Mar. 20, 2011 - More from Corkscrew Swamp

This is one of the air plants that I found growing at Corkscrew Swamp in Florida. Corkscrew’s web site identifies it as Tillandsia, part of a large family of plants called Bromelaids. There are ten different species of Tillansia growing in the park. Epiphyte is a word that is often used to describe them. That means they normally grow without soil and get moisture and nutrients from the air. They attach themselves to a host plant (a tree in this case). But they don’t harm the host plant; they simply use it for support.

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The Tufted Titmouse is an energetic, friendly little bird. It’s a year-round, common backyard resident in the eastern half of the United States. However, they are absent from most of Minnesota, where I live. So, I’m always interested in seeing them when I go to Florida. They like to line their nests with soft materials and have been known to pluck hair from a dog or even from a human.

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I know, Common Grackles are often considered pests. But I still like the iridescent colors of the male’s plumage.

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This colorful insect is an Eastern Lubber Grasshopper. It’s a large grasshopper, up to 3” long, found in the southeastern United States from Texas to Florida. It is foul-tasting and somewhat toxic to most predators but, for some reason, it can be eaten by shrikes. The number of these grasshoppers is usually controlled by other insect predators, but under the right conditions they can have a population explosion and become an agricultural pest.

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This Black and White Warbler was foraging near the boardwalk at Corkscrew Swamp. I’m always amazed at how a bird with just black and white feathers can be so strikingly beautiful.

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The most common woodpecker in the south is the Red-bellied Woodpecker. This is a female. You can tell because the red on the back of her neck stops at the top of her head. A male would have a red stripe from the back of the neck all across the top of the head right down to the bill. This woodpecker is 9 to 10 inches long, about the same size as a hairy woodpecker.

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