Mulberries are Blooming

The Mulberry Morus rubra tree northeast of the Four Winds Cafe is blooming.  The immature fruits look almost like fuzzy pussy willows, but will soon turn pink and then into the dark violet fruit students favor for eating and unavoidable body decoration. The best known local mulberry is found on the Ringling Museum grounds roughly Southeast of the Rose Garden.

Squawky Parrots Still Frequent Campus

A flock of fourteen Nanday Conures was seen last weekend perched on wires at the intersection of General Spaatz and Bay Shore Road. These noisy birds are a group of feral parrots that have persisted in the vicinity for years. At one time more than thirty could be seen in the flock. They are cavity nesters and feature black heads, green bodies and red thighs. The other parrots commonly seen around campus are Monk Parakeets, which have pale faces and are colonial nesters that construct large nests of materials like pine needles.

If you want to know more about Nandays, check out Birch Rambo's 1992 thesis: The Behavioral Ecology of the Nanday Conure (Nandayus nenday), an Introduced Parrot Species in Sarasota, Florida. 

Photo below from http://www.parroteducationproject.org/