Florida native bird population could be decimated by invasive pythons

April 7, 2012 – FLORIDA – 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. “This finding is significant because it suggests that the Burmese python is not simply a sit-and-wait predator, but rather is opportunistic enough to find the nests of birds,” said Carla Dove, ornithologist at the Smithsonian’s Feather Identification Lab in the National Museum of Natural History and lead author of the study. “Although the sample size is small, these findings suggest that the snakes have the potential to negatively affect the breeding success of native birds.” –Science Daily

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