I'm certified!

Hooray! The sign says it all. Note the gold label, which is the higher of the two classifications. (It's not difficult to qualify if you're an environmentally aware gardener.) 

The extension office in most Florida counties participates in the Florida Yards and Neighborhoods program.

My next goal is to have the garden certified as a Florida Backyard Wildlife Habitat, which is more complicated since there are forms to complete, a property survey -- with bird feeders, native trees, shrubs, and the like, all marked out -- to submit. Plus it will cost a whopping $5 for the sign.

Biodiversity and gardening

I came across an article on the topic in The Daily Telegraph, which I recommend reading. At the bottom of the piece are these recommendations:

• When you buy plants, try to ascertain which family they belong to. It will help you understand what they might be good for in terms of nectar, food plant and so on.

• Leave at least some of the garden to grow wild. Let it do what it wants to do and follow the course of the seasons naturally. This will have a very beneficial effect on diversity in the garden.

• Try to grow at least some native plants apart from grass. Notice what wild flowers and bulbs are native to your area and bring them in. They feed the indigenous population of birds, insects, fungi and bacteria.

• Always include leguminous plants in the veg garden to grab the free nitrogen that they produce.

• Make as much compost as you can in order to recycle nutrients around the garden. It uses up waste, be it kitchen or garden, to best effect.

The Telegraph is the paper my family read growing up. It's a conservative paper, but it does seem to take seriously the connection between "conservative" and "conservation." And it's the only paper I know that has a whole section dedicated to "beekeeping."

Return of the swallow- tailed kites

I saw the first swallow-tailed kite of the year, today. (Click on the link if you're not familiar with them.) I reckon they are the most beautiful birds of prey on the planet. Once seen, not forgotten.

They're such graceful, acrobatic fliers, too, rarely flapping their wings as they wheel around in tight circles, controlling their flight by simply twisting their tails.

Prior to Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma, which, in 2005, took out so many of our trees and birds' nesting places, I would see as many as two dozen circling overhead. I'm not sure where they nest now, but I haven't seen those numbers since.

Until a few years ago, nobody was sure where they spent the winter. Eventually, they were tracked to the Brazilian/Paraguayan border, a journey of some 4,000 miles.

(The photo is from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is in the public domain.)

The fastest creature on Earth

Taking the dogs for a walk this afternoon, a mourning dove, pursued by a bigger bird, flashed past just above my head in an avian dogfight. They were so fast that I barely registered their presence before both had disappeared into some trees. Given the speed, I assumed the pursuer was a peregrine falcon. That was confirmed seconds later when the falcon pulled up rapidly a few houses away, clearly showing its grey back and the distinctive wing shape of a true falcon. Whether the dove escaped, I couldn't tell, but it was an exciting moment of birding for me. (The only other falcon in S. Florida is the tiny American kestrel.)

Peregrines have been clocked at speeds of  200 mph when they dive on unsuspecting prey, thus making them the fastest creature on the planet. In pursuit of prey, as in this case, they can fly at nearly 70 mph. Doves fly fast, too, which is why both whizzed past at such speed.

(I found this photo on Wikipedia. It comes from a US government agency, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and is thus copyright free.)

A backyard snake

I often spot a brown water snake (Nerodia taxispilota) sunning itself close to the canal, but this is the first time I've seen one right in my backyard. I think it must have been searching for a nice warm paver since it's still relatively chilly. This one is a juvenile; adults are much longer, getting to five feet or more. It didn't move a jot while I was taking photos.

The fact that brown water snakes are completely harmless doesn't prevent them from routinely being beaten to death by frightened humans.

There are only six species of poisonous snakes in Florida:

• Southern copperhead, only found in the Panhandle
• Cottonmouth/Moccasin, found near or in water throughout the state
• Eastern diamondback rattlesnake, found throughout the state, including the Keys
• Timber rattlesnake, found in the northernmost counties
• Dusky pigmy rattlesnake, found throughout Florida
• Eastern coral snake, found from the northern Keys and north

The most common South Florida snakes, such as the black racer and ringneck, as well as the brown water snake, are harmless, but if you don't know your snakes, it's always a good idea to assume they can hurt you. That doesn't mean killing them; it means just steering clear. 

The University of Florida's Museum of Natural History provides good identification  information if you want to know more.

Raining iguanas? Really!

To paraphrase humorist Dave Barry, "I was not making it up." The Herald finally got around to putting something on the Web. Here's the video.

It's raining .... iguanas??

The AP has a story about the cold in the South, ending with a couple of paragraphs about iguanas, stupefied by the cold, falling out of trees. It happens most years in these parts. It's one of those things that goes with cold weather and always makes us laugh. (Well, they don't belong here, after all.)

A couple of years ago, one of The Herald's photographers had been dispatched to take pix and he came back with a bright green one, about 14" long, in his pocket. It was just beginning to revive in the warm newsroom.

I forgot to check the neighborhood this morning for any on the ground, but in the meantime, here's a picture of the monster that lives on the other side of the canal where he suns himself at the top of a tree and wards off all rivals.

Avocados

We've had two consecutive years of a bumper avocado crop. Unfortunately, they're not my favorite fruit, but these are a good variety and they'll spread like butter across a sandwich. I've been giving them away to anyone who wants some, but they're still way too many and the squirrels are having a fine old feast.

Last year, I gave some to Sparky. He wolfed them down and got diarrhea in the house, so he's not having any more. Some people I used to know moved, with their skinny black lab, to a house with several avocado trees. The next time I saw the dog, he was easily double the size. I think the owners finally resorted to putting a muzzle on him during avo season.

But why do trees make so much fruit when it only takes one successful germination to replace the parent? I found an answer in a 1990 movie called Mindwalk, starring Sam Waterston, John Heard and Liv Ullmann. It's kind of a forerunner to What the #*!$ Do We Know, with just as flimsy a "plot."

Waterston plays a failed presidential candidate who meets up with his poet pal, Heard, at Mont St Michel, off the Brittany coast. The film is all about the conversation they start with Ullmann's character, a Norwegian quantum physicist. It's she who puts forward the hypothesis that the tree -- my avocado -- is part of a much greater system and as such, the abundance of fruit nourishes the system, which in turn protects a new seedling, later to become the replacement tree.

James Lovelock wrapped this up in his Gaia Hypothesis, which has always appealed to me.

Ring neck snake video clip

After posting that I hadn't seen a ring neck for a long time, I found one when I was weeding and sorting out the bromeliads at the base of the avocado tree. It didn't want to be caught. It was difficult keeping the camera in the right place and keep the snake from escaping too soon.

It's a harmless snake, in case the gardening gloves alarm you.

Urban wildlife

The nearby Tropical Park has opened a doggy park, which my two love. It's located next to one of the lakes where I snapped this shot of a great egret.

And for the first time in several years I came across a little ring-neck snake in the garden. It was crossing a pathway and disappeared under the shed. I was in the middle of dealing with a dog who had sliced open a paw, resulting in copious bleeding, so I didn't have time to admire it. But it's nice to know it's there.

Raccoons: Cute and dangerous

Leaving Bill Baggs Park on Key Biscayne, we came across this scene at one of the many barbecue/picnic sites. The lid was off the garbage can and this raccoon had hit pay dirt. It was only a few feet from us and not in the slightest bit inclined to leave its feast behind, despite our proximity. After a couple of minutes, it ambled back into the undergrowth.

Cute as it was, it's a sad state of affairs for several reasons: The ugly impact humans have on the environment, the loss of fear by wild animals, the danger raccoons pose to the human population. Raccoons are significant carriers of rabies, but unlike dogs and cats, they don't exhibit symptoms to alert us.