The Monarch Butterfly with its orange and black wings, and look-alike mimic the Viceroy Butterfly are well entrenched in our educational system from grade school through graduate school. But details of the Monarch’s life and its mimic relationship with the Viceroy Butterfly are not so well known. Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed and caterpillars that emerge feed on milkweed leaves. These leaves often provide toxins that protect the butterfly – often, not always. That protective toxin – gained during the caterpillar stage -- can disappear from the butterfly over time because the adult butterfly feeds on the nectar of many different flowers. Milkweeds are popular plants as ornamentals that attract Monarchs. One most prominently for sale is Tropical Milkweed, an exotic species with beautiful red and orange flowers. Tropical Milkweed has become an invasive and lives through Florida winters, building up populations of a parasite of Monarchs that can impair the butterflies. Unlike Tropical Milkweed, most of our native milkweeds die in winter and the monarch parasites die with them.

Spanish Moss is familiar to anyone who has visited Florida. It can appear anywhere as a result of the wind dispersing its seeds as it does the seeds of dandelions. But development of the draping clusters of Spanish Moss depends on the seed landing in the right place – on a horizontal limb of a rough-barked tree near water or in a very humid environment. Most Spanish Moss plants only grow to a bit over a foot long, but as they reproduce, one plant becomes many plants linked together by their limb-like scaly-surfaced leaves. There is safety and a future for the plants in such a mass. The cluster of plants holds moisture in – allowing them to survive dry times and also facilitating pollination as insects move from a flower on one plant to a flower on another in the cluster. A mass of Spanish Moss plants appears gray during dry times as the plant shrinks, but is green in appearance as rains allow the plant to swell with water and expose bare areas between the scales.

The Florida Soft-shelled Turtle is found throughout Florida in calm or relatively calm ponds, lakes, and canals that have a relatively sandy bottom. A male is much smaller than a female -- thus allowing him to be more maneuverable. A females is much larger thus allowing her to accommodate the many large eggs that she lays. With strong hind legs she digs a nesting hole, lays her eggs, and fills it in – without ever looking back. A broad band of tubercles -- scale-like structures -- occurs along the front edge of the Florida Soft-shelled Turtle’s carapace, distinguishing it from other soft-shelled turtles. Fish Crows and other predators often follow the slow-moving female as she seeks and digs a nest site. Sometimes predators take her eggs as she lays them.

The European Starling is one of our most obvious exotic species. We see them everyday because we provide them with food and shelter. The next time you are at a stoplight, look around. You are likely to see starlings. Fast food restaurants and snack-providing gas stations are often located at intersections and garbage dumped in open trash bins, or dropped accidentally or on purpose by patrons of those businesses or by drivers getting a snack while the light is red create a smorgasbord for starlings. The convocation of utility wires at intersections also play a role. They provide perches where starlings wait for their next meal. Starlings are social birds and -- especially in late winter and early spring -- starlings can be lined up evenly spaced by the dozens – or hundreds – on the wires.Why are they so evenly spaced? They leave just enough space to allow them to take off quickly without their wings hitting their neighbor while still taking advantage of the body heat of their neighbors.

The Northern Mockingbird was long ago selected by school children as Florida’s State bird. That’s not a surprising choice because mockingbirds are conspicuous – both visually and vocally in our yards and parks. Because its diet includes a diversity of insects, spiders, small lizards, and other small animals – as well as a diversity of fruits – our mockingbird is particularly conspicuous. It hunts mostly in open patches of short vegetation – such as our lawns -- and perches in the open to sing. In either situation it often holds its long tail upright, thus minimizing the chances for a predator to successfully attack it from behind. Among its other unique behaviors a Northern Mockingbird regularly flicks its wings open and closed as it moves slowly across open areas. The wings have a large white area both above and below – and when the wings are flicked, the white flash often causes nearby insects to move away – and its wing-flashing provides an opportunity for the mockingbird to seize a meal.

About 30,000 species of spiders have been recognized and many more are likely to be discovered. Each has adapted to a specific niche – the habitat it lives in, what it eats, and how it gets its meals. When we think of spiders, we may think of spider webs – but not all spiders build webs. We might also think of the nature of the habitat where and when they are found. Their food, how they obtain it, and the nature of their habitats vary – and it is that variation that has allowed development of the great diversity of spider species.

Gumbo Limbo trees are native, commonly seen in south Florida, and easily recognized by their smooth, but peeling red bark – perhaps their defining characteristic. That peeling red bark has given them the another common name: “tourist tree” because it readily reminds one of the skin of a tourist (or local) who has been out in the sun too long. These are hardy trees that occur naturally from south Florida to the Caribbean, Mexico, and northern South America. They their stout trunk and spreading branches also make them a favorite for landscaping, but be aware that their roots are shallow, spreading, and can push up sidewalks and driveways. On this week’s Wild Things I’ll discuss more of Gumbo Limbo’s good and bad characteristics and its links to human culture.

Ospreys -- sometimes known as “fish hawks” -- are in a family separate from other hawks and eagles, thus only distantly related to them. As a result of their preferred diet of fishes, they are intimately associated with rivers, streams, lakes, and coastal waters of the world’s oceans. Their food and habitat preferences, have made them intimately associated with humans and Ospreys are found on every continent except Antarctica. Osprey nests are large and sturdy as a result of use of large sticks that build a sturdy frame.

Gray Squirrels are our most common squirrels and are with us year round. They can beabundant in cities where there are oaks and bird feeders. They love sunflower seeds and areoften considered a scourge by humans who put out food for birds. Although stores regularly sellbird feeders that are marketed as being “squirrel-proof”, the advertiser has usuallyunderestimated squirrel abilities.

Habitats include the physical and biological characteristics of the place where a plant, animal, fungus, or any living creature lives – including the nature of the soil, climate, the amount of the habitat and its configuration. The presence and numbers of such things as competitors, disease-causing organisms, predators, sources of food, water, and nest sites, and safe shelter are important to all life. The extent of their importance varies greatly from species to species and often between sexes and age groups of a species. A habitat can support – or prevent the presence of many species of living creatures.