Spring on the lake

Spring in Central Florida makes a brief appearance before yielding to a long muggy summer that seems to last longer and longer each year. So I do my best to spend as much time as possible outside when the weather is comfortable and the light is still crisp. As a result I haven't been inside at my computer blogging on weekends.

I am fortunate enough to live on a small urban lake and springtime on this watery oasis is a celebration of life. In February female Tilapia dig out beds with their tales on either side of our pier. This prolific species of fish is native to Africa and Asia and is considered invasive to Florida. I'm not quite sure how they came to be on our little lake, but their numbers are astounding. While I wish they were largemouth bass or another Florida native, watching them spawn every year is a fascinating way to mark the beginning of the season.

Also in spring the migratory ducks head back north and wading birds sport their audacious breeding plumage and chase each other around the lake. This spring I've seen Great and Snowy Egrets, Great Blue and Black Crowned Night Herons, Ibis and Wood Storks just to name a few. Our mollusk-eating Limpkins, year-round residents, become ever more vocal, and one bird in particular has become so comfortable on our dock I have named him Larry.

Every year I'm amazed at this incredible amount of natural activity just yards from a constant stream of unaware motorists and I imagine what Florida must have been like when lakes like this were untouched by human intruders. Thanks to my little lake, I get just a little glimpse of what that must have been like.

These elegant swans appeared one day and left the next. I'm not sure if they were just passing through on migration or venturing out from Lake Eola Downtown...

Even the smaller species seem to be caught up in the rites of Spring.

Larry the Limpkin finds a steady diet of fresh water mollusks and snails around the lake

Male Tilapia flood the shallows towards the end of the spawning season. One day I came home to find a Bald Eagle dining on one in my backyard!

Tigger the cat tenses up as the bird activity outside increases

An outrageous Bougainvilia punctuates that fact that Winter is behind us for another year

The Urban Rookery

The whole concept of a bird rookery is relatively new to me, so I could have been around these bird-nesting magnets my whole life and not realized it. A bird rookery is an area where more than one pair of birds nest in a group. One of the most unique that I know of is on a small island just south of downtown Orlando in Lake Lucerne. It is within feet of the off ramp from SR 408 (or what old time Orlandoans know as the East-West Expressway.)

At this time of year the young birds are much older than the ones I saw at Gatorland, most of them appeared to be able to fly. They don't, however, seem to want to stray far from their nests and my guess is they may still be receiving meals from their parents.

The small island is full of tri-colored herons, great egrets, snowy egrets and ibis. In a nearby Cypress tree are some young Anhinga and it seems like the island can't hold all of the quickly maturing birds anymore, so they populate the trees along the lake's shoreline too. I was unable to see any nests, I'm guessing they must be wall-to-wall on the island's interior where I can't see. There is much commotion constantly as birds jockey for position and birds are flying in and out constantly. The worst thing about the place is the smell of guano; it will knock you over. After I left I swore I could still smell it.

But overall I'm once again amazed by this little patch of wilderness in the middle of an urban environment. And after the media barrage of birds covered in oil in the gulf, it is nice to see these cute fledglings with the last bit of down on their heads, trying to muster up the courage to go out in the world on their own.

For the birds

I'm always amazed at how Florida wildlife can prosper in the midst of some of our state's densest urban areas. The little lake I live on is just a hop, skip and a jump from downtown Orlando, yet at times it is an oasis of nature. One morning this week, I looked out the window to see a family of four Black Crowned Night Herons perched in a Live Oak above the water. I grabbed my camera and was shocked to find a plethora of wading birds; Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets and even the occasional Wood Duck. It's the second time this spring where we've had this cluster of birds in one concentrated spot and my guess is that they are feeding on the fry of the Tilapia that spawn in great abundance this time of year.