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Jungle Pete's Earthbound

• Bite the Hand That Feeds You

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  Recently, an Everglades airboat captain lost his hand to an American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) during a tour. Feeding, harassing or molesting alligators is punishable with a maximum fine of up to $500 and 60 days and jail. Losing your limbs or your life is an additional punishment for bad behavior. In all of my years [...]
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• Great Lengths - The Green Heron

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  As I ride my bike back to my house, I have one hand on the handle bars and one delicately cradling a Green Heron (Butorides virescens) that is thankfully behaving. The bird is beautiful with deep green plumage on its head and back, rusty-colored feathers around the neck, a long pointed beak and a [...]
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• Flowers for Father's Day

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  The Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve is a nine-mile long, third of a mile wide, linear strand of forest in Fort Myers, Florida. I assume the name “Nine Mile Cypress Slough Preserve” had already been taken. The 2500-acre preserve is home to a remarkable diversity of plants and wildlife, many of which can be [...]
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• Aves Non Grata - The Blue-footed Booby

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  I pushed my sister off the roof our house once. I meant no harm. We were simply filming what we expected would be the big winner on America’s Funniest Videos. When her cue came and she didn’t jump, I pushed her. That’s what big brothers do. She was fine. Anyway I have two more [...]
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• Pacific Piracy - The Magnificent Frigatebird

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  © Pete Corradino To take from others that which is not yours would seem an easy way to acquire any number of things. Treasure comes to mind. Regurgitated squid as well. As long as men have sailed the oceans there have been pirates plundering the belongings of others and as long as birds have [...]
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• Family Bonding - The Ani

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  I was recently in Ecuador and while I certainly expected to add a few birds to my life list while touring the jungle, I hadn’t expected to discover my first Groove-billed Ani (Crotophagasulcirostris) while strolling my son in an urban park in Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city.  I spotted my first Smooth-billed Ani (Crotophaga [...]
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• Pain in the Grass

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  Take great care when walking on A grassy dune or beach Avoid the spiny sandburs Is the lesson I would teach Oddly it is classified As a grass with flattened blade The well protected prickly seed Inflicts a pain I would not trade To any other person The one-seeded fruit may look benign But as a kid the stalk [...]
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• Mahogany Bombs

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  When the fruit fell from the tree it clanged on the hood of the car with the force of a well hit baseball. It rolled off the grill, falling to the pavement with the sound of the crack of a bat. The rock hard exterior of the fruit had cleaved into four neat [...]
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• Two and a Half Shaqs

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  What do James Joule, Daniel Fahrenheit, Charles Richter, Heinrich Hertz, Isaac Newton, Georg Ohm, James Watt, Allessandro Volta and Shaquille O’Neal have in common? They all have units of measure named after them. When the largest Burmese Python (Python molurus bivittatus) ever found in the Everglades was discovered, the Washington Post described the 17 1/2 foot [...]
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• Prickly Pear Necessities

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  Wherever I wander, I keep one eye on the ground and one eye ahead in search of the next fun thing to write about. Occasionally this method leads to an inspiring, albeit, cross-eyed vision. Green Briars (Smilax sp.) are a particularly nasty, thorny vine. Field Sandspurs (Cenchrus incertus) are alarmingly [...]
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