Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management

Woodpeckers and Airplants
Check out these photos of a red-bellied woodpecker on an oak tree at Frenchman’s Forest Natural Area. Nothing unusual about sighting a woodpecker on a tree – probably going to start pecking at the trunk in search of a meal. But wait, that isn’t the case. This woodpecker eyes up the giant airplant attached to the oak tree and sticks its beak in the base of the plant. It is not actively creating holes in the airplant – just inserting its beak and then removing it. What’s up with that?

Giant airplants (Tillandsia utriculata) are “tank” bromeliads. Due to the shape and position of the leaves, giant airplants hold water between the leaf axils. This water provides habitat for mosquito larvae and other small animals. In addition to water, the “tank” collects plant materials such as leaves, seeds and twigs that also host a different set of critters. So the red-bellied woodpecker was getting a drink, slurping up some food, or both!

Wild Coffee Plants "Wake Up" the Woods With Color!
Visitors to Palm Beach County natural areas can't help but notice the colorful show put on by wild coffee plants. All aspects of the plant delight the eyes: shiny dark green leaves (unless it is the shortleaf wild coffee – more on this later), delicate white flowers and bright red shiny berries. There are two native wild coffee plants in our area, wild coffee (Psychotria nervosa) and shortleaf wild coffee (Psychotria tenuifolia). Both plants grow in hardwood hammocks and the higher areas of swamps. Wild coffee can grow up to 10 feet tall while shortleaf wild coffee tops out at six feet tall. The leaves of both plants have deeply impressed veins that gives them a quilted appearance. However, the wild coffee leaves are a shiny dark green while the shortleaf wild coffee leaves are a dull bluish-green. This difference gives rise to the shortleaf wild coffee’s other name – dull-leaf wild coffee. The leaves make many people think of gardenias, which makes sense since both plants belong to the same family.

Wild coffee plants typically bloom in spring and summer, but may bloom year-round. The flowers are small, tubular, and white. The flowers attract a variety of pollinators, including Atala and Schaus’ swallowtail butterflies. Wild coffee and shortleaf wild coffee are named not because they are a coffee substitute but because their fruits resemble those of the common coffee shrub. Unlike their cousin, Coffea arabica, from which our morning cup of joe is derived, wild coffee fruits contain no caffeine. The fruits are eaten by a variety of birds including the northern mockingbird, blue jay, cardinal and catbird. These wild coffee plants were photographed at Frenchman’s Forest Natural Area in Palm Beach Gardens. Either plant is a great native shrub to add to your home landscape. Check out the Florida Native Plant Society website (https://www.fnps.org/plant/psychotria-nervosa) for information about growing wild coffee and to locate native nurseries selling the plant.

The first volunteer event of 2024 was held on January 9 at Frenchman’s Forest Natural Area in Palm Beach Gardens. Volunteers and Department staff removed trash and invasive non-native plants from this 172-acre Palm Beach County natural area. The first area the group worked in was along the natural area’s fence line with Prosperity Farms Road. Most of the trash removed during the cleanup consisted of bottles, cans, plastic bags and fast food containers. There were a few unusual trash items found during the event – a roll of pale blue carpet and a frying pan. Volunteers removed several invasive non-native plants from north and south sections of the natural area, including coral creeper, snowbush and Chinese violet. At the end of the event, bags and bags and bags of trash and invasive non-native plants filled the back of a Department truck - 660 pounds worth! Thank you, volunteers, for working so hard to protect this Palm Beach County natural treasure.

Ocean Ridge Natural Area is CLOSED for boardwalk repairs. We will post to our social media accounts when the natural area is re-opened. For those of you wanting to hit the trails at Ocean Ridge, we suggest you visit Seacrest Scrub Natural Area as a great alternative. Seacrest is southwest of Ocean Ridge between Old Dixie and S Seacrest Blvd. Visit pbcnaturalareas.com for more information about Seacrest Scrub Natural Area.

WHAT'S IN THE WRACK?

Hmmm looks oyster-like, feels oyster-like, but is it an oyster? This here is an oyster known as the Frond Oyster (Dendostrea frons). This species is a true oyster sporting various shades of yellows, pinks, and purples. In the ocean this species typically affixes itself to soft corals known as sea whips, hence its common name "frond" as they look like fronds on the stalk like/cylindrical shape of sea whips. Following high surf or storm events you will find the frond oyster washed up on beaches sometime affixed to the skeleton of a sea whip!

My, what big feet you have! Little Red Riding Hood never made that statement to the Big Bad Wolf, but you certainly could shout it out to several wetland bird species found in Palm Beach County natural areas. Gallinules, coots and gray-headed swamphens (pictured here) may look like ducks and swim like ducks but they lack webbed feet. Instead, these members of the Rail Family have long legs and extremely long toes. Why such a comically proportioned bird? Their extremely long toes disperse weight over a large area making it easy for the birds to walk in soft mud and atop floating vegetation. Kind of like how snowshoes allow people to walk easily in deep snow. One of the best places to watch these birds in action is the boardwalk and observation platform at Winding Waters Natural Area. Visit pbcnaturalareas.com for more information about this natural area.

If you are planning to hit the beach today, make sure you check out the conditions before packing up the towel, umbrella and sunblock. Visit https://discover.pbc.gov/erm/Pages/Beach-Cams.aspx to see real-time images from beach cameras located at Jupiter Inlet, Lake Worth (Palm Beach) Inlet, South Lake Worth (Boynton) Inlet, South Beach Park in Boca Raton and Boca Raton Inlet. In addition to the pretty pictures of the ocean, the beach camera web pages also provide weather and tide information. Photo taken at Juno Dunes Natural Area in Juno Beach.

Great news, Frenchman's Forest Natural Area in Palm Beach Gardens is back open after being closed for several days due to maintenance work. The gopher tortoises welcome everyone back to the trails and walkways that travel through this 172-acre Palm Beach County natural area. Not familiar with Frenchman's Forest? Visit pbcnaturalareas.com to learn more about this natural treasure.

Do these cool mornings make it a bit harder to rev up the energy to start the day? Humans are not the only ones affected by these lower temperatures – turkey vultures too have to do some fancy ‘wing work’ in order to start their day. According to “Sunning Behaviors of Turkey Vultures” by Grace Wilde, turkey vultures stand in a spread-winged stance to absorb the sun's radiation to raise their body temperature so they have enough energy to go about their daily activities. Turkey vultures are one of only a few birds that intentionally lower their body temperatures a few degrees each night. This helps the birds conserve energy since there is not always a constant source of food (carrion) available.

Turkey vultures use two different postures when sunning. The more efficient stance and the most recognizable is wings stretched to their full length and the vulture facing away from the sun, so the dark feathers on its back can absorb heat. The delta posture has the turkey vulture in a more heart-shaped stance, with its body and head facing directly towards the sun. This stance is used less often than the wings fully extended stance. The vultures go into this energy conservation mode year-round, so you will see them sunning themselves even in warmer weather. These photos were taken at Winding Waters Natural Area in West Palm Beach.

WILDLIFE WEDNESDAY
Just a reminder that we are in prime warbler-watching season. Now is the perfect time to take a slow walk through the woods to look for colorful warblers that call the Palm Beaches home for the winter…like this stunning yellow-throated warbler photographed at Winding Waters Natural Area in West Palm Beach. According to the All About Birds website, the yellow-throated warbler requires craning your neck to see it as the bird sticks to the tops of trees when it forages. The website affectionately calls this ‘warbler neck’. The bird in these photos certainly lived up to that reputation as it hopped along cabbage palm fronds looking for breakfast. Several times it appeared to defy gravity as it clung upside-down probing into crevices for beetles, caterpillars, flies and other insects. Yellow-throated warblers have also been observed at Frenchman’s Forest, Cypress Creek and Delray Oaks natural areas. Visit pbcnaturalareas.com to learn more about these Palm Beach County natural areas.

Frenchman's Forest Natural Area in Palm Beach Gardens is closed for routine maintenance. We will post to our social media accounts when the natural area is re-opened. For those of you wanting to hit the trails at Frenchman's Forest, we suggest you visit either Juno Dunes or Jupiter Ridge natural areas as a great alternative. Both sites are just north of Frenchman's Forest on U.S. Highway 1 - Juno Dunes just north of Donald Ross Road and Jupiter Ridge just south of Indiantown Road. Visit pbcnaturalareas.com for more information about Juno Dunes and Jupiter Ridge natural areas.

On December 31, more than a dozen volunteers celebrated the end of 2023 by removing trash from Winding Waters Natural Area in West Palm Beach. The volunteers concentrated their cleanup efforts along the natural area's fence lines with Haverhill Road and Dyer Boulevard. Once the trash was picked up, it was time to toast the end of the year (with sparkling cider) and watch the last sunset of 2023 from the wetland boardwalk and observation platform. Thank you, volunteers, for working so hard to protect this Palm Beach County natural treasure. Can't wait to see what you accomplish in 2024!

January is International Creativity Month. Did you know that spending time in nature increases creativity? According to an article on the Psychology Today website, that is the case. Ruth Ann Atchley, a cognitive psychologist, notes that a host of mental distractions and threats besets people. She states, “They sap our resources to do the fun thinking and cognition humans are capable of—things like creativity, or being kind and generous, along with our ability to feel good and be in a positive mood. Nature is a place where our mind can rest, relax, and let down those threat responses. Therefore, we have resources left over—to be creative, to be imaginative, to problem solve—that allow us to be better, happier people who engage in a more productive way with others.”

The 31,000-acre Palm Beach County Natural Areas System stretches from Jupiter south to Boca Raton and west to Royal Palm Beach. Protected within these areas are slash pine woods, freshwater wetlands, mangrove forests, grassy prairies, live oak groves and desert-like scrublands. Walking, hiking and bicycling trails allow for easy exploration of these natural treasures. Add in kayak launch areas, boardwalks and observation platforms and you have many different ways to soak up nature and get those creative juices pumping. Visit pbcnaturalareas.com to start your creativity-inducing outdoor journey. If you want to read the Psychology Today article, click here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/creative-insights/202211/how-exposure-nature-influences-creativity

Here's a fun New Year’s resolution that is easy to keep – the next time you visit a Palm Beach County natural area in 2024 try to find at least 10 insects or spiders while walking the trails. Birds, reptiles and mammals get all the attention. Sure, it's a thrill to see sandhill cranes, alligators and white-tailed deer. But what about smaller creatures like butterflies, moths, dragonflies, beetles, mantids, grasshoppers and spiders? They are often overlooked. It's time to give them some love. So be on the lookout for the little guys - you may be surprised by what you find. Visit www.pbcnaturalareas.com to learn more about Palm Beach County’s 31,000-acre Natural Areas System.

We are celebrating a big Birthday tomorrow – High Ridge Scrub Natural Area turns 25! On December 31, 1998, Palm Beach County completed the purchase of the 39-acre natural area located at 7300 High Ridge Road just west of the Town of Hypoluxo. High Ridge Scrub protects remnants of ancient sand dunes known as scrub habitat – one of South Florida’s rarest ecosystem. Visitors can stroll along a 0.25-mile walkway that travels through sand pine woods full of yellow pricklypear cactus flowers and purplish-blue skyblue lupine blossoms (during the late winter and spring months). Visitors can also explore the 1.5-mile hiking trail and perhaps encounter atala butterflies, six-lined racerunners and gopher tortoises. Public use facilities include a parking lot, informational kiosk, benches and shade shelter. Visit www.pbcnaturalareas.com for more information about High Ridge Scrub Natural Area.

The Job Opportunities keep rolling in, looking for a new employment opportunity to kick off the 2024? Check out these job listing at the link below and apply!
https://secure.co.palm-beach.fl.us/OnlineJobs/Job/JobOpening

Scout Builds Kiosk for Eagle Project
Visitors to Pine Glades Natural Area will notice a new information kiosk near the shade shelter in the parking lot thanks to the hard work of Andrew Vargas and scouts from Troop 141. The kiosk was assembled offsite and installed at the natural area on December 27. The scouts dug holes for the kiosk legs (which was tougher than usual thanks to a massive rock in the digging zone) and when everything was in place, they filled the holes with quick-dry cement. The kiosk contains information about the importance of dark skies to wildlife and people. The poster was a collaboration with Andy Chen and the Astronomical Society of the Palm Beaches (www.astropalmbeach.org). Great job, Andrew! (In the group photo, he is third from the left in the green shirt). Visit pbcnaturalareas.com for more information about Pine Glades natural area.

There is still time to submit your application for a PAID STUDENT INTERN Opportunity in our Marine Conservation Section! Read more about the job and how to apply in the original post below.

Looking for unique volunteer opportunities? Passionate about the environment and its conservation? Join us on a PADDLE to Bryant Park Island for another WEEDING FOR THE BIRDS EVENT in Lake Worth Lagoon!
Registration is now LIVE for our first Paddle/Weeding event of this season taking place on Friday January 12th launching from Bryant Park. To sign up & for more details follow the link below and to stay up with future events make sure to follow PBC ERM on Eventbrite!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/weeding-and-trash-cleanup-paddle-for-the-birds-at-bryant-park-wetlands-tickets-785095079517?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

Our very own Benji Studt will be presenting his "Love Letters to Palm Beach County- A Visual Overview of Palm Beach Through the Lens of a Photographer, Scientist, & Conservationist" Thursday Jan 4th at 6PM in part of the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens Conservation Conversations Speaker Series. Check out the below to learn more and purchase tickets https://ansg.org/event/conservation-conversations-2/

Sorry Frenchman's Forest Natural Area will be CLOSED through Friday December 29 for routine maintenance, but don't worry we will be back to normal operating hours (sunrise to sunset) Saturday Dec 30.
In the meantime check out pbcnaturalareas.com to find our other natural areas open to explore!

WILDLIFE WEDNESDAY
Check out this photo of a dark morph short-tailed hawk taken at Pine Glades Natural Area. This small tropical hawk lives throughout South America, Central America and Mexico. As for the United States, it is only found in Florida where it is very uncommon - perhaps fewer than 500 birds living in the Sunshine State. Pairs nesting in southern Florida may be permanent residents, but those from north Florida winter in the southern part of the peninsula. They occur in dark morphs (more frequent in Florida) with blackish-brown plumage offset by silvery white barring in the wings and tail; or as light morphs with brown upperparts and neat white underparts. When hunting, they soar very high, going unnoticed by observers on the ground. Short-tailed hawks feed mostly on small birds, dropping from the sky to take them by surprise. This short-tailed hawk had just taken a loggerhead shrike (center bottom of photo) when the photographer was alerted to its presence by raucous blue jays. Visit www.allaboutbirds.org to learn more about these amazing birds.

Spider art is on display at Pine Glades Natural Area. The early morning dew makes the webs sparkle. This scene was repeated hundreds of times along the 1.5-mile Quail Trail. You have to be an early riser to catch the show – by mid-day the dewdrops evaporate. Even spider haters have to appreciate this delicate artwork. If you want to see these miniature artists for yourself, visit www.pbcnaturalareas.com for more information about this Palm Beach County natural area.

Yesterday’s post offered the suggestion of taking holiday guests on a hike through a Palm Beach County natural area. If the idea of a miles-long expedition through the woods does not sound like fun, how about a shorter stroll along a walking trail? That is easy to do at 20 natural areas, including Delray Oaks pictured here. Most natural areas with public use facilities have a paved walkway between 0.25 and 0.7 miles long. These walkways allow visitors with mobility issues easy access to the site while still offering views of the woods, wetlands and scrublands. Check out pbcnaturalareas.com to view an interactive map to plan your next easy-going natural area excursion.

Need to entertain guests this holiday season? Take them to your local Palm Beach County natural area and enjoy a hike through pine forests (Pine Glades Natural Area pictured here), oak groves, freshwater wetlands or scrublands. Don't know where the nearest natural area is located? Check out our interactive map at www.pbcnaturalareas.com to begin your exploration of the great outdoors.

While quiet and elusive, thus not often seen, the White Tail Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are a common Florida mammal that frequently utilizes Palm Beach County's connected wildlands.
This buck (male deer) was captured at one of their most active times, dawn, along the Wild & Scenic Loxahatchee River.
How do we tell this is a Buck/Male? Well, throughout most of the year bucks will have these beautiful antlers! Bucks annually regrow antlers, shedding old antlers following their breeding season where they are used to fight other bucks to establish dominance.

WILDLIFE WEDNESDAY
Here is another nonnative invasive species finding a home in Palm Beach County – the Egyptian goose. This bird’s native range is Sub-Saharan Africa, the Nile Valley and parts of the Middle East. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Egyptian geese have been present in Florida since the 1960s. Originally introduced into Florida as ‘ornamental waterfowl’ in suburban parks and zoos, escaped birds have now established permanent populations in city parks, golf course communities and suburban neighborhoods.

It is easy to spot Egyptian geese – gray and brown bodies with brown wings that have a large white patch on the leading edge (usually seen in flight) and distinct rufous colored patches around each eye. The birds eat seeds, grass and algae; occasionally insects, frogs and worms. Nesting typically begins in the spring, but here in Florida the birds breed year-round. The geese nest on the ground, but can also nest on top of trees and buildings. This pair might be scoping out a potential nesting site atop this dead cabbage palm. Interesting fact: Egyptian geese are not really geese but a type of shelduck – a cross between a goose and a duck. This pair was photographed at Winding Waters Natural Area in West Palm Beach.

PAID STUDENT INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY in our Marine Conservation Section! We are seeking a currently enrolled student to assist with sea turtle lighting compliance, sea turtle stranding response, public nighttime sea turtle walks, and more! The enrolled student must be available to work a flexible schedule (20-36 hrs per week) with peak hours during sea turtle season (March through October). Check out the job description and share with those you think would be a great fit!