Wildlife Through the Year: May

• Tropic birds arrive in Dry Tortugas.
• Bald eagles begin migrating north.
• Red-cockaded woodpeckers are breeding.
• Flathead catfish congregate below Jim Woodruff Dam, Apalachicola River.
• Courtship ritual of adult alligators begins, noted by the loud and resounding bellows and water slapping. Continues through June.
• Peak flight period for Schaus' swallowtail butterfly in Keys.
• The last of the cedar waxwings and goldfinches head for their northern breeding grounds.
• Painted buntings nest through summer in northeast Florida.
• White swamp lilies dot wet prairies and sloughs in the Everglades.
• Least terns nest on beaches, sandy flats, and flat gravel rooftops that look like beaches!
• Celebrate International Migratory Bird Day.
• Brown pelican and white ibis young are now visible in nests.
• White-crowned pigeons begin nesting on mangrove islands in Florida Bay.
• Breeding begins for many resident and summer songbirds.
• Bluegill are bedding at the full moon.
• Redbreast sunfish and spotted sunfish begin spawning in rivers.
• Pompano are running in the north Florida surf.
• Green sea turtles will begin nesting more abundantly now through September.
• Lights Out! Sea turtles emerge from their nests and head for the ocean. Females may become confused by lights on the beach.
• Peak of coyote denning season.
• Most bats give birth May through mid-June.
• American lotus in bloom on wetlands.
• Alligator snapping turtles nesting this month.