30 Days in June: Day 22, Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarian Research Reserve

GTM Beach

What do you do when your friend texts you at 9:30pm and asks if you want to go to the beach in the morning? If you're me, and you are trying to get in all the Florida nature experiences and time with friends that you can before you move, you say "heck yeah"! So my friend Grace and I loaded all our gear into the car (it takes an amazing amount of stuff to just sit on the beach for an afternoon) and drove off for the Atlantic coast.

Pelican on Azure Seas

Grace had a favorite beach in mind, at Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarian Research Reserve (GTM for short). Quite a mouthful. I visited the reserve only once before when I was taking the Coastal unit of the Florida Master Naturalist course. The name is so long and complicated that I can never remember it and have to Google it every time. But it's a really great place! GTM Research Reserve is a protected area of 73,000 acres of coastal habitat south of Jacksonville. There is an education center and nature trails and miles of undeveloped beaches and natural dunes. It was blazing hot by the time we got there and so we decided not to walk any of the nature trails and to just enjoy the beautiful beach.

Willett

We sat in the shade of the umbrella and ate a delicious lunch while we watched Terns, Gulls and Pelicans diving and fishing. Terns are such graceful flyers and divers. It's wonderful to watch them hover and flap before they tuck their wings and zoom down to snatch a fish. Periodically we could see Dolphins surfacing in the distance. The water closer to shore was brown and murky from the sand stirred up in the surf. Further back it was a deep azure, reflecting the clear sky. Sea breeze and the sounds of sea birds completed the picture of perfection.

Laughing Gull

Lucky Royal Tern with Fish

Ready...

Set...

Dive!

A fisherman set up just down the beach from us and within the first 5 minutes he had caught something. To our surprise it was a baby shark! We watched him carefully unhook it and throw it back. Then the other line tugged and he reeled in another shark! We ran over to get a closer look and he unhooked it and handed it to Grace to hold and throw back. Both were Black Tipped Sharks. It was a beautiful little thing. The profile looks funny because of the way Grace had to hold its head so it couldn't bite her. She tossed it in the water and we watched it make its way out past the surf.

Black Tip Shark

Hooked, but Released

Back in our comfy chairs, we watched our neighbor catch 5 or 6 more little sharks and throw them back. They just couldn't resist the raw bait fish. More amazing, though, were the full sized sharks that we saw breaching and splashing, in the very area where we had just been wading and swimming! Apparently it was shark week. Kind of scary and sobering until you realize that there are always sharks in the water and that you are statistically much more likely to be killed by car crashes or the flu or food contamination than by sharks. Sharks, on the other hand, should be very worried about humans. We kill an estimated 100 million sharks every year. So, think about that when you are scared to get into the water!

Fishing Boat

We had a great day and came home sunburned and sandy. I am only sorry that I learned about this beach just before we are moving away, but we have added it as a good place to visit when we come back in the future. I'm so thankful for my free schedule right now that gives me the chance to act on impulse invitations, and especially thankful for the friends who invite me!

Saw several new birds but they don't count because they were out of the county. 26 natural areas visited.

30 Days in June: Day 18, Moonshine Creek and Creek Sink Trails

That's My Motto! 

Rested, reinvigorated and rehydrated, Thursday morning had me out on the trail bright and early. I wanted to walk the Moonshine Creek and the Creek Sink trails at San Felasco Hammock State Park before it got too hot again. It had rained a little bit the night before and more rain was in the forecast later, so the air was heavy and everything was damp. When I took out my cameras I found that the lenses were fogged. They were still cool from the air conditioning in the house and car and when the hot, humid air hit them, condensation formed on everything. I wiped them with my lens cloth, but the metal on the telephoto held the cold and it kept fogging over for almost a half hour. Therefore, I missed my chance to get a picture of the Hooded Warbler and Acadian Flycatcher I saw right by the creek. But I was just happy to have found them.

Starting on the Trail

Sun Rays in the Forest

Moonshine Creek

Moonshine Creek at San Felasco is one of the first trails my family and I hiked when we first moved to Gainesville. It has changed a lot over the years but is still a great place to hike. I like to come for butterflies in the fall and Jack in the Pulpit and Trillium in the Spring. The hurricanes of 2004 took out lots of big trees and then the drought a few years later dried up ponds and swamps. But everything changes. A wet prairie will be flooded one year and dried up the next. A big tree falls and opens up a big patch of sunshine into dark woods and new plants grow there that never could before. Things change. Pine beetles, coral ardesia, and hard winters, dry summers. You can't be sure that the things you saw one year will be there the next. It makes life precious and interesting. It's important to appreciate what you have while you have it, but it is just as important to be able to improvise and adapt when you don't. Change is good for you because it forces you to think in new ways. I'm thinking of our move this way--lots of new places to experience, things to learn and people to meet.

Sadly, this trail has a real problem with Coral Ardesia. Please don't plant this at home. The berries are attractive to the birds and they take over.

Huge Grape Vine

Muscle Wood (American Hornbeam) with Poison Ivy

The trail through the woods was much cooler than I had expected and I started thinking that this was the best way to be active in the hot summer--go to the dark woods! But as I walked lower into the sink area, closer to the creek and the pond, it got wetter and muggier, and soon I had sweat through all my clothes and was having a hard time moving the dials on my cameras because my hands were so wet with sweat. When I stopped to look at something, the breeze I was creating with my motion stopped and sweat would pour down my face. It was intense. But at least there were no bugs! I don't know why, but the mosquitoes were mercifully absent, and somehow I didn't get any ticks.

Tall Trees

Cool, Dark Path

It was lusciously dark and green. And noisy. The tree frogs were barking and the buzz of the cicadas was so loud that my ears were almost numb. When I walked up and out of the woods and I couldn't hear them anymore I felt like I'd been at a concert or had cotton in my ears. It was hard to use sounds sounds to locate birds because they were drowned out by the cicadas. But I'm not complaining. It made the whole experience richer to be buried in the deep, dark woods. I saw a deer from a distance and so many squirrels. I'm sure there were lots more birds than what I saw, but the path was uneven and I had to watch my step in addition to watching the trees. I was on the lookout for snakes, too, but didn't see any. I saw Woodpeckers and Cardinals, Carolina Wrens and Parulas and a big Titmouse family.

Moss Covered Tree Trunk

Watch Your Step

This is Where the Bird Action Is!

What I did see were spider webs, everywhere. I wasn't able to get a photo that showed the perfection of the orb weaver webs in the misty rays of sunshine, but they were stunning. Some of them were 2-3 feet across. I also saw a slug and some snails eating tree fungus.

Giant Webs

Spider Web in the Woods (The photo doesn't do it justice)

Snails Eating Fungus

Carolina Mantle Slug Eating Fungus

When I walk by myself I do a lot of thinking. Sometimes I am composing the blog that I am writing about my hike. Sometimes I'm going through lists of things that I have to do. (I'm making a lot of lists these days). Sometimes I go over conversations that I have had or that I want to have. Sometimes I just look and enjoy. And sometimes I get a stupid ear worm stuck in my brain, a dumb song that goes on and on and I can't shake it. I don't know what brings them on, maybe it's the rhythm of my walking pace, or maybe it's a phrase that pops into my mind and starts it. But in the middle of San Felasco, I had the refrain from "Uptown Funk" playing over and over and over.

I'm too hot (hot damn)
Called police and fireman
I'm too hot (hot damn)
Make a dragon wanna retire man
I'm too hot (hot damn),
ETC, ETC, ETC, ETC AAAGH!

It was driving me crazy. It's a fun song, but only once or twice, and not running on repeat in my brain, and definitely not in the woods while I'm trying to listen for Yellow Throated Vireos over the drone of the cicadas. But I was too hot, and the sweat dripping down my face kept reminding me. But I concentrated and eventually I was able to push "Too Hot" out of my brain and I got back to my tranquility.

Web of Tree Roots Extending Across the Forest Floor

Back at the parking lot I saw what I first thought was a gigantic (6 inch long) slug on the ground. But it turned out to be a banana that had been in the sun a while. Hah! But then I almost jumped when I saw the Broad Headed Skink with its head buried in the banana, munching away. Who knew that skinks ate bananas? This one was quite content. And so was I. It was a great morning!

Nom Nom Nom

This Skink Has Been Busy!

 Total: 92 (95) June Challenge Birds and 22 Natural Areas

30 Days in June: Day 16, San Felasco State Park, North Entrance

It's Hot! Treefrog in San Felasco State Park Bathroom Sink

Photo buddy Maralee and I began our Tuesday adventure by tidying up some loose ends. We stopped at Cellon Creek Blvd. on our way to the North Entrance of San Felasco Hammock State Park to try to see those darned Northern Bobwhites. We rolled down the car windows and heard them calling immediately after turning onto the road. They were there and as infuriatingly impossible to spot as before, calling from either side of the car. I wondered if Mockingbirds have been known to mimic the call, because that would help explain why I can look and hear and look again and not see one. After listening and searching the bushes for a while, finally Maralee took matters into her own hands and walked out into the brambles to flush them out. She is a true friend. 10 minutes later, success! Finally I can check &$%@ Bobwhites off the list. I have to say, though, that it wasn't nearly as satisfying as just finding a happy quail strolling down the road and having a nice long look. But after searching for so long I was not in the mood to be picky.

We also saw Northern Rough-Winged Swallows and watched an adult Eastern Kingbird feed its chick, and got several nice looks at Eastern Meadowlarks and Loggerhead Shrikes. It was a good start to a hot morning.

Rough-winged Swallows

Eastern Kingbirds

The North Entrance at San Felasco State Park has bicycle and horse trails. In the spring and fall it is a wonderful butterfly, bird and wildflower spot. In the summer, it's kind of quiet. We walked for over an hour and saw very few animals, most of them in the cool of the shaded woods. It was just too hot. We surprised a Bluebird coming out of its house and spotted a Yellow Billed Cuckoo in the treetops. Cardinals and Chickadees were hopping around from tree to tree and a Red Shouldered Hawk flew over and landed beyond the pond. The wildflowers, however, were thriving in the heat. This has been a good year for Paw Paw, Milkweed and Showy Milkwort. We walked through fields of Daisy Fleabane and saw Pitted Stripeseed and Ladiestresses Orchids.

Pitted Stripeseed (Piriqueta cistoides) and Bee Fly

Ladiestresses Orchid (Spiranthes sp.)

Grassleaf Lettuce (Lactuca graminifolia)

Pinewoods Milkweed (Asclepias humistrata)

Daisy Fleabane Field (Erigeron annuus)

The find of the day was a Tawny Emperor Butterfly that landed and opened and closed its wings for about 10 minutes while we snapped photos. Neither of us had seen one before and it was exciting. But stopping and concentrating on getting the photos left us both sweating and tired and we realized that it was time to head back. It was nearly 100 degrees.

Tawny Emperor Butterfly

Back in the car and driving out of the park we spotted a Kestrel on the power line and we let out a weak little cheer, but were almost too wiped out to get too excited.

Total count: 90 birds, 20 Natural Areas

30 Days in June: Day 15, Sunset at La Chua Trail

Sunset at the Prairie

It's been very hot the past few days and it seemed like a good time to visit to La Chua Trail in the evening. The symmetry of seeing one side of the Prairie during the day on Sunday and the other side in the evening on Monday appealed to me. And it would be fun to look for owls and watch the sunset. Thinking that the sun would be less brutal by 6:30 pm, I foolishly left my hat at home and spent the first 45 minutes there shielding my eyes with my hand. It was awkward at best. But eventually I was able to put my hand down and relax. I do think that half my face is sunburned, though.

 Evening Resting Spot for a Black Swallowtail

Flocks of White Ibises and Black Bellied Whistling Ducks were coming in to roost for the night. I passed a Cottonmouth Snake moving across the path, maybe on the hunt for Cotton Rats. I walked quickly down the trail to have enough time at the observation tower before it got dark. I passed the carcass of the dead Softshell Turtle I had seen last week. It was hard and dry, like jerky, after being in the hot sun all week. It still smelled awful.

White Ibises Coming In

Turtle Carcass

The light on the Prairie mellowed as the sun got lower in the sky. Majestic fields of American Lotus spread beneath tall clouds. I was pleased to see both the Wild Spanish Horses and the Bison grazing near and past the observation platform. The scene was peaceful and lovely.

Lotus and Clouds

Megafauna

Wading birds and ducks gathered and fed in the mudflats. There were Glossy Ibis, Spoonbills, Black Necked Stilts, Great Egrets, Herons and Common Gallinules, to name a few. Fellow birders, Danny and Deena were at the platform and helped me locate some Black Necked Stilt chicks. Despite their best efforts, I only saw dark blobs. When I looked at the photos on my computer I still couldn't make them out. I'll have to try to see them in the daylight. I was able to pick up Mottled Ducks for my list.

Horses Near the Platform

Evening Birds

Glossy Ibis

The sun was almost down and the temperature was cooler. The dragonflies helped keep the biting insects under control, but that wouldn't last long. It was time to get back to the boardwalk for a chance of seeing an owl.

Sun is Setting Fast Now

Alligators had been congregating on the banks, catching the last rays of sun. Now they were heading into the water for the night's hunt. We caught glimpse of a pair of babies waiting above the waterline. Feeding time must be hazardous for the youngsters.

Watchful Gators

A pair of Black Bellied Whistling Ducks stood together in the Lotus marsh. And a juvenile Least Bittern clung to the top of a Lotus stalk, looking very much like a scared blossom.

Black Bellied Whistling Ducks

Juvenile Least Bittern

The sun hung just above the horizon and it was getting darker on the trail. I was fortunate to meet another birder, Lloyd, who was also looking for owls. He pointed me to a Great Horned Owl as it flew from the treeline and out over the Prairie, and helped me hear the raspy sound of a chick calling from the woods. Another bird for my list.

Last Bit of Sun

The Dragonflies were done for the evening and the mosquitoes were starting to bite. I left without getting to see a Barn Owl, but the night was a beautiful success anyway.

June Challenge Total: 86 Birds, 19 Natural Areas Visited

Twilight Falls Over the Prairie