Intermission: A to Z Meme


Scat-singing in the summer of '95

A brief break between the St. Augustine photo sets -- and taking a cue from Brenda (Rubies in Crystal)....

accent: Although I was born and raised in Brooklyn, folks tell me they're surprised to hear no trace of a "Nu Yawk" accent from me. (That all changes for a while after I've watched a Barbra Streisand movie.) Once, when I was a kid, someone thought I had a Philadelphia accent, at a time before I'd ever visited Philly.

booze: I rarely have more than one or two alcoholic drinks a week, but when I do more likely than not it's a dark beer. Alas, it seems Guinness Triple Stout is no longer available in the US.

chore I hate: I have a love-hate relationship with weed-whacking, which I do rather than mowing because it creates less wear and tear on the yard. On the plus side, this labor-intensive approach lets me see some cool local wildlife -- like bees enjoying our pusley, and the snake (an indigo, I think) that suddenly shimmied out of a culvert.

dogs/cats: Daisy and Red, two domestic shorthair cats. I've written about them in "The Quadruped Kids".

essential electronics: CD player, computer, digital camera, and now voice recorder (see "Of Sound Mind") coming in as a runner-up.

favorite perfume/cologne: I don't wear perfume, but my favorite scented soap is Maja. Partly because of its scent, but now also because Red goes nuts over it. A Maja wrapper is better than catnip. (Described in "Earthshine and Other Joys".)

gold/silver: Silver. Like Brenda, I am drawn to its lunar aspect, and have been ever since I was a kid.

hometown: Brooklyn, NY

insomnia: Let's just call it "shifted circadians." I usually sleep pretty solidly, but I find I've become more of a night person since I moved down here, especially now that I live on flex time. This is especially useful during our hot Florida summers, and can be wonderful for stargazing in the early morning hours, as Mary and I did the morning of May 28.

job title: When asked to list my occupation I put down, "Communications" -- which includes writing, editing, word processing, desktop publishing, tape transcription, teaching, mixed-media art, photography, music, and whatever else I can fit under that umbrella, as detailed here. In my old place of employment, where the label outside my office read, "Administrative Assistant," I had added "Den Mother and Ambassador to Mars" underneath.

kids: None. In December 1983 I had myself voluntarily sterilized (mentioned in "Finding Common Ground") and have never regretted that decision. Marge Piercy's poem "The Sabbath of Mutual Respect" had made me aware of laparascopic sterilization.

living arrangements: Mary and I share a 26-year-old single-level house in a quasi-rural (but quickly developing) area. Furniture is largely 1960s Brooklyn, from my childhood. To this we've added many, many filled bookshelves and filing cabinets, various art pieces, and much clutter, which the cats occasionally rearrange. When we moved here we planted trees and shrubs in a largely empty yard, and we let non-invasive volunteers plant themselves. "Portrait" describes some of the decor.

most admired trait: I never asked!

number of sexual partners: Since December 1995: one.

overnight hospital stays: 10 weeks in 1966 from a near-fatal car accident, detailed in "Name one event that changed your life."

phobia: roaches (not a good phobia to have in Florida) -- discussed further in "A Night With Max".

quote: There are so many of them! I'll choose one from the several I have on my wall. From Helen Keller: "Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."

religion: I was raised a largely non-observant Jew, but my spirituality draws from a variety of disciplines and my own home-grown practices, some of which are described in "Altar".

siblings: None.

time I usually wake up: Depends on when I go to sleep! Both are highly variable. For example, I went to bed at around 6 AM on May 28 and slept until around noon. Mary and I had been out on the driveway with telescope and binoculars. The sky had been so clear that we could see not only the Milky Way but its Great Rift.

We tried unsuccessfully to find the Ring Nebula in the constellation Lyra (our low-end but still very satisfying scope is completely manual -- no computer, no clock drive), but I caught an artificial satellite while I trained our Astroscan almost directly overhead. Checking Heavens Above, the closest I could find to it was the Spot 3 Rocket (launched in September 1993), an Ariane 4 third stage booster for the French "Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre 3." But Heavens Above lists only those artificial satellites with a magnitude of 4.5 or brighter. The object I saw in the scope was dim, which makes me think it was a satellite not covered by that Web site.

Soon, though, Mary spotted Venus rising between two distant trees, and we swung our Astroscan toward that. From what I could tell its phase was a waxing gibbous: like the Moon, Venus goes through phases as seen from Earth. (Sure enough, the May 26 "Astronomy a Go-Go!" says, "Just over half full she is intensely bright in her gibbous phase.")

We were hoping to catch Jupiter's Great Red Spot, but that planet was already too low in the West for us to get a decent look at it. Mary shielded her eyes while I thanked the paper delivery person who drove up about an hour before sunrise with that day's St. Petersburg Times.

unusual talent: Scat-singing. Put me in a room with musicians jamming an improv and I'll harmonize. The more complicated the musical progressions, the more I like it. In the photo up top I'm scat-singing at a summer 1995 party for bicyclists with whom I would do the first Boston-New York AIDS Ride. (I documented my preparation for and participation in the Ride in a six-part series of articles, reproduced here.)

vegetable I refuse to eat: Okra. I could never get used to its texture. Otherwise, I generally love vegetables. When I was a kindergartener I remember being with my mother at our local Key Food grocery and reaching out to grab one handful after another of green beans out of the vegetable bin. She didn't seem to mind my episodes of petty theft. Neither did the store personnel.

worst habit: Putting pressure on myself, though little by little I'm improving.

x-rays: Probably a bunch back in 1966 after 2 broken legs and ruptured intestines (again, see "Name one event that changed your life"). Plus dental x-rays. Plus my left index finger, which I broke while hiking on slippery rocks in 2001.

yummy foods I make: Been a long time since I've cooked; I'm the type to just open up a can. Except for rare occasions we've shut off the electricity to the stove because 99 percent of our cooking is in the microwave. But I grew up across the street from someone who worked in a spice factory, so I am better at making marinades and soups than at baking.

zodiac sign: Libra.

Roseate Spoonbills and Herons


A Roseate Spoonbill preens.

More photos and video from the rookery at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park....

Says eNature.com about the Roseate Spoonbill (Ajaia ajaja): "These birds spend much time feeding in the shallow waters of Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico on shrimp, small fish, snails, and aquatic insects, which they detect by their sense of touch as they rhythmically sweep their 'spoon-shaped' bills from side to side. Early in the century their numbers were severely depleted by plume hunters, but with protective laws they have increased once again."







Not far from the spoonbills, a Tri-Colored Heron (Egretta tricolor) perched on a sign listing the rookery's birds and their identifying characteristics.



According to eNature.com, this bird, formerly called the Louisiana Heron, "is one of the most abundant herons in the Deep South. Although in the West it nests only in southern New Mexico, it is liable to turn up in late summer as far away as Arizona, California, Oregon, Colorado, and even Manitoba. The Tricolored Heron is extremely slender and moves gracefully as it searches about for frogs or fish. Despite its relatively small size, it forages in deep water; often its legs are completely underwater, and the bird appears to be swimming."





At first I mistook the next bird for a Tri-Colored Heron, but it's a Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea). Says eNature.com, "This is one of the most numerous herons in the Southeast and may be observed in large mixed concentrations of herons and egrets. It eats more insects than the larger herons and is sometimes seen following a plow to pick up exposed insect larvae. Adults usually forage alone, stalking the marshes for prey, but immatures tend to feed in groups, their white plumage serving as a signal, drawing distant birds together at good foraging places. Unlike the egrets, it has no fancy plumes and was thus spared by plume hunters."







Below, a Great Heron nourishes her brood in In Feeding Time at the Rookery:



Before I left the park I made a last circuit of the rookery, this time with my digital recorder held out toward the nests. It was a bit more sensitive than my camera to the sounds of the birds.

Coming up: St. Augustine outside the park.

Views From the Boardwalk


At first I didn't know what species these hatchlings were, but then I noticed that the black shape before the left hatchling's face is a beak belonging to an adult Snowy Egret.

More photos and video from the rookery at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park....



According to the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, the Snowy Egret (Egretta thula, Family Ardeidae) "is a partially migratory species, as it relocates from its northern habitats of the United States and Canada to its winter ranges located in Mexico, Central America, South America, the West Indies, and Bermuda. Snowy Egrets begin their northward migration in early March and depart in September to migrate to their wintering areas."



My first St. Augustine entry has another shot of a Snowy Egret with young.

According to UMMZ, Snowy Egret nests "are composed of woven twigs and small sticks that female egrets collect from the ground or steal from other nests. Egretta thula may also reuse old nests. These egrets are highly social nesters and build nests close to other egrets or herons....Females lay 3-6 eggs at a time (on average); eggs have a pale, greenish blue color. Incubation lasts 24 days on average and the chicks usually fledge 14 days after hatching. Young reach reproductive maturity after 1 to 2 years."

I was relieved to read that the parents remove the eggshells from the nest after hatching occurs. We had seen a cracked egg meeting the above description on the ground and feared the worst, especially given this fallen hatchling:



I was photographing several feet away when Mary had seen this chick "plop to the ground" from a nest above. It had flopped once and then lay still. The two hatchlings remaining in the nest stared intently at the corpse. An adult landed briefly a few feet away, then returned to the branches.

A small alligator drew slowly closer to land. Mary theorizes the gator didn't want to draw attention to itself and this bit of food. In addition to protecting the birds from predators, the alligators also serve as a kind of clean-up crew.

Two days later I was drinking coffee at our hotel when a small sparrow slammed head-first into the plate-glass window by the breakfast table. My heart sank that a second bird might be dead before my eyes so quickly after the first. But after flopping about and sitting still, stunned, the sparrow righted itself and flew away as I opened the door, bagel in hand in case it needed food.

A manager at the hotel who visits the rookery frequently told us that the weakest nestlings are refused nourishment, which then goes to stronger siblings.

A trio of hatchlings looking much like the Snowies up top vie for position in Down In Front!



A pair of young Snowies (positively identified due to the parent standing above them) compete for attention in Sibling Rivalry. I had held my camera on end, so this movie is rotated 90 degrees from where I want it to be. I don't yet have movie editing software to set it right, but still thought it entertaining enough to post. (Mary: "If you can't get the parent's attention, then chomp on your sibling's bill, that's it!")





I had seen cattle egrets (Bubulcus ibis) in our neighborhood, but this was the first time I had seen one in breeding coloration. Outside of breeding season, this cattle egret would have dark legs. The yellowish feathers on top of her head and back and on her chest also indicates that she is breeding.

Says eNature.com: "Originating in the Old World, the Cattle Egret crossed the Atlantic, probably flying from Africa to South America, where this species was first reported in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The birds gradually spread northward through the West Indies and into Florida, then northward and westward. As in the Old World, Cattle Egrets in North America follow large grazing animals to feed on the insects they disturb and can often be seen perched on the backs of livestock. At some airports, especially those near salt marshes, these small herons wait at the edge of runways for passing airplanes to blow insects out of the grass. Unlike other egrets, this species rarely takes fish, although it is known to capture an occasional frog or toad."



With no parent in this photo, I haven't been able to identify these chicks.



Juvenile White Ibis (Eudocimus albus, Family Threskiornithidae). Says eNature.com, "Around their colonies, ibises eat crabs and crayfish, which in turn devour quantities of fish eggs. By keeping down the numbers of crayfish, the birds help increase fish populations. In addition, their droppings fertilize the water, greatly increasing the growth of plankton, the basic food of all marsh life. White Ibises gather at dusk in spectacular roosts, long lines of birds streaming in from all directions."

The ibis belongs to the same family as the Roseate Spoonbill, which is yet to come -- accompanied by the Tri-colored Heron.

We got the results of Daisy's tests Friday morning, and the news is not good -- but we are fortunate to have learned of it while she is still healthy enough to zip around the house. Daisy has been diagnosed with progressive renal failure. Below, she sits on the notes I took while talking with the vet, and printouts of information I'd downloaded from the Web.



Next week we are starting her on a special renal diet. At this point we don't know how much time she has left in this world (could be years, could be significantly shorter), but we'll try to keep her as comfortable, healthy, and happy as we can while she's still with us. I took a video of her Saturday morning, and will post the link after I've paid a visit to our DSL-enabled library to upload it.

Rookery: From the Observation Deck


Wood Stork hatchlings and parent. Sometimes I use PowerPoint (business presentation software) as an assist to my zoom. For some reason, it creates less pixilation than either MS Paint or MS Photo Editor when I enlarge my photo images. Still, you can see a bit of pixilation here from the "stretching."

By far and away the highlight for me of our trip was the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park's rookery. A comment left on Flickr prompts me to say this: the close-ups here were all taken with a 12x optical zoom, from a boardwalk set above an alligator-filled swamp. Anyone trying to get too close to the nests would have become a fine meal for the reptiles below.

The birds were free to come and go as they pleased. On our approach to the farm (Mary and I walked there from our hotel) I spotted a wood stork flying out of the park and across Anastasia Blvd. in search of nest-building materials.

The alligators are, in effect, bodyguards to the birds, protecting them from predators....



Wood Stork (Mycteria americana) and young. Says the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, "Wood storks are the largest wading birds that breed in North America; they nest 60 feet off the ground in cypress trees in wetland areas of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. Only three other species in the world are similar to wood storks; two live in Southeast Asia and one in Africa."

Wood Storks were listed on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Endangered Species List in 1984. Between the 1930s and 1980, development, habitat destruction, and other factors had reduced their population from more than 60,000 to about 4,500 breeding pairs.



The trees where these storks nest (and, below them, Great Herons) are set well back from the boardwalk's observation deck, which is outfitted with a magnifying viewer. They comprise my most distant shots of the lot.



Wood Storks are up top. Below a Great Egret (Ardea alba) stands guard over her chicks. The Great Egret can be distinguished from the Great White Heron by the color of her legs: black instead of the heron's yellow.

According to the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, "the Great Egret is found across much of the world, from southern Canada southward to Argentina, and in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. It's the largest egret in the Old World, and thus has garnered the name Great White Egret. But in the Americas, the white form of the Great Blue Heron is larger and warrants that name. In the United States, the Great Egret used to be called the American Egret but that was hardly appropriate, since the species range extends beyond America and indeed farther than other herons....Plume hunters in the late 1800s and early 1900s reduced North American populations by more than 95 percent. The populations recovered after the birds were protected by law. No population is considered threatened, but the species is vulnerable to the loss of wetlands."



More Wood Storks and Great Egrets.



Great Egret and young.



Great Egrets.



Storks and Egrets, wide shot.



I believe this shot was taken without any zoom, judging from the portion of park plaque at lower right. The bird in flight is a wood stork who, during the estimated couple of hours we were there, kept flying back and forth, bringing material to the nest.

Next: Shots from further down the boardwalk.

Habitat


Marabou Stork

When does habitat become something in the eye of the beholder? And what does that mean?

Last night I photographed some of our local denizens, whose identities I know thanks to the folks at Bugguide.Net. They included a Pine Devil Moth and an Owlfly, along with a couple different species of Ground Beetle (whose North American species runs into the thousands, some of which are very difficult to tell apart).

I had never before seen the likes of the moth or the owlfly -- in fact, I had never before seen an owlfly, period. Mary, who had called my attention to the moth outside our local bakery at around 9:30 PM, wondered if we were seeing these critters because they were being driven from their natural habitats as our county rushes further into development.

I don't discount her theory but came up with my own: What if, in the midst of ongoing drought conditions, these creatures come into settled areas because that's where the water is?

I don't know which is correct, or which is more correct. We've been here for only three years. Some things have stayed the same, like the robins' return at the end of January. But other things change -- or maybe they haven't really changed but our attention has been redirected. Our first year here I don't remember seeing swallow-tailed kites in the neighborhood. The past two years, I have.



The Marabou Stork (Leptoptilos crumeniferus) is among several African birds on display at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park. According to the info sign, this stork feeds primarily on amphibians, aquatic organisms, beetles, carrion, crustaceans, fish, flamingos, termites, and young shore birds. Its ability to adapt to human encroachment is probably helping its population to increase. Predominantly scavengers, Maribous are beneficial to reducing disease by cleaning up carcasses and other rubbish.



Says the park's plaque, "As if their bald head, crusty bill, and excrement-covered legs weren't ugly enough, these birds actually turn gruesome during the breeding season. The scabby spots on the face and forehead become encrusted with dried blood. They aggressively defend their nesting site while inflating two large subcutaneous air sacs. One bright pink medium-sized bulbous sac protrudes from the feathers of the upper back. A larger pendulous flesh-colored gular sac hangs below the throat when inflated. They do have one appealing feature during this time -- the back of the neck turns a beautiful pale-blue-green."

The Marabou was behind Plexiglas, along with two other species in the African Birds display: the Helmeted Guineafowl (which I couldn't photograph well), and the West African Crowned Crane (Balearica pavonina).



The crane feeds mainly on grasses, seeds, insects, and other small invertebrates. This bird prefers freshwater marshes, wetter grasslands, and the edges of water bodies.

The major threats facing this species are the loss, transformation, and degradation of habitat. Crane habitat, wetlands and grasslands, have been devastated by natural droughts and human impact. In recent years, the illegal capture for the international market has also caused major declines in population.

This bird is the national bird of Nigeria, where it is considered a symbol of good luck. In Kenya, it is believed to be a messenger of peace that also removes livestock pests and guards waterholes and swamps.

Of the two hornbills I photographed, one is commonly seen and the other might be considered threatened, though its exact numbers are unknown.



According to the park's plaque, the Yellow-Billed Hornbill (Tockus flavirostris) is one of the smallest hornbill species. It feeds on rodents, insects, scorpions and centipedes, and fruit. Its habitat is bushvelds, woodlands, and arid thornvelds of Central Eastern Africa.

During breeding season, the female seals herself into the nest cavity, leaving a narrow, vertical slit through which the male feeds her. Once sealed inside, the female lays and incubates her eggs. While in the nest, the female undergoes a full molt and cannot fly until her new feathers grow in. She doesn't leave the nest cavity until her chicks are old enough to fly.



The Sulawesi Red-Knobbed Hornbill (Aceros cassidix) feeds mainly on figs, and has been known to fly over 20 miles in one day in search of fruiting trees. Its habitat is restricted to evergreen forests on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

It is difficult to accurately estimate the population of this species due to its nomadic nature. It is often seen congregating around fruiting trees. Counts based on groups of birds feeding may result in an exaggerated estimate of the population's true numbers. Says the plaque, "The loss of adequate habitat has no doubt affected the numbers of these birds in the wild." Like the Yellow-Billed Hornbill, this bird seals itself up in the nest cavity until her chicks become fully mobile.



This is the second time I've photographed a Galapagos tortoise. The first time had been in the Galapagos Islands, which I was extraordinarily lucky to visit in the summer of 1984. I did not see them in the wild there, either, but at the Darwin Research Station on the island of Santa Cruz. This shot includes my photo of the tortoises there.

During my 1984 visit I was told that to protect the species from human-introduced dogs and rats, the research station collects hatchlings and raises them for five years before releasing them into the wild. At the station I saw small tortoises with shells the size of coasters, each shell painted with a number. It all looked like some kind of turtle derby.



Under the plaque's heading for Conservation Status, the Golden-Headed Lion Tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysomelas) is listed as Critically Endangered.

This species is one of the most endangered of all primates. Endemic to Brazil's Atlantic forest, it endures constant threats of habitat loss and habitat fragmentation from severe deforestation. Currently, conservation efforts include identifying habitat corridors to link larger forests where Golden-headed Lion Tamarins now live. This would maximize genetic diversity and increase long-term survival of populations. Efforts are also being made to work with local landowners to encourage them to protect vital habitat.

This species differs from most other primates in that its feet have sharp claws instead of nails.

Back at our local habitat, I was waiting inside the bakery for its proprietor to return, because I'd heard he knew something about bird calls and I have this recording of a bird in the neighborhood whom I can't identify. Harry, who didn't recognize it, either, referred me to Florida Bird Sounds, a great site that informed me that one of the songs we've been hearing sometimes is that of a Carolina Wren. But that wasn't the call I recorded, and I couldn't find that sound at the site. For now, the bird remains a mystery.

Mary, meanwhile, had stepped outside. Soon, she called me to come to the front.

"You want to see this," she said. "It's big."



Pine Devil Moth, Citheronia sepulcralis. Family Saturniidae (Giant Silkworm and Royal Moths). According to Bugguide.Net, these moths range throughout eastern North America, more common in the southeast. "A little-known silk moth, but subtly beautiful." Its habitat is coniferous and mixed coniferous/deciduous forests. Bugguide shows June as the start of its season, so this one is a little early (June-August (one brood) in the north, June-September (two broods) farther south). Adults do not feed. Larvae feed on pines, Pinus species. Eggs are laid at the base of pine needles.

At first I had thought this was a Sphinx moth. Combing through Bugguide showed me some similarities to the Carolina, Catalpa, Walnut, and Fig Sphinx moths, but not an exact match. I hadn't realized I was looking at the wrong family. Patrick Coin set me right on the ID.



This one also looks like it's been in a battle or has a bad case of mange. Chances are it's a female because of its broad abdomen and narrow antennae.

The owlfly, hanging around outside the supermarket (where I'd provided a spider ID to one of the employees), was like nothing I'd ever seen before.



Family Ascalaphidae. Owlflies are often called a cross between a butterfly and a dragonfly. According to the University of Florida, 4 species of owlfly occur in Florida, of which 3 are in the genus Ululodes. Which this is, due to its divided eye.

(What's that, you say?)



I couldn't figure out for the life of me what was going on with that eye until I'd read the description. Species is still unknown. I'm hoping it's Ululodes floridana, which seems not to have a photo available. I've pretty much ruled out quadrimaculatus, and the one photo I've seen of macleayana makes it difficult to tell whether that's the same species as the one here. This one is likely a male, due to its abdominal tufts and slender body.

Owlflies range through most of North America; the adults are said to prey on insects. Says Bugguide, "Eggs are laid on twigs. Larvae predatory, lie on ground covered with debris waiting for prey. Larvae resemble those of ant-lions, but have a 'finger-like appendage' on the side of each segment. Some genera actively cement sand and debris onto their bodies as camouflage. Pupation occurs in a silk cocoon in leaf litter."

Writes Coin, "We're really breaking new ground here--this family is poorly documented in North America, at least in any popular literature or on the Internet."

As for habitat changes -- I couldn't say whether these creatures are hanging out around the bakery and the supermarket because of rapid development. Or because of drought. Or for any other reason. What I can say is that my attention to bugs has mushroomed since I got this camera.

Earlier today three white ibises congregated on our neighbor's lawn across the street (we'd seen them do the same thing last year). We were pulling out of the driveway at the time, taking Daisy to a vet appointment, so I didn't have time to take photos -- especially since I was the one behind the wheel. We'd been concerned about Daisy's recent weight loss, but according to the vet she's fine and is not too thin. And that weird bump by her ribs is not a tumor, it's a kidney. We're waiting on test results that will provide more info.

Daisy's lungs sounded quite healthy for her 14 years. I was not about to stop, even in the driveway, to photograph the ibises with a kitty yowling in Mary's arms.

Last night our supermarket guy was disappointed. "It's a common spider?" He'd clearly wanted it to be more exotic. "It is common throughout Florida and much of the southern United States in human populated areas," says the University of Florida. Still, I'd never seen a Southern House Spider prior to Saturday night.



Mary was off to get a last item for purchase. I was waiting up front with our packages when I spotted and photographed a Green Cutworm Moth on the ceiling. It had been close to midnight and the store was all but empty, so when I looked back down I found myself surrounded by folks who wanted to know what I was doing. Then one of the employees guided me to the back storage room to show me a "weird spider."

This one is likely a Southern House Spider (Kukulcania hibernalis, Family Filistatidae (Crevice Weavers)). The dark coloration and large size (the body seems at least an inch long) make me think this one's a female. Males are smaller and lighter-colored, and are sometimes mistaken for the very poisonous brown recluse spiders, which are smaller still.

These (and various other Families) fall into the category of Cribellate spiders because of the type of web they weave. A good definition comes from Australian Museum Online: "Cribellate silk is produced from many tiny, silk glands placed beneath a specialised, flattened spinning organ called the cribellum....A web made with a meshwork of these composite 'wool-like' threads is particularly effective at tangling the bristles, spines and claws of insect prey. The fine fibrils of cribellate silk also appear to have some type of 'dry adhesive' properties (possibly electrostatic in nature) and will even cling to smooth beetle cuticle.... This remarkable innovation allowed spiders to produce the first specialised prey catching silk."

Coming up: The Alligator Farm Rookery.

Scales and Feathers


American alligator hatchlings

A continuation of photos and commentary -- and video! -- from our St. Augustine trip. The next however-many installments describe the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park....

For folks on dial-up: There's a trick to viewing the video below without it stopping every other second -- at least it's worked for me. Go down to the video link before you continue reading this entry and click the Play button, followed immediately by the Pause button. The downloading will continue while you're reading. By the time you reach the video it should be able to play more than a brief burp.

(We now return you to your regularly-scheduled blog.)

Among the souvenirs we bought were copies of William R. Adams and Carl Shiver's fascinating The St. Augustine Alligator Farm: A Complete History. My historical information here is drawn from that book.

The farm's evolution is tied intimately to that of St. Augustine (founded in 1565) and Florida as a whole (named by Ponce de Leon, who reached its shores in 1513). The farm's establishment in 1893 occurred six years after the railroad had come to the city, improving accessibility to the rest of the eastern seaboard. While Florida was still mostly forests and jungles populated by strange tropical creatures unknown to folks up north, oil entrepreneur Henry Flagler began building hotels and advertising St. Augustine as a winter resort.

The South Beach Railway, a mule-drawn tram line, crossed the inter-coastal waterway from downtown St. Augustine onto Anastasia Island. To attract visitors to South Beach, an attraction was sought for the end of the line. A museum of marine curiosities served as precursor to the Alligator Farm. Everett C. Whitney's "Burning Spring Museum" -- a curiosity and souvenir shop with an artesian well whose sulfuric water was mixed with gasoline and ignited -- also included alligators on display, which had been collected on the island.



This huge pool of American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) -- dozens of them -- was visible from the snack stand and bordered the "Reptile Theater," which left me with images of these guys dressing up and putting on a performance of King Lear.

The first mention of animals other than alligators at the farm appeared in the 1911 St. Augustine, St. Johns County Illustrated. That publication described the farm as offering a "complete collection" of deadly snakes found in Florida and animals from many parts of the state.


Orinoco crocodile

Upon the farm's incorporation in 1909, then-owners George Reddington and Felix Fire transferred to it their own collections of stuffed birds. Live ostriches followed in the 1920s, during which time the farm's name was changed to the St Augustine Ostrich-Alligator Farm & Museum of Marine Curiosities. After W.F. Drysdale and F. Charles Ursina purchased the attraction in 1937, they acquired more animals from other collections, including crocodiles, Galapagos turtles, and many different species of monkeys and birds.

According to the park's plaque, the South American Orinoco (Crocodylus intermedius) is one of the largest crocodilian species, historically reaching lengths of 20 feet, though specimens over 15 feet would be rare. Its habitat is freshwater rivers of the middle and lower Orinoco river basin and seasonal rivers created by flooding. It will seek out burrows along the riverbank during the dry season.

Over-hunting in the mid 20th century decimated the wild population of this species, currently estimated at fewer than 250 adults, with populations continuing to decline. It is legally protected in Columbia and Venezuela, although poaching by fishermen is reported to occur. Captive breeding farms for release programs have had some success in recent years.

The video below is my first attempt at embedding from You Tube. If the embedding here doesn't work, you can go directly to the URL by clicking on the title link.

Title Link: Alligator Mosey -- 22 seconds, approx. 11.5 MB.



I've uploaded three other videos as well, which I'll embed/link here when I post photos from the rookery. Or click on the title link and then on "ejourneys's Videos."



The farm is home to both common and endangered species. These North American Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) shared living quarters with the black swan below.



This species (Cygnus atratus) hails from Australia, and lives across the walk from the black-necked swans.



Cygnus melancorphus, a South American species.

After World War I the farm's clientele changed. St. Augustine and Florida as a whole shifted from a winter getaway for the rich to a real estate opportunity for the middle class, fueled by returning veterans who had been stationed near St. Augustine. "By the mid-1920s nearly twenty-five trains were arriving daily in Jacksonville," write Adams and Shiver. "The Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce reported in 1924 that 150,000 automobiles passed through the city during the winter season. An estimated 20,000 immigrants from other parts of the nation entered the state every day."

The attraction Drysdale and Ursina purchased in 1937 "consisted of a wood frame building containing offices, a gift shop, and the entrance to the exhibits. There were also the alligator pens that held an unknown number of reptiles, additional animal and bird displays, and several acres of undeveloped land."



Parrots also populated this part of the park. Each had its own perch, but sometimes one would pay another a visit.

From reading the history I got the feeling the Great Depression had not been at the forefront of the farm's problems. The attraction Drysdale and Ursina bought had been moved from its original site to the one where it stands today. Hastily constructed in the 1890s, the farm's original buildings had suffered from wear and beach erosion. A year after a "nor'easter" knocked out the railway tracks in 1920, two separate fires destroyed most of the buildings. A summer storm then washed away the remains. Fortunately, the farm and its animals were already in the process of being relocated to the farm's current location.

Shortly after Drysdale and Ursina made their purchase, "a fire of unknown origin destroyed the main building of the complex. The new owners now had to worry about financing construction of a building to replace the one that had been razed by the flames, in addition to paying for the attraction's purchase cost.... Within three months, they announced plans for the construction of a new building that would contain offices, a taxidermy shop, gift store, and the entrance to the attraction. The orientation of the building was changed" to face what is now A1A, "the principal coastal highway along the state's eastern coast."


Cockatoo

Drysdale's son, David C. Drysdale, has owned the facility since the 1970s. Back then, alligators were beginning to rebound from the brink of extinction and scientists from the University of Florida came to the grounds to research them. "The American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums extended accreditation to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm in 1988, elevating the institution to a select list of zoological institutions throughout the United States that are recognized for the quality of their collections and the care they give them."

The exhibits represented by the photos above just scratch the surface. Much more to come....
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