Today Was A Rainy Day In South Florida. Some Of Our Resident Animals Were Particularly Enjoying This

Acrobatic hooded crow really, really wanted that pine cone! Taken in Victoria Park, East Belfast.

Our resident yellow-naped parrots love talking to the SNC’s Executive Director, probably because they’ve known her longer than any other staff here! Their incredible memory and bonding behaviors lead to some interesting dynamics. 

Parrots are known for their impressive mimicry. Vocal mimicry is the ability to imitate speech or noises. There are many possible reasons why vocal mimicry abilities could be an evolutionary advantage. Improved communication could help with the mating process and imitating predators might scare away competition.

It is Turtle Tuesday at the SNC with our Loggerhead Musk Turtle, Molly. Molly is a resident freshwater turtle that is used for many of our educational programs. 

Loggerhead Musk Turtles (Sternotherus minor) are mostly carnivorous, but have also been known to munch on plants. Their jaws are strong enough to crack the shells of small snails, crayfish, insects, and mollusks. 

They are found throughout the Southeast United States in a variety of clear, freshwater wetland areas. 

Fun Fact: When threatened, musk turtles will release a foul smelling musk and bite with their powerful jaws. 

Alligator chomping on World Animal Day

These beautiful works of art are made from discarded flip-flops

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This injured Burrowing Owl was brought to the nature center by a concerned Broward County resident to be rehabilitated. We were able to successfully able to release it back into the wild as good as new! 

This Burrowing Owl had an interesting feature that made it a unique visitor at our hospital. Most Burrowing Owls have bright yellow eyes. This one in particular possessed a recessive gene that gave it brown eyes instead. 

What is Baby Season?

Here at the Sawgrass Nature Center and Wildlife Hospital, we see babies year-round. Part of this is due to Florida’s subtropical climate, another part is that some animals (such as raccoons) have babies all year long. 

So what is so special about the Spring at the SNC? 

Regardless of what specific time of year animal species have babies, a majority of them seem to coincide with the Spring. That means many animal species are having babies all at once in the Springtime. Nature Centers just like ours are flooded with baby birds, squirrels, opossums, raccoons, and more. 

For the most part, these are all animals that have many babies at once. The reason they do this is to increase the chances that at least one of those babies will survive to adulthood. For the many of us that have seen abandoned baby animals, we know that the trials of infancy in the animal kingdom can be quite challenging indeed. 

This season reminds us why it is so important that we have community resources like wildlife rehabilitators to ensure that these animals are given the highest chance of success possible. 

With that in mind, there are some very important things to remember as we March into baby season. If you see a potentially abandoned baby animal, please do not touch it. Rescue is not always the best first step for these animals. Many baby animals are mistaken for being orphaned, when in reality, mom is usually close by watching. 

For example, baby birds experience a natural part of their life cycle on the ground by a tree as they develop necessary skills for independence and flight. While mom might not be immediately identifiable, most times, these baby birds are doing exactly what they should be doing. 

The best thing to keep in mind is that before you intervene with nature, always call your local nature center first for advice. What may seem like an emergency situation, may actually just be a natural part of an animal’s life cycle. 

Turtles lay their eggs on land before leaving them to hatch on their own. The babies are instinctually drawn towards water. These guys hatched on SNC grounds quite a bit away from the nearest freshwater habitat, so we gathered them up and helped them on their way. This increased their chances of survival as they didn't have to fend off hungry birds during the long walk to safety.

Sitting in on a virtual meeting like…

This little fish is called a Garibaldi, found at Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary! This fish gets its name from the 19th-century Italian leader of the same name whose famous army wore flashy red/orange colors into battle.(Photo: Keith C. Flood. Image description: A bright orange Garibaldi fish head-on and close up to the camera.)