Wonders of Nature

Be sure to check back each week as this page will have a new
Featured Creature weekly, with new photos, fun and information to get you
all involved in the wonders of nature.

The answer to each week's Critter Quiz becomes the Featured Creature the following week.

Click HERE - the answer is there waiting for you!

If you have photos that you would like to submit for consideration as the Featured Creature
please email Wonders of Nature

I am a bird. My body is white and gray. During the breeding season my
head is black, but this hood mostly disappears in the winter. My bill is long
and red. I am commonly found along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of the
United States. I am a true coastal bird, most often seen foraging for food
along beaches. I am very agile when I am flying - sometimes people like to
toss bits of food into the air, which I easily swoop in and catch. I have a
habit of landing on the heads of pelicans and stealing the food right out of
their pouch. My name comes from my raucous call, which sounds like a
high pitched laugh "ha... ha... ha..." Who am I?

Matt took these pictures of
in the Tampa Bay area.

There are 11 different
species of Tibicen cicada
in our state of Florida.
These beautiful insects are
more often heard than seen
as they spend a large
portion of their early life
underground, and most of
their adult life in the trees.
Tibicen cicadas belong to

find a shell left behind by
one. When a cicada is
ready to become an adult,
it climbs from
underground, attaches to a
tree and goes through a
molt, leaving behind a
hollow shell as evidence of
its transformation from an
underground nymph to a
beautiful aerial adult! The
scientific genus for these
cicadas is Tibicen.

the group of woodland cicadas, so if you would like to try and find one, your
best bet is to head to wooded areas or swamps and listen for the sounds of
their call. Even if you don't spot a live cicada you might be lucky enough to

· Approximately every 10 years, billions of cicadas emerge at once. This
reminded early American settlers of biblical plagues of locusts. Although
cicadas suck sap, and do not chew up leaves like locusts, to these settlers,
cicadas became known as "locusts," and that name for cicadas still remains
in some places.

· Cicadas are important in their
ecosystems. They are not harmful in
any way and do not bite or sting.
They provide food for many kinds of
wildlife, including birds, small mammals,
and other insects.

· Only male cicadas can "sing". The
females are mostly mute. The calls they make
are different for each species. Scientists can
identify a species of cicada just by the unique call that it makes. The sound
made by the male cicada can carry for up to a mile.

· There are more than 2,500 known species of cicada found all over the
world.