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Florida's Great Egrets Suffer Effects of Mercury Exposure
A Great Egret fishing in a Central Florida swampGreat egrets (Ardea alba) in the Florida Everglades are losing their sexual motivation because they are exposed to mercury through the fish they eat, a...
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The Language of Plants
Phyllostachys edulis and HydrangeaThe plants are trying to tell us something — if only we’d learn their official language, botanical Latin.Now, a recent book called “The Gardener’s Botanical: An...
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Hurricane Iota: A Global Warming Humanitarian Disaster
Catastrophic Category 5 Hurricane Iota will make landfall near the Nicaragua/Honduras border on Monday night. Iota will likely bring catastrophic rains of 8-16 inches, with isolated amounts of 20-30...
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Florida Snow for Thanksgiving
Richardia grandiflora or "Florida Snow" in Florida is also known as Largeflower Mexican CloverAn invasive flower sometimes referred to as "Florida Snow" is blooming again this year along road medians,...
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Sweet Potatoes for Thanksgiving
Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas) are members of morning glory family, Convolvulaceae, native to Central and South America. Their large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are a vegetable popular in...
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Florida's Forgotten Past: Droty Spring
Tucked into a deep limestone ravine, right off of old Highway 46A in Seminole State Forest near Mt. Plymouth, is Droty Spring. Sublime. . .and completely forgotten. Follow Phillip@majikphilIt took me...
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Leaf Insects
A female Phyllium asekiense, a leaf insect from Papua New Guinea. Like many leaf insects, P. asekiense was known only from female specimens. Photo: Rene Limoges/Montreal InsectariumIn the spring of...
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Florida Firespike
Florida Firespike is common in Central Florida gardens and in full winter bloom. Firespike is arguably one of Florida's more attractive invasive species, and it is spreading north. Alternatively...
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Poinsettia Origins
A hybrid speckled poinsettia.Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) in the wild is a shrub or small tree in the spurge family. Native to Mexico, poinsettia is called the flor de noche buena ("Christmas...
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Frankincense and Summer in Australia
Frankincense and myrrh, aromatic resins from spindly trees, were once highly prized from Rome to India, and deemed essential for a host of uses ranging from religious to cosmetic to medicinal....
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Kayaking Christmas
I've been kayaking every other day in the warm, clear weather this week. I enjoying the great kayaking weather as the cold is coming Christmas Day.Follow Phillip@majikphil Current forecast for the...
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Blue Whales
Weighing up to 380,000 pounds and stretching 100 feet long, the blue whale Balaenoptera musculus)—the largest creature to have ever lived on Earth—might at first seem difficult for human eyes and ears...
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Another Hot Year For Central Florida
The annual weather summaries for east central Florida over the past several years have ended up sounding like a broken record, especially in terms of temperatures. Pronounced warmer than normal...
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Polar Vortex Returns
High in the atmosphere above the North Pole, a spike in temperatures may soon send bone-rattling chills spilling down through the Northern Hemisphere.The icy blasts threatening to sweep across North...
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Full Moon Calendar for 2021
Holding the Moon at Joshua Tree National ParkPhoto with @senseofhuber by @TiffPinguinFull moon dates for 2021Full moons illuminate the sky every month, but why do they have different names?As one of 12...
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Volusia Oak
Volusia Oak is located near the town of Astor at the east side of the SR 40 bridge over the St. Johns River, in Northwest Volusia County, Florida. This magnificent oak is centuries old and largely...
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Frog-Killing Plague
The mossy red-eyed frog (Duellmanohyla soralia) is one of hundreds of species threatened by a virulent fungus that may be responsible for 90 extinctions in the past 50 years.Jonathan E. Kolby/Honduras...
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Rice Whales in the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico Bryde's WhalePhoto: Doug Perrine, Bancroft Mediaas posted on Twitter by @MissionBlueIn January, 2019, scientists pulled a rare whale from Florida Bay. The 38-foot, 30-ton baleen whale...
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Agama Lizards in Florida
Peter's Rock Agama LizardPhoto: Gary NafisPeters’s rock agama (Agama picticauda) lizards are now well established in Florida but unlike other exotic reptile species they appear to be most comfortable...
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Its Wildflower Season in Florida
Its wildflower season in Florida and Phlox floridana is the star of the show. Follow Phillip@majikphilFlorida Phlox (Phlox floridana) is currently blooming across north central FloridaAlong the spine...
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