florida – Eye of the Cormorant

It took a week, but the Arctic blast freezing tootsies across the US finally made its way to Miami on Saturday night, dropping to 34°F by dawn Sunday.

Most cold fronts stall before reaching South Florida, so our exotic people and critters are not adapted to temperatures below 50°F.

A chill like this brings Painted Buntings into our bird feeders and moves the manatees out of Biscayne Bay and into the urban canals.

Displaced northerners walk around shouting “Yes! Yes!” Teenage girls across Miami break out the boots with the fur. I unearth the LL Bean flannel-lined jeans and my 40 year old fleece jacket, recently refurbished by Patagonia at no charge. Everybody else wearing a too-thin jacket mutters profanity beneath their frosty breath.

The long, hard freeze of 2010 clobbered our native bonefish, snook, tarpon, and shark populations. A hard cold snap also kills-off many invasive exotic tropical fish and reptiles, but never gets them all.

When the temperature drops below 40°F, local news organizations issue Falling Iguana Alerts. The Falling Iguana Alert is kind of a joke down here, except it’s a real thing. All over our neighborhood, fallen iguanas littered the ground.

This Iguana fell onto the windshield of a neighbor’s car.

This one made it all the way to the ground.

The bigger they come, the harder they fall – neither iguana in the photos survived. Had either of these bad boys landed on someone walking their dog, it could have done some damage.

Don’t be fooled, this frigid Cuban Knight Anole is not dead.

A Cuban Knight Anole fell onto the patio near our backyard pond. Good-intentioned folks who don’t know better sometimes bring a cold-stunned Knight Anole indoors to warm it up. Remember the velociraptors that chased people around the lab in Jurassic Park?

I moved Señor Knight Anole to a sunny spot by the front patio and he took care of the rest on his own.

This little iguana only partially lost its footing and was found hanging upside down in a bush outside our front door.

In the afternoon, Gray and I bundled up and biked over to check on the manatees at a nearby marina on US 1.

I counted 31 altogether. One big male kept rolling onto his back and waving his flippers in the air.

Several bulls were quite frisky.

It’s dropping into the 30s again tonight, perfect weather for snuggling around an outdoor fire.

Vetoed. Both Gray and our neighbors agree that it’s too cold tonight for an outdoor anything. Sheesh. Somebody I know will be getting flannel-lined jeans for Christmas.

Tag: florida

Falling Iguana Alert!