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Global outrage grows over Russian atrocities in Ukraine

Ofer Shelah joins the program.

The Limpkin is a large bird of wetland – especially swamp – habitats that can be found throughout Florida and only more recently and rarely in other southern states. It is a tropical species also found in Cuba and on other Caribbean Islands and well into tropical South America. The Limpkin is a food specialist – feeding primarily on large Apple Snails, but also taking clams and some insects. The Limpkin has been a game bird in Florida – but is now protected as a troubled species – troubled because of habitat losses and fragmentation of the suitable habitats that remain. Florida has only one native Apple Snail and its populations have also declined. Four additional Apple Snail species now occur in Florida and compete with the native species. All four are invasive exotics most likely introduced through the pet trade.

Doves and pigeons are among the most recognizable of birds – in part because of their close association with humans. Although they are regular patrons at bird feeders, doves and pigeons generally feed on spilled seeds that accumulate beneath feeders.

George Church joins the show.

Ken Burns and Sarah Burns discuss their new documentary "Leonardo da Vinci."

The Queensland Umbrella Tree is named for the state of Queensland in Australia, where it is native, but it has been spread to warmer areas around the world through the horticulture trade for the beauty of its evergreen foliage and unique umbels of flowers and fruit. Unfortunately it is also an invasive exotic that has spread out of control wherever it has been introduced. Even its home country – Australia – considers the Queensland Umbrella Tree an invasive exotic. Queensland Umbrella Tree fruit is abundant and easily available to the diversity of birds and other animals that feed on it. In Florida Northern Mockingbirds often defend the fruit supply, but other birds manage to partake of it. Eastern Bluebirds, Red-bellied and Pileated woodpeckers, and many other species take advantage of it. After feasting, the seeds pass through a bird’s digestive tract and are deposited with a bit of fertilizer – facilitating growth of new trees elsewhere.

Milkweeds are diverse and widespread. They are also well known because of putative medicinal properties and now, especially because of their association with Monarch Butterflies. Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed and their caterpillars feed on milkweeds – consuming toxic chemicals, which they store in their body, making both the caterpillars and the adult butterflies toxic and noxious to would be predators. What is less well known is that Monarch butterfly populations are declining rapidly. Why? Excessive use of herbicides that kill milkweeds along with other plants, clearing of land for human uses, pesticides that kill insects, and climate change are all likely involved. Florida is home to at least 24 species of milkweeds and also to a sizeable, but perhaps shrinking, monarch butterfly population – a population that includes migrant monarchs that pass through Florida from more northern breeding areas to wintering areas in Mexico and other areas south of us. There is much we don’t know, but scientists are concerned and investigating the potential links.

More than 1,000 square miles of wildfires are burning in the state. In the isolated Okanogan Valley, where power and phone lines have burned, cattle ranchers are doing what they can to spare herds.

The Knight Anole is a newcomer to Florida – first found here in the 1950s near Miami, and now found almost anywhere in the state. It is a native of Cuba that has also been spread to other islands of the Caribbean and to California – in part as a result of stowaways hiding in plants and among crates being shipped taken from Cuba and Florida, and in part through the pet trade. The Knight Anole is a handsome lizard – and a very large one – sometimes reaching 17 inches from the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail. It is also an omnivore – eating almost anything, including other lizards, baby birds, mice, fruit, and more. It has been known from southwest Florida for several years and its numbers are growing. Watch for this green invader with white stripes on its face and side. Between April and August it can often be seen clinging head down on a tree trunk – waiting patiently for potential mates or the arrival of competitors. The rest of the year it is typically in the canopy of trees or palms feeding on whatever it can find among dense foliage.