18-06-2006, 11:00 AM
Groups ponder fate of bird with a fowl reputation
By Andrew Marra
The purple swamphen looks positively chicken-esque as it stalks through the marsh: feathered, feckless and full of wide-eyed chicken innocence.
But is it fowl or foe?
Maybe both, experts say. The exotic bird, which is quickly gaining prominence in Palm Beach County wetlands, has some environmentalists worrying about its international reputation for eating bird eggs and ducklings.
Although experts estimate less than 1,000 purple swamphens live in South Florida, the bird's occasionally carnivorous tendencies have sparked fears that it will threaten native water fowl. And in the past few years it has been spotted for the first time in Palm Beach County.
Now environmental officials are investigating, and one duck hunting organization is calling for its bright-colored beak on a platter. If biologists do find that the swamphen is preying on other birds, it could incite the sort of invasive-species showdown that has become a South Florida hallmark.
"It is a potentially destructive force for ducks," said Newton Cook, president of United Waterfowlers of Florida. "As far as we can see, it has no reason for existence except to be competitive with the native species."
Purple swamphens resemble the native purple gallinules and moorhens found throughout South Florida, but they are larger and, for a lack of proper scientific term, more chicken-esque.
That is to say, they bob their heads and flop awkwardly around and strut through the marshes on large, chicken-like feet. They also have bright, colorful, slightly menacing beaks.
They are found all over the world, from Europe to Asia and New Zealand. But a colony had never been spotted in the wild in North America until the 1990s, when dozens were reported to be roosting in Pembroke Pines in Broward County.
Now, dozens are being observed in Palm Beach County wetlands.
"They're an issue of concern," said Ellen Donlan, a staff environmental scientist at the South Florida Water Management District. "We don't know much about how they behave here, but we do know that in their natural range they are a threat to other birds."
South Florida is no stranger to irksome invasive species — everything from melaleuca trees and iguanas to pythons and African Gambian pouch rats thrive here.
"Things have moved around the world with and without man's help all throughout history. Who's to say what's natural anymore?" said Claudine Laabs, president of the Audubon Society of the Everglades.
When state environmental officials think an invasive plant or animal will threaten native wildlife, they can put in programs to kill them off or keep the population in check. Such programs already are in place for melaleuca trees and the African Gambian pouch rat.
But it's too soon to say what, if anything, might be done about the purple swamphen.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has asked large landowners in the area to survey their lands and report any swamphen sightings. Water management officials have collected a sampling of the birds and will analyze their stomachs for clues about their eating habits.
In birding circles, many once thought the swamphen took hold in Florida when eight escaped from the Miami Metrozoo after Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
The Metrozoo pooh-poohs that theory, however. And so do a group of scientists from the University of Mississippi who studied the swamphens in Pembroke Pines.
In an article published in Florida Field Naturalist in 2000, the scientists concluded that the more than 100 swamphens living in the Pembroke Pines area probably originated from several pets allowed to roam freely in a nearby homeowner's back yard.
It's not clear when the birds were first spotted in Palm Beach County, but they aren't hard to find if one knows where to look.
On Friday morning, Donlan, the water management district scientist, drove out to a marshy plain along the Palm Beach County-Hendry County Line used to store and treat storm water. Alligators abounded in the wetlands, as did a bevy of birds.
Among the innumerable purple gallinules stood the occasional misfit: a taller, more gangly cousin. One that looked far more likely than its peers to be pushed across a counter one day at Pollo Tropical.
It was a purple swamphen. In an hour, Donlan found more than a dozen, all within a single square-mile stretch. There were more nearby, she said, and still more farther east, just north of the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.
Watching them strut among the grasses, it was easy to see how they got their name.
"There's one," she said, pointing. "Look at it. See how it moves like a chicken?"
.....nu OGSÅ ejer af en 243win :-)
Favourite Quote: Vi løser ikke vore problemer ved at tænke på samme måde, som da vi skabte dem.....(Albert Einstein)
By Andrew Marra
The purple swamphen looks positively chicken-esque as it stalks through the marsh: feathered, feckless and full of wide-eyed chicken innocence.
But is it fowl or foe?
Maybe both, experts say. The exotic bird, which is quickly gaining prominence in Palm Beach County wetlands, has some environmentalists worrying about its international reputation for eating bird eggs and ducklings.
Although experts estimate less than 1,000 purple swamphens live in South Florida, the bird's occasionally carnivorous tendencies have sparked fears that it will threaten native water fowl. And in the past few years it has been spotted for the first time in Palm Beach County.
Now environmental officials are investigating, and one duck hunting organization is calling for its bright-colored beak on a platter. If biologists do find that the swamphen is preying on other birds, it could incite the sort of invasive-species showdown that has become a South Florida hallmark.
"It is a potentially destructive force for ducks," said Newton Cook, president of United Waterfowlers of Florida. "As far as we can see, it has no reason for existence except to be competitive with the native species."
Purple swamphens resemble the native purple gallinules and moorhens found throughout South Florida, but they are larger and, for a lack of proper scientific term, more chicken-esque.
That is to say, they bob their heads and flop awkwardly around and strut through the marshes on large, chicken-like feet. They also have bright, colorful, slightly menacing beaks.
They are found all over the world, from Europe to Asia and New Zealand. But a colony had never been spotted in the wild in North America until the 1990s, when dozens were reported to be roosting in Pembroke Pines in Broward County.
Now, dozens are being observed in Palm Beach County wetlands.
"They're an issue of concern," said Ellen Donlan, a staff environmental scientist at the South Florida Water Management District. "We don't know much about how they behave here, but we do know that in their natural range they are a threat to other birds."
South Florida is no stranger to irksome invasive species — everything from melaleuca trees and iguanas to pythons and African Gambian pouch rats thrive here.
"Things have moved around the world with and without man's help all throughout history. Who's to say what's natural anymore?" said Claudine Laabs, president of the Audubon Society of the Everglades.
When state environmental officials think an invasive plant or animal will threaten native wildlife, they can put in programs to kill them off or keep the population in check. Such programs already are in place for melaleuca trees and the African Gambian pouch rat.
But it's too soon to say what, if anything, might be done about the purple swamphen.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has asked large landowners in the area to survey their lands and report any swamphen sightings. Water management officials have collected a sampling of the birds and will analyze their stomachs for clues about their eating habits.
In birding circles, many once thought the swamphen took hold in Florida when eight escaped from the Miami Metrozoo after Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
The Metrozoo pooh-poohs that theory, however. And so do a group of scientists from the University of Mississippi who studied the swamphens in Pembroke Pines.
In an article published in Florida Field Naturalist in 2000, the scientists concluded that the more than 100 swamphens living in the Pembroke Pines area probably originated from several pets allowed to roam freely in a nearby homeowner's back yard.
It's not clear when the birds were first spotted in Palm Beach County, but they aren't hard to find if one knows where to look.
On Friday morning, Donlan, the water management district scientist, drove out to a marshy plain along the Palm Beach County-Hendry County Line used to store and treat storm water. Alligators abounded in the wetlands, as did a bevy of birds.
Among the innumerable purple gallinules stood the occasional misfit: a taller, more gangly cousin. One that looked far more likely than its peers to be pushed across a counter one day at Pollo Tropical.
It was a purple swamphen. In an hour, Donlan found more than a dozen, all within a single square-mile stretch. There were more nearby, she said, and still more farther east, just north of the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.
Watching them strut among the grasses, it was easy to see how they got their name.
"There's one," she said, pointing. "Look at it. See how it moves like a chicken?"
.....nu OGSÅ ejer af en 243win :-)
Favourite Quote: Vi løser ikke vore problemer ved at tænke på samme måde, som da vi skabte dem.....(Albert Einstein)
.....ualmindelig velinformeret i forhold til min alder ... :-)
Favourite Quote: En humlebi ved ikke, at den ikke kan flyve......Gå ud på terrassen og vift med armene...hvis du letter må du være uvidende ;-)
Favourite Quote: En humlebi ved ikke, at den ikke kan flyve......Gå ud på terrassen og vift med armene...hvis du letter må du være uvidende ;-)
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