight in food and 8 times their weight in water. They’ve adapted to survive darkness when they cannot feed by eating as much as they can just before dark. At night, their heart rate and body temperature drop to conserve energy, sort of like a daily hibernation, otherwise they likely would starve. Hummingbirds preferred flower color is orange, red or pink. Their needle-like beaks are specialized for feeding on tubular-shaped flowers, where they eat insects found inside, and with their tongue extending beyond their beak, drink the nectar, as if sipping through a straw.  Geiger Tree (Cordia sebestena): a large Florida Keys native with bright orange flowers Frequently mentioned on lists of Keys Hummingbird plants are the following:
The aloe plant is rarely mentioned as a nectar plant for hummingbirds, although the aloe bloom is pinkish-yellow and has a tubular shape. Hummingbirds learn by trial and error which flowers give the best results, so the aloe in my yard evidently has passed the taste test. They also like the red Bombax blooms which appear in late Winter/Spring.  Adult Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird o a feeder looking “back at ya”. Photo by: Ed Cox A short while later I resumed the phone call that was interrupted by the bird. Luckily I was speaking with a fellow nature photographer who understood my enthusiasm, and then shared some of his great photos of hummingbirds. I noticed some photos involved feeders which are great for viewing hummingbirds. A feeder is filled with a mixture of 1 part white sugar to 4 parts water. Boil the sugar solution till the sugar is dissolved, then cool.. Since the feeder itself is red, there is no need to add red food coloring. Be careful to avoid placing the feeder in direct sunlight, as this stimulates bacteria growth, and clean the feeder every five days. Though feeders satisfy the sweet tooth, gardening for wildlife is always a better nutritional option, especially if you have a variety of plants which are in bloom at different times.  Adult Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird at a feeder. Photo by: Ed Cox  Juvenile Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird Photo by: Ed Cox |
CAROL ELLIS
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September 2024
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