New Threat to Birds Posed by Invasive Pythons in Florida

ScienceDaily (Apr. 5, 2012) — Smithsonian scientists and their colleagues have uncovered a new threat posed by invasive Burmese pythons in Florida and the Everglades: The snakes are not only eating the area's birds, but also the birds' eggs straight from the nest. The results of this research add a new challenge to the area's already heavily taxed native wildlife. The team's findings are published in the online journal Reptiles & Amphibians: Conservation and Natural History.

Burmese pythons, native to southern Asia, have taken up a comfortable residence in the state of Florida, especially in the Everglades. In addition to out-competing native wildlife for resources and habitat, the pythons are eating the native wildlife. Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) were first recorded in the Everglades in 1979 -- thought to be escaped or discarded pets. Their numbers have since grown, with an estimated breeding population in Florida in the tens of thousands.

In an ongoing study to better understand the impact of this snake in the Everglades, scientists from the Smithsonian Institution, the National Park Service and others have been examining the contents of the digestive tracts of pythons in the area. They have shown that Burmese pythons consume at least 25 different species of birds in the Everglades, but until now no records documented this species eating bird eggs.

Read on:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120405224845.htm