FRESHWATER BIRDS

With so many wetlands and miles of coastline, Florida is a bird watcher's paradise. Most of these wild birds aren't hunted, so many of them have grown accustomed to being around people. Indeed, some have adapted enough to survive and even prosper in some local areas, while living among 16 million Floridians. People from around the world, ecotourist birdwatchers, come to spot our birds, each year spending more than $1 billion to do so.

White ibis

During the day, most water birds search for food, usually fish, but also snails, crayfish and other small aquatic animals. Many birds also look for certain plants, dining on leaves, stems and seeds. The waders stalk the shallows, constantly stabbing into the mud with their long beaks. The divers prowl underwater for many seconds at a time. The paddlers move about on the surface, sticking their heads into the water to spot food. The aquatic birds of the air soar overhead, sometimes fighting over fish, their huge nests encumbering many waterside trees.

For more about water birds and aquatic plants, see this article on this web site.

Little blue heron	Great blue heron	Night heron	Tricolored heron

Florida has a colorful and uneasy history with its water birds. Back in the early 1900s, the fashion industry began using bird feather plumes in ladies' hats and accessories. An ounce of bird feather plumes was soon worth twice its weight in gold. Nesting rookeries packed with these birds made the easiest targets and were plundered by the plume hunters. Even when laws were passed and protective measures taken, the black market persisted. One Audubon game warden was killed by bird poachers in the Everglades. This drew public outrage, increased awareness, and ultimately, more protection. When hat fashions changed and demand dropped off, the carnage was finally over.

Working the marina

Water birds made a comeback because much of Florida was still undeveloped in those early years. However, bird populations dipped again with increased human population and development. Human encroachment on marshes, lakes, and rivers is now the number one threat to Florida's water birds.

Today, all of Florida's wading water birds are protected by law.

Water birds are dependent upon wild wetlands, which continue to dwindle. Though Florida has more than 7,800 lakes, many are now shared by people - whose numbers increase daily. Vegetation and shorelines are altered in many ways, as is the natural food chain.

Some water birds adapt to people, while others retreat. Some birds, like the snowy egret, sandhill crane, blue heron, and wood stork work the marinas and boatslips for their daily meals and become quite used to being around people.

Some of Florida's water birds are endangered, threatened or species of special concern. For definitions of these terms and a list of freshwater plants and animals in Florida that are in peril, go to this page of our web site.

WADING BIRDS Waders include the herons, egrets, ibis, wood stork, limpkin, roseate spoonbill, bittern, and the native flamingo. Egrets and herons feed by wading in the shallows and depend on their keen eyesight to spot any tempting morsels. You won't see one of the waders actually swimming, unless the bird is in dire shape. Great egret Great blue heron Limpkin Glossy ibis Reddish egret (white phase) Tricolored heron Flamingo Spoonbill Wading birds thrive best in shallow water, but are very adaptive. The snowy egret can do a tightrope act on a dock rope, spearing fish below. The great egret has been seen hunting in the shrubbery of commercial buildings on early mornings, catching lizards before cars and customers arrive. The brightly colored roseate spoonbills and flamingos filter mud for tiny bits of food, so they spend a lot of time with their heads beneath the water. Wood stork Wingspan to 5 feet The endangered wood stork, the only stork in North America, is a large wader which grows to more than 4 feet tall, with a wingspan of more than 5 feet. In the 1930s there were about 60,000 wood storks; by 1988 there were about 10,000 remaining. The wood stork eats fish, baby gators, snakes, and crayfish. It feeds in shallow water by slowly wading along sweeping its opened bill from side to side in the water; when a fish is touched, the bill snaps shut (in about 25 milliseconds), raises its head and swallows its food with a backward jerk. Wood storks nest in the tops of cypress and mangrove trees. To learn more about wood storks, go to this U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service web page.

LAND GRAZING WATER BIRDS Some water birds spend much of their time on land, grazing and carousing. Sandhill Cranes and Whooping Cranes Grazing sandhill cranes Sandhill crane nest By a city sidewalk A married pair Sandhill cranes and whooping cranes are among the largest birds in the world, and they are Florida residents for at least part of the year. Sandhill cranes are listed as endangered in the U.S., but the Florida sandhill crane is listed as threatened. The sandhill crane makes its nest from aquatic plants (in order of preference): maidencane, beakrushes, pickerelweed, spikerushes, yellow-eyed grasses, swamp lily, sawgrass, water lily, and pipeworts. The cranes pick the plants and carry them to the site, evenually making a mat nest that is up to a foot-and-a-half above the water, and up to five feet across. For an unknown reason, sandhill cranes make several nests during the season, eventually choosing one for egg-laying. Usually between February and mid-March, an average of two eggs are layed on top of the open nest. Whooping crane Whooping cranes are the tallest North American bird, to 4.5 feet in height. The whooping crane reached the edge of extinction before intensive efforts to save them were begun. In 1994 only 146 individuals were known to exist. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has captive-reared and released whooping cranes in Florida with the goal of establishing a non-migratory population. In the mid-1990s there were 15 whooping cranes in the state. See more about the whooping crane rescue efforts at this FWS web site. In northern Canada, whooping cranes make their nests mostly from Scirpus validus, Typha latifolia and Carex aquatilis, all aquatic plants. Cattle egret EXOTIC WATER BIRD The cattle egret, native to Africa, was first seen in South America in the 1930s and in Florida in the 1950s, and now is a very common bird here and in the rest of the eastern U.S. The cattle egret wades in the water like other egrets, and breeds in aquatic rookeries with other egrets, herons and ibises. (Actually, all egrets are herons.) The cattle egret, though, prefers feeding with the ruminants, and is often found following in the footsteps of cattle and horses, pouncing on disturbed insects and other animals. (In Africa, it follows hippos and rhinos...) It sometimes is seen perching on the backs of cattle.

DIVING BIRDS Cormorants in Gulf Anhinga and friend Cormorant in canal Pied-billed grebe Non-duck divers in Florida include the anhinga, the doubled-crested cormorant, the pied-billed grebe and the common loon (which winters in Florida). All four swimmers feed during the day by prowling around underwater, grabbing fish. All four birds swim more gracefully than they fly. The anhinga has no oil in its feathers, and thus no waterproofing so it must dry off several times each day. Likewise, the cormorant can be seen stretching its wings on occasion too, though it is certainly more waterproof. The cormorant is a fine fisher and has increased its numbers to a dramatic degree. As a result, it has depleted many ponds (including hatchery ponds) of stocked fish - and now faces predation control in some areas. The grebe can submerge vertically, not having to plunge forward. The grebe has a vertically compressed beak, rather than a duck's flattened beak; the grebe's toes are not webbed, but scalloped. The grebe makes its floating nest from aquatic plants such as maidencane. As for the loon, its haunting cry carries far across the bigger Florida lakes, an echo of lakes far to the north in Canada.

PADDLING BIRDS Paddlers are made up mostly of coots and other rails, gallinules, geese, swans and ducks. American coot Common gallinule Purple gallinule (a rare bird) The American coot is a rather comical, blackish bird with a white bill. It is often found in large social groups on many Florida lakes during winter. The coot has lobed feet which enable it to run across the water to reach takeoff speed. Like the gallinule, the coot feeds among aquatic plants such as cattail, bulrush, spatterdock and water lilies, looking for aquatic beetles and other morsels. Coots, like ducks, consume aquatic plants directly, including pondweeds (Potamogeton), water lilies (Nymphaea), naiads (Najas), bladderworts (Utricularia), coontail (Ceratophyllum), duckweeds (Lemna and Spirodela), and hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata). The common gallinule, also called the "moorhen", has a red forhead and beak. The plentiful common gallinule is often seen swimming with coots. The puple gallinule is as colorfully beautiful as it is very rare. Coots and gallinules are easy prey for alligators and bald eagles. Alligators are slow (or hibernating) during winter, unless the weather is warm. But the eagles are swift and deadly year-round. Mallard Wood duck Muscovy Black-bellied whistling duck Teals Migrating geese and swans are a rarity in Florida, but a number of ducks migrate into the state with the advent of winter, or pass through on the way to Cuba or Central America. Among the first to arrive each September are the bluewing and greenwing. Then, in autumn, the usual ducks arrive for the winter - the pintail, widgeon, ringneck, scaup and a scattering of other species. Ducks may be recognized from other birds seen on the water by their flattened beaks. As noted above about coots, ducks feed on many kinds of aquatic plants in Florida. For more about ducks, go to this page of this web site.

AQUATIC BIRDS OF THE AIR Florida's hunting birds of the air, which require aquatic sites for their survival, include the eagle, osprey, kingfisher, kites and hawks, as well as the barred owl. Snail kite Bald eagle Osprey with fish Red shouldered hawk Belted kingfisher Barred owl America's national bird, the bald eagle is a common raptorial bird of Florida's wetlands. The eagle is listed as "threatened" in the U.S. With its white head and tail, it is unmistakable. Its wingspan is to 7.5 feet. Eagles eat fish, coots, snakes and other animals, which it may grab from the water or may boldly steal from the osprey. Most eagles leave Florida during the summer, flying as far north as Alaska, returning to our lakes and rivers during the fall. The osprey, also known as the fish hawk, is found throughout the U.S., and all over Florida. This large bird has a white head with a black area from the back of the head to the eye. Seen flying, the osprey's wings are bowed in the middle area; the tail has a black band. Osprey dive for fish from varying heights. The endangered Everglade snail kite is a hawk with a wingspan of almost four feet. In 1988 there were an estimated 500 individuals. The snail kite lives in Florida's open freshwater marshes of sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense) and spikerushes (Eleocharis). It spends much of its time searching for apple snails, the bird's exclusive diet, that have climbed up the stems of emersed plants such as spikerushes. With its very hooked beak the snail kite grabs and is able to extract the freshwater apple snail. Aquatic plant management is essential to the recovery of the snail kite: infestations of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) prevent the bird from spotting apple snails. The snail kite usually makes its nest in small trees such as southern willow and pond apple, but sometimes makes its nest among cattail and bulrushes. To learn more about the Everglade snail kite and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recovery plan, go to this FWS web page. The barred owl, a large night hunter, is found throughout Florida. It too depends on swamps and forested streams as its preferred habitat and hunting grounds. This two-foot tall bird takes mice, rabbits, fish, crayfish and frogs. In Florida, it chooses the hollow of a tree and nests starting in late January.

An interesting search continues for a bird that is (or most likely, was) dependent on lowland forests and river bottom timber for survival. This was the huge ivory-billed woodpecker, of which the last confirmed bird was shot in a north Florida swamp by taxidermists back in 1924. The hunt for this bird has lately resumed in Louisiana's Pearl River Swamp after one was allegedly heard. This particular woodpecker species was likely doomed because of man's encroachment, logging practices, and the bird's inability to adapt. Each nesting pair of ivory bills required six square miles (or 3,800 acres) of prime forest, often in swamp land, for their food supply.

WATER BIRD SPECIES RICHNESS
According to research, bird abundance and species richness tend to increase on eutrophic and hypereutrophic lakes, because these lakes have greater natural food resources. However, wild bird populations under normal situations do not significantly impact the trophic status of lakes.

Research has shown that aquatic vegetation is vitally important to bird populations using lakes. The removal of submersed aquatic weeds from lakes may have no real effect on average bird abundance. Instead of reduced numbers of birds, the bird species composition changes. For example, when submersed aquatic plants are removed it was found that the ringneck duck may be replaced by an open water bird species such as the double-crested cormorant.

As for shoreline vegetation, research shows that shoreline alteration can be detrimental to wading bird populations. It seems that as shorelines are developed for homes and parks, much vegetation is (unfortunately for the birds) removed so people can view the lake. Removing that vegetation can affect not only how many birds are present on the lake, but also which species leave and which stay.

Great egret	Least bittern	Bald eagle	Snowy egret

It is illegal to release tame mallards onto state waterways. Aside from the health risks to wild waterfowl, they breed with wild Florida mottled ducks, hybridizing the species. For more about mallards in Florida, and the new mallard possession rule, go to the Florida's Waterfowl page of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission web site. Click on "new mallard rule".

WATER BIRDS AND WEST NILE VIRUS
One disease of special concern is West Nile virus, which has been spreading through the bird population down the eastern seaboard into Florida. The disease is carried by mosquitoes and kills birds. It then spreads, again by mosquitoes, to people. In Florida, it has been detected in great blue herons, least bitterns, double-breasted cormorants, and green herons. West Nile virus is expected to spread to additional bird species. See USGS Health Alert #01-02.

WATER BIRDS AND POLLUTION
Water birds are susceptible to a variety of pollutants in water. A constant diet of fish can build up various toxins or heavy metals (such as mercury) in these birds, a process called bioaccumulation. One problem was solved years ago, by banning DDT. Before that happened, a build-up of DDT in water birds sometimes meant that their egg shells became too thin to survive in the nest. That made for poor hatching success. This was especially prevalent in pelicans and eagles.

The National Wildlife Association has a good web site called Effects of Water Pollution on Wildlife.
Also see this site for more information on mercury concentrations in feathers of wading birds in Florida.