Wading birds across the Everglades had a rough couple of years with annual nesting over the last two seasons below the 10-year average, according to reports compiled by the South Florida Water Management District and released Wednesday.
While rainfall played a part, the numbers suggest more work needs to be done to fix South Florida’s wild landscape and keep water where the birds need it to successfully raise chicks.
“The initial shallow conditions meant that most areas dried out too early in the nesting season,” the report said, meaning water was too low and too sparse to pond and trap enough prey fish to support hungry nesting birds and their chicks.
READ MORE: Everglades wading birds have a banner nesting season, thanks to heavy rainfall
The recent lows follow a banner year, a trend that scientists say is not unexpected. Because they forage in such specific ways, South Florida’s rich variety of wading birds, from woodstorks to white herons, have long been used as a measure of Everglades health and progress on restoration. This year’s report marked the 28th year, and combined two years after the Covid shutdown slowed the tedious work which includes helicopter surveys.
Historically, the vast majority of wading birds began the nesting season along the Gulf Coast, with its rich supply of fish and other prey. As waters receded during the dry season, they moved inland to the Big Cypress swamp and then tree islands further east in water conservation areas. Before canals, roads and levees carved up the landscape, more water meant that as rains eased during the dry season, water ponded naturally and gave nesting birds easy access to food.
Even natural conditions meant the birds had good and bad years. But modern flood control has left nesting areas over-drained.
That’s gradually changing, especially with the near completion of bridging over the Tamiami Trail. Beginning in 2021, scientists say for the first time they were able to track more natural nesting patterns. While they’re reluctant to look at short-term patterns, they now expect to see good nesting every two to three years.
Change in make-up of wading birds
The changes over time have also meant a change in make-up of Florida wading birds.
While tactile feeders — like white ibis, who use their limbs to feel for food as they hunt — dominated in the past, today there are more visual feeders — such as great egrets, who use their eyes to spot prey.
Some birds have also changed the timing of their nesting. Woodstorks now nest later in the year, from January to March, rather than earlier in the dry season. Scientists say that can make chicks susceptible to prey that can more easily reach nests later in the dry season.
By far the winner in nesting so far has been the white ibis, which make up anywhere from about half to 75% of all nesting, with upwards of 16,000 nests counted nearly every year over the last five years. Nesting for woodstorks, which nearly disappeared in the 1970s, were off by about a third in 2022 but reached an average number of nests of about 2,800 the next year.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed removing woodstorks from the endangered species list and reclassifying the leggy birds as threatened.
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