‘Protect and Preserve’ Archives
Red Tide – Marco’s in bloom
PROTECTING & PRESERVING Nancy Richie NRichie@cityofmarcoisland.com Marco Island is currently experiencing a red tide event caused by a harmful algae bloom (HAB) of the algae species, Karenia brevis. Karenia brevis is a microscopic algae species that naturally occurs in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Atlantic Ocean waters. The [...]
Nine nearby natural worlds
Nancy Richie NRichie@cityofmarcoisland.com Marco Island is surrounded by a richness of unique natural worlds to explore and enjoy with family and friends. All are a relatively short drive off the Island and can be experienced in any degree – from a day trip to an overnight to many days of camping. By foot or watercraft, get to know the [...]
reSustainable yards equate to wildlife habitat and cost savings
Nancy Richie For a developed, man-made island, Marco Island is fortunate to have a large diversity of wildlife. Once made up of approximately 6,000 acres of mangroves, this island was developed into over 100 miles of dredged “finger” canals that are fortified with seawalls. As the largest of the 10,000 Islands and surrounded by the [...]
Changes in the season are for the (shore) birds
Nancy Richie Have you noticed? There is a change in the way the morning and afternoon light hits Marco Island and in the way the air feels lighter on your skin. It must be fall in southwest Florida. To many, it means time for the first “snow birds” to arrive with the Island roads, restaurants and shops getting pleasantly busier. For [...]
The Brown PELICAN
Nancy Richie As fellow coastal and island residents, there aren’t many places one can go along the Florida coast without seeing a Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis). There are seven species of pelicans in the world. Two inhabit North America – the White Pelican and the Brown Pelican. Standing two to four feet tall, with wingspans up to [...]
Do your part! Let’s keep our beaches healthy and beautiful!
Nancy Richie It’s mid August and that means we are 2/3 through the Loggerhead Sea Turtle Nesting and Hatching Season. Beachfront property managers have been doing a great job with lighting compliance for our sea turtles by shading or turning off lights that shine on the beach by 9 PM nightly and giving constant reminders to their residents [...]
Amazing Manatees
By Nancy Richie Love them or hate them, the Florida Manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris), a subspecies of the West Indian Manatee, is in our waters and has been for millions of years. Love them? Most people do love them and seek them out to view for their unique characteristics – large, gray, sausage-shaped marine mammals with big [...]
What’s lighting up the canals?
By Nancy Richie Bioluminescent. A big word for tiny organisms. Each summer, a few locations in the Marco Island canals glimmer and twinkle in the night. Boat wakes, fish movement and jelly fish paths sparkle as the bioluminescent organisms are agitated in the water. Not just the fireworks were lighting up our Island on the 4th of July, but [...]
Coyotes in Southwest Florida?
By Nancy Richie Coyotes were introduced in Florida for pursuit by hunting dogs as early as the 1920’s. The coyote’s natural expansion into Florida from then on was inevitable. As coyote numbers increase, concern over their influence on Florida’s indigenous prey species, competing predators, livestock and vegetables has grown. Coyote [...]
