Residential Pond Wildlife in Florida: Florida's Endangered Species Are My New Neighbors

I live in a small community, bordering one of Florida's most diverse ecosystems. There is the Atlantic Ocean, with its shark, large turtle, fish and foul species. The Indian River, with over six hundred species of fish, hundreds of species of birds, dolphins, manatees and migratory right whales. The marshy areas, with the Florida alligator, currently not endangered. The woods and preserved areas, where one might glimpse the illusive bobcat and a myriad of other furry creatures, rare panther sightings as questionable and mysterious as ever. At this point, a wild Florida panther is rare, and a sighting is few and far between, with less than one hundred known in the entire world, and mostly seen in South Florida.

There are some beautiful varieties of birds and fresh water species that are considered endangered by current stats in my town. Why are the elusive Florida scrub jay, cormorants and other species on their way out? It has a lot to do with development, pollution, even water diseases, such as red tide, but mainly, over-development by humans. Many Florida birds are becoming endangered, due to their natural habitat consisting of scrub grass, and other forms of vegetation in the residential areas we have encroached upon, disappearing.

It was to my amazement to walk outside my door on April 19th, 2008, on a beautiful Florida spring day, and find the current and future endangered species, all in the pond and trees across the street. It was as if they all gathered there to greet me, even hanging out together in the trees, which was an odd site, birds that compete over fish. Was this a sign?

Florida is wondrous in its nature, and living within the dwindling environment makes one appreciate it all the better. The pictures I took show the emerald green pond, definitely a tranquil paradise for the wildlife that live here now. This beautiful spot is frequented by a vast array of Florida's wondrous birds, that fly with grace and nest in the thick, gorgeous trees, leaves glittering in the bright Florida sunlight. There are giant cranes, white ibis's, cormorants, herons, Florida scrub jays, falcons, hawks and more.

These are just some of the bird species I have seen within the last five years. Since I have lived here though, the bird population has dwindled by about twenty to thirty percent, with the advent of bulldozing and home building. There used to be more woods that harbored the blue-jays, woodpeckers, hawks, Florida scrub jays, red-bellied Robin. Now there is an empty house that has currently remained unsold for over two years, due to the economy and current real estate market.

I watch and study these birds carefully now, because as there habitat becomes more endangered, I feel I need to learn all I can. Its easy to do, with these animals and birds practically in the front yard. Due to their environment shrinking, they are my new neighbors.

Birds weren't the only thing in the pond this day. I caught a rare glimpse of a Florida pond turtle. Turtles were almost hunted to near extinction back in the eighteen hundreds and early twentieth century. The turtle was lounging lazily on a scaly, prehistoric-looking palm tree. There were around four or five of them in the water, which was a welcoming sight, for that means reproduction.

Then I spotted the elusive Florida cormorant, disappearing under the water as I approached. They have gotten a bad wrap lately, and are often illegally hunted in other parts of the state, hopefully not in Florida anytime soon. If more people learn about these creatures, and lobby Florida's state and government representatives who support Florida's current environmental protective acts, then maybe the wildlife will be here for future generations, still lazily lounging around on the emerald pond, under the rays of the sun.