The record rain that pounded South Florida last year and left the state a sodden mess had a silver lining: an explosion of wading birds.
Threatened wood storks, which nearly disappeared in the early 1980s, doubled their 10-year nesting average. Little blue herons and snowy egrets were up 62 and 54 percent. Even roseate spoonbills fell just slightly below a dismal average, which is better than plunging even lower.
But while were up, nesting patterns revealed a troubling pattern continues. The birds appear to be giving up on the southern Everglades, once the bread basket for the state鈥檚 wading birds.
from our news partner, the Miami Herald.
