The End....NOT!

Well, my class is over, and it was so short, it's hard to believe.  It felt like a wild rush through nature, a kind of "drive-by" class, if you will.  So with the post, my blog is officially done.  I said "officially," because it's not done to me by any means.  My exploration of nature has barely even begun.  I have yet to hike every trail, canoe every river, and identify every avian species in Central Florida, so my goal is almost never-ending.

I could close this with some pithy saying or sentimental, tearful goodbye.  But I don't really feel sad, mainly because I'm going to have the same professor for Spring semester.  It's more like Christmas break, if you will.  And I hope to have a lot of interesting photos to show him next semester.

The Fountain of Youth

I realize my nature exploration is nearing an end, at least with the class, although I will continue to maintain this blog when I see something interesting.  It is only fitting to end this with the discovery of The Fountain of Youth.  Not the real one, of course, but the one at DeLeon Springs.

This was an advertising gimmeck used back in the 1880's to entice naive northerners to the park.  Obviously, it worked, and the park becamse extremely popular, even boasting a "water-skiing elephant" at one time.  No, I'm not kidding.  I only wish I could have seen it.  That would have made my day!!

DeLeon Springs Mill

Ok, this isn't really "nature," but it is at DeLeon Springs, so I guess it counts.  I just want to plug a really nice restaurant at the Springs - the Old Spanish Sugar Mill.  I've wanted to go there ever since 4th grade, when my class went there but for some reason, I stayed home.  Then a few years later, some of my friends went, but once again, for some reason, I didn't.

So let me tell you, it was worth the wait.  You make your own pancakes with whatever toppings you want using a griddle that's built into the table.  Very tasty, and the pancakes didn't make me sick, which I was afraid they would because I'm lactose intolerant and usually things like that make me really ill.

So enjoy the pics.  I will return to nature soon.  :)

Pygmy Rattlesnake

Now for the post of all posts, the best of the best.  This little snake, my dear readers, is none other than a Pygmy Rattlesnake!  Yes, it is poisonous!!  See how I risk my life for this blog!?

^_^

Well, ok, it was really small; I'm guessing about 6 inches long, maybe a little less.  It was hard to tell because it was coiled up on the branch.  But I got quite a few clear shots of it before it disappeared into the undergrowth.

The whole story about its discovery is pretty amusing.  A woman in my class found it and called me over to look at it.  She asked me what it was, and I looked carefully, but didn't see a rattle at all.  I know there are only four kinds of poisonous snakes in Florida - copperheads, cottonmouths, rattlesnakes, and coral snakes.  I wasn't in Scouting for nothing.  And it definately wasn't the first two or the last one.  So I said, "It's probably a corn snake or something.  Not poisonous." 

So she and I got down close to it, taking these photos.  Then my professor comes by and says, "Oh, that's a pygmy rattlesnake," in his usual calm, easy-going manner.  lol

My classmates were not happy with me, and they said they weren't going to trust me to identify snakes anymore.  I don't really blame them. 

So enjoy these pics.  I have more, if you want to request them, but these are the best.

Shell Mound

Now here's something interesting.  See this shell I'm holding?  The whole mound at Hontoon Island was covered with them!  What are they?  Would you believe...the remnants of dinners of the ancient inhabitants?  I know, I was really amazed!  I didn't know they could eat so much, or that it would be so well preserved!

It was probably from a tribe well before the modern known tribes like the Seminoles.  This ancient tribe likely lived by the river, fished, and gathered snails and shellfish along the banks.  They were most likely not hunters (as a display in the museum asserted).

It was well worth the 1 1/2 hour hike just to see this mound; I will most likely return to hike it again.

Another Bird Book

Continuing to prove my dedication to this class, I got another bird book from the library, this one about birdfeeders.  It's really interesting with lots of pictures and diagrams about how to attract different types of birds to your yard.  It even shows how to make different types of feeders, which I might do when this semester is over and I finally get some free time!

Palmetto

Seeing this picture of the palmetto makes me want to cry, for various reasons.  One is that I have little to nothing interesting to say about his particular plant, and two because it brings back bad memories of me as a child trying to walk through the bushes of them and getting my legs all scratched.  But if Bartram could face the hordes of smoking alligators, I can face a plant.

The is obviously a palmetto, but it's not a "saw palmetto" as I originally thought.  The leaves are too gently curved and not stuck straight out like a mohawk hairdo.  The saw palmetto looks absolutely killer, like it could cut your legs off if you stand too close.

Anyway, here's the pic.  What kind of palmetto is it?  That's a guessing game for my blog readers (all three of them).  It also means I don't like palmettos and don't want to take the time to look it up when I could be looking up something wonderful, like the White-breasted Nuthatch!!  What a wonderful bird!

The Great Grimpen Swamp

Here's a picture of a swamp that I saw on my hiking trip to Hontoon Island.  How do I know it's a swamp and not a marsh or bog?  AHA!  That information I learned back in 8th grade, and I still recall it....vaguely....well, at least I knew there was a difference at all!

Doing research, it seems a swamp is a habitat that remains under standing water for most of the year.  Marshes have plants growing in them, like the Marshes of Glyn, which I've visited when staying with my cousins on St. Simon's Island, Georgia.   

A bog is the same thing as a mire, which is made of peat and looks as if it could suck you under and petrify your remains.

Remembering watching Basil Rathbone in The Hound of the Baskervilles when I was young, I recalled something called The Great Grimpen Mire, which one was never supposed to cross, and I think that's what happens to the villain in the end.  It is the reason that I get a chill when I think about mires...the Hound lives there!

Anyway, this was a swamp, the least interesting of the three (my apologies to swamp-lovers).  I didn't see a trace of animal-life around it, except for maybe a few bird calls.  But then again, maybe all the animals got sucked in and suffocated...oh wait, that only happens with mires.  ;)

 

Ethical Questions

Before continuing with the blog, there are ethical questions I must ask myself, concerning the date of these blogs and my journal entries.  I think it is only fair to let the reader (especially my instructor) know that these may not have the exact date that it occured.  I tried to write as if things were happening firsthand, even after the fact, so I admit to taking a little creative license, which hopefully won't get me into trouble.  I mostly dated my entries on the date that the event occured, or that the journal entry was due, not necessarily on the date I typed it up or edited it.

I was sick two weeks ago, so for over 5 days, I didn't write anything in my notebook at all, even though I experienced some interesting events I wanted to describe.  So I went in after I felt better and plugged in entries so the gaping hole in the dates was not so evident.  If this is immoral, I apologize.  My only argument is that Bartram himself wasn't too exacting on his dates either.

I know I am not the only student with this problem, but I'm probably the only one that's going to confess to fudging a few of the dates or editing some earlier entries to make them more readable.  When typing my journal entries up (especially the last one), I changed quite a few sentences and shifted whole paragraphs around to make everything more intelligent and legible.  Without cleaning up the last entry, the reader would have assumed I was both drunk and on crack at the same time.

So with this disclaimer, I can finish typing my blog posts.  Although I will claim that all my blog posts (except the one about The Senator, which was unexpected), go in the same order as my notebook entries, so the structure remains the same, as well as my discovery process.  Only some of the dates are off.  Penalize me if you want, but I'm honest.

Oops! / The Senator

Maybe I should change my previous post.  I was doing some research and discovered that The Senator is a bald cypress tree, not a regular cypress tree.  Is there a difference?  Apparently there's a very big difference, since both types are in completely separate families.  

Part of me thinks I shouldn't change the earlier entry because it may reflect the mistakes made by many people who don't know any better (like me), and maybe it will help show my growth as a naturalist.

Now for the pics.  Note that these were taken about 3 years ago:

Cypress Trees

I will try my best to write enthusiastically about these trees, although they are rather dull in comparison to my other entries.  They are cypress trees, of course, and I'm pretty sure they are "bald cypresses," which are found throughout Florida.

They are the state tree of Lousiana (interesting factoid) and usually grows to about 30 - 35 meters high, more or less.  The wood is very useful for decorative purposes, such as paneling and carving.

I didn't know this, but apparently The Senator is a cypress tree!  I visited it about 3 years ago and was amazed at its size, but I guess I just assumed it to be some kind of oak.  To the non-naturalist mind, BIG TREE = OAK.

I'll post some pics of The Senator next.  They're a few years old, but I think it will still count.

In other news, I wonder if my instructor minds that I'm not overly fond of trees.  Maybe he will appreciate me being honest instead of pretending to be interested in cypresses to please him or get a good grade.  Although if I want to be a proper naturalist (and I do), I better start taking an interest in them, and soon.

Personal Post

I'm starting to get into this journal thing.  I mean, I've never kept a diary before, so it's a little difficult to put my feelings into words.  Much easier to quote facts about plants and animals.  I'm a fact person, not very imaginative, I'll admit.  But listening to music while typing seems to help get my writing juices flowing.  Right now I'm playing One Tin Soldier, one of my favorite songs. 

 

I started this course because I thought it would be history/science, not necessarily creative writing.  I'm pretty good at writing essays, but I have the feeling that's not what my instructor is looking for this time.

I'm supposed to write about my feelings towards nature.  Like I've stated before, I've never really been a naturalist.  Nature is pretty and all, but the only part of it I've been deeply interested in were birds.  I love birds.  No, that's an understatement.  Not only do I love them, but I'm fascinated by them.  Their little chirpy songs, their quick flittering movements, their wonderfully obsessive behavior.  I've enjoyed birds, and started drawing them, when I was very very young.

Birds are better than people.  With a few exceptions, I'd rather spend my day among the avians than homo sapiens.  Birds never lie or cheat; they don't put on airs or backstab you.  When they fly, they are closer to heaven than we are.  I don't believe in reincarnation, but if I did, I would like to come back as a Golden Eagle, one of the most majestic birds ever.  Raptors are solitary animals for the most part; they don't need large flocks to keep them happy.  It would just be me and maybe a friend, riding the thermals up into the clouds.

Mysterious Fungus of the Unknown

I can't think of anything else to call this.  Besides being an extremely large (and solitary) white tree fungus, I don't know what else to say.

I've been to quite a few tree fungi identification sites, and still nothing that even remotely resembles my picture.  If anyone can help, please write me.

Random Pics from Hontoon Island

Here are a few pics from my hike that were just too good to be left out, even though I couldn't think of a proper blog entry for them.

Arrival at Hontoon Island

Welcome to beautiful Hontoon Island, a park I had never visited before.  The day was absolutely perfect, with hardly a cloud in the sky (as you can see from my pictures).  To get to the island, we had to take a small ferry.  It only seated six people at a time, so my class had to divide up.  My instructor noticed that the ferry was solar-powered, which I thought was really neat, in a green sort of way.  :)

Mill Creek

This is near the beginning of Mill Creek in the Wekiwa State Park.  I believe in flows from Witherington Springs but it's easy to get mixed up when you're out on the trail.

One way you can tell that this water came from a spring and not a river, creek, or swamp is it's crystal clear color.  You can see the sandy bottom, and the water is moving and sometimes bubbles.  If you're near enough to the spring's source, the water will probably be cooler than normal.

I've swam in both Wekiwa Springs and Blue Springs.  It takes a few minutes for me to get fully in because the water is so chilly.  But once you're in, you don't feel the cold anymore.  I've snorkled in Blue Springs, which is really clear.  There were all kinds of fish, but no manatees.  When the manatees come to the park, swimming is forbidden.  But you can still go to watch them.

Yellow Swallowtail Butterfly

This pic is so bad I'm almost ashamed to put it on my blog without a disclaimer saying something like "It's not my fault."  Sadly, though, it is my fault for being a pretty mediocre photographer.  And I apologize.

If you can see it at all, you might recognize the yellow butterfly in the center as a Yellow Swallowtail (Papilio machaon).  These little guys are really common in Central Florida; I've seen them so many times it was never a really big deal before.  Ah, but now that I'm an amateur naturalist, everything in nature must be a big deal to me.  I will keep reminding myself of this.

So anyway, here's the pic:

And some basic info about the Yellow Swallowtail:

It's about 10 cm long and found almost everywhere in the world and in many different habitats, although they seem to prefer swampy areas or marshland.  It's named for the swallow bird (you know, the ones who always come back to Capistrano) because their tales are forked.  It is also the largest butterfly in Britain.  Point of interest: the largest butterfly in America is the Great Swallowtail, with a wingspan of up to 16 inches!

Turtles in Sand Lake

This is a picture of three turtles sunning themselves in Sand Lake (Wekiwa Springs State Park).  It's not very clear, but I was on the shore and my camera wasn't behaving properly.

They were probably painted turtles, but they were a little too far away to identify properly.

Speaking of identification, here's a wonderful site with pictures of turtles, snakes, and other Florida reptiles.  It would probably be very useful to me if I could have gotten closer to the turtles to note specific features.

Sabal Palm

I'm going to go out on a limb here (no pun intended) and say that the tree pictured is a Sabal Palm.  It certainly looks like the pictures of Sabal Palms I've found on the net.  The other main kind of Florida Palm, the Saw Palmetto, is closer to the ground and doesn't have a trunk.  It's branches are not "fluffy" enough to be a Queen Palm, and there's no coconuts (hence not a Coconut Palm).  And I sincerely doubt it could be a Walsh River Palm, since those are native to Australia.

So unless I'm missing something important, this is a Sabal Palm.  Enjoy.

Burning

I grew up with Smokey the Bear warning me not to start forest fires.  So in my mind forest fires = bad.  So imagine my surprise when I learned that not only are fires sometimes beneficial, but sometimes they are intentionally set to control the native populations.  Without fires, vines and other dense shrubs take over the woods, choking out all the beautiful wildflowers and forcing animals like the gophers out of their habitats.  An interesting article about controlled burning can be found here.

Below is a picture taken near Sand Lake in the Wekiwa State Park showing a recently burned area.  It looks a little bleak, but I am assured will be back to its thriving self in no time.

Apopka Sportsmen's Club

This is a monument dedicated to the Apopka Sportsmen's Club, which I am ashamed to admit I never heard of before my hike.  When researching it, I discovered that my grandfather had been  good friends with one of the prominent members.

In 1941, the Club purchased Wekiwa Springs from a turpentine mill, and dedicated itself to protecting its natural inhabitants.

There is a wonderful book about the history of Apopka; it even shows the first Masonic lodge, which my boyfriend and I visited, him being a Mason.  But that is another story.

White-tailed Deer

This is probably my favorite picture at Wekiwa.  There were three white-tailed deer in all.  Despite the constant influx of people into the park, they still seemed skittish and wary of me and my class.  I actually took this photo from the car with the window rolled down.

These Wekiwa deer are not native to the park; they were brought in from the north by hunters hoping to replenish the local supply.  But the deer that were brought in had large antlers suitable for the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, not the dense swamps of Florida, so the antlers constantly caught on branches here and caused many "deer accidents."  Today, however, the antlers have become smaller and closer to the head, so it isn't the problem like it used to be. 

Amazing Spider Web

If there's one animal I dislike more than snakes, it's spiders.  I've always been afraid of them, but especially since I was 12 years old and woke up one morning with one crawling across my face.  Fun.

But this post is about a spider I didn't actually see; instead I saw its web, and what a magnificent creation it was, too!  I'm really not sure of the exact spider it was.  Part of me wonders if it isn't a spider web at all, but some kind of caterpillar cocoon.

Gopher in My Yard

I know I'm becoming a naturalist when I get excited about seeing a gopher in my yard!  ^_^

I was sitting at my computer, as usual, when I noticed movement outside the window.  When I saw what it was, I was so excited that I jumped up, grabbed my camera, and ran outside for a few shots.

We've had gophers in our yard before, but this one was really big, over a foot long with his shell alone.  

He (I'm going to call it a he even though I have not idea what gender it was), was walking very quickly to his home on the side of my house.  I live in an area that's slightly wilder than mainstream suburbia, with about an acre of woods behind my house and lots of shrubs and palmetto bushes.  The perfect place for a gopher.

Researching gophers on the internet, I discovered that it's the state reptile of Georgia!  I didn't even know states had "state reptiles."  They also snack on mushrooms, which means my gopher must be extra pleased by all the shrooms growing in my yard after light drizzles.

They are called a "keystone species," because they're burrows are home to other animals as well.  The gophers do all the work of making a home, and someone else comes barging in to live there, like an unwanted relative.

Speaking of burrows, here's my friend's home:

He hissed at me when I got too close for comfort, so I followed him back a little ways until he shuffled down into his burrow. 

Swamp Snake

On my first hike to Wekiwa, I discovered this little guy somewhat burried in the sand near, appropriately, Sand Lake.  He was quite dead, but with no apparent means of death.  At first I thought he was a Black Racer, but his underbelly is a bright, almost deathly, shade of red.  My instructor said that it was a Swamp Snake, which I'd never heard of before (but then again, I usually don't muck around in swamps).  At first, though, we thought it might be a Mud Snake, which is a little different because the red on its belly extends into little stripes on its back.  Hard to explain, so here's a website w/ a pic.

This snake was probably dropped by a predator, such as a hawk, since it was a nice ways from the actual water.  That would account for its death.  I'd feel sorry for it, but I like hawks much more than I do snakes.  ;)

I found a good website about the snakes here.  I couldn't imagine holding handfuls of them like the man in the photo is doing.

I've always been wary of snakes.  Yes, they're beautifully colored, but they seem to have a creepy aura about them.  And they look slimy.  I know they're not, really, because in first grade a naturalist brought in a snake to the class and I petted it.  Very dry and scaly.  But they still give me the creeps.  Especially black ones, for some reason.

 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.

~ Genesis 3:1

Uh-oh

I realize I haven't blogged in weeks, but that's not because I've been slacking on my journal (well, maybe it is a little).  I have entries written in my notebook that I haven't had time to put on this blog...so I will do it now, but the dates will be off.  I'll add the approx. dates when the event/sighting occured or when I wrote it in my notebook.

Ciao!

Bird Book

To prove my dedication to the naturalist world, I went to Borders tonight and purchased the Birds of Florida.  It has full color pictures, lots of info, and looks very informative and interesting.  I hope to identify a lot of species with it.  I didn't know Florida was hope to so many birds!!!

The Longleaf Pine Tree

I can't believe I'm writing a blog about a tree, but as they were ever-present during my recent Wekiwa hike, I thought it best to include info about them (as well as a pic).

Longleaf pines (Pinus palustris) are common in the Southern U.S.; they are even the state tree of Alabama.  They grow primarily in sandy areas, which explains their presence at Wekiwa, where the ground was extremely dry and sandy (I could even see little sand piles scattered around).  

When the pines are young, they resemble grass or a fluffy little bush, not a tree at all.  They can live up to 500 years, and are a home to many species, including the elusive Fox Squirrel.  Their needles are in groups of three and their cones are absolutely humongous, around 11 inches long.  If one of those things hit me in the head, I'd feel it for a few days!

Wekiwa Trip

Last Saturday, my class visited Wekiwa Springs State Park much too early in the morning for my liking.  I had canoed down the Wekiwa River a few times before, and had gone swimming, but I never hiked the trails before.  To be perfectly honest, I didn't even know the park had trails.  But it does...oh, it definately does.

Wekiwa has 13.5 miles of hiking trails.  As you can see on this map, they all intersect at various points so you can easily switch trails to go whatever direction you want.  We started at Sand Lake and walked to Mill Creek, observing wildlife on the way.

Above is a pic I took of the Springs when we first arrived there.  A few people were already swimming, even though it was like 9am.  They were so lucky!  

But we weren't there for mere recreation.  Our job was to learn about the park's ecosystem and inhabitants, which I'll describe in my next blog posts.

Becoming a Naturalist

Let me first say, I've always loved nature, but I've never been a "nature lover."  You know, the kind that eats wild plants or hangs a boa constrictor around her neck because it's so cute.  So while I've grown up with a sincere appreciation of the great outdoors, I've never been very hands-on with it.

That's about to change.

I am a 24-year-old college student and this blog is part of a course in Florida naturalism I'm currently taking.  I hope to continue it well after my class is over; learning is a lifelong process.  I'm technically supposed to write my journal down, but I find that a blog is much easier for a computer geek like me.  :-)

My camera is a Fujifilm FinePix A360.  It has always been a reliable camera that takes pretty clear shots...until recently.  I think there's some dust or maybe battery corrosion in it that makes it not want to start up properly.  I tried cleaning it last night and today it worked a little better, although it did have a few false starts.  I'll clean it tomorrow with a cotton swab and a flashlight.