There were 1,677 manatees in Brevard County in 2015, out of a total of 6,063 in the state. This was an increase from 2014 when there was a total of 612 in Brevard County. Manatees experience numerous threats within Brevard, where 312 died in the first half of 2021. Bottlenose dolphin are commonly seen in the Intracoastal Waterway. Fish and reptiles include alligators, red snapper, sea turtles, North Atlantic right whales, a rare protected species, give birth near the coast of Brevard, among other places, from November 15 to April 15. The venomous brown recluse spider is not native to the area but has found the environment congenial. The Florida Butterfly Monitoring Network has counted species of butterflies monthly for a year since 2007. In 2010, it counted 45 species. Included are zebra swallowtail butterflies. Lovebug season occurs twice annually in May and August–September. Motorists encounter swarms of these while driving during a four-week period. Deer flies are particularly noticeable from April through June. Avian Local bird counts indicate that there are at least 163 species of birds in the county. Turkey vultures, a migrating species, are protected by federal law. They migrate north in the summer and return in September. The county's most common winter bird is the lesser scaup, a diving duck. In 2008, half a million were counted. In 2010, 15,000 were estimated. Other birds include the red-shouldered hawk, the loggerhead shrike, the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, Cooper's hawks, pileated woodpeckers, Savannah sparrows, rails (which also includes coots), Florida scrub jays (an endangered species), wood storks, grackles, great horned owls, northern mockingbirds, brown thrashers, catbirds, green-winged teals, greater yellowlegs, western sandpipers, least sandpipers, dowitchers, and American white pelicans. Peak migration in the fall is from the last week in September through the first week in October. Fall migration tends to be stronger than spring because birds typically take different flyways. Flora Native trees include cabbage palm (the state tree of Florida), fringetree, coral bean, sweet acacia, geiger tree, firebush, beautyberry, coral honeysuckle, and blanket flower. Other native plants include sea grape, red mulberry, purslane, dandelion, Spanish bayonet, blackberry, Jerusalem artichoke, dogwood, and gallberry. On the east coast of the state, mangroves have normally dominated the coast from Cocoa Beach southward. Northward these may compete with salt marshes moving in from the north, depending on the annual weather conditions. Live oak trees, various grasses, and juniper plants were sufficiently