30 Days in June: Day 29, Morningside Nature Center at Dusk

Yellow False Foxglove (Aureolaria pectinata)

I've been trying to get to some of the parks in the early evening as well as during the day. The atmosphere is so different from what you see during daytime hours. Fewer people, softer light, different and more relaxed animals. It's really nice. I love that the parks have later hours now. When we first moved to Gainesville this was not the case. Way back when, you had to be out of La Chua Trail and the City nature parks at 5pm or you would be locked in. I know people who were ticketed for trespassing when they stayed to watch a sunset in the summer. If you wanted to go to the park after work, or wanted to try to see some owls or bobcats in a nature park, you were just out of luck. It was kind of frustrating. But people asked and times changed and now the parks close at sunset (around 8pm) during summer hours and at 6pm in the winter. This seems like a reasonable arrangement. People staffing the park need to go home and it's not a great idea to have visitors roaming the parks at all hours, anyway. For several years, until the city hired a contractor for the job, I was one of those people who had to lock the gates at Morningside. I would always get a sinking feeling when I needed to go home and there were still cars in the parking lot. I would yell and honk my horn and try to get their attention, but Morningside is a big park. We would wait around for a while and would sometimes even walk out on the trails a bit to try to find the people. In the end we would leave a note on their windshield giving them the police non-emergency number and lock the gate behind us, hoping that the person wasn't lost or hurt. I no longer work there, and the contractor probably still has to lock cars in the park, but I think that extending the hours has to help keep the numbers down. Most people will leave on their own before dark.

Morningside Farm Gates

I was thinking about this when I was at Morningside on Monday evening, remembering the many times I opened and closed the park, and those big farm gates, all those evenings in summer waiting for the last camper to be picked up, sitting in the parking lot in the early morning in my 1870's clothes waiting for a school bus to arrive, walking the trails with a group of children who were looking and listening for signs of habitats, walking the trails to get to know the wildflowers, perching on top of the "Paha" (the Native American replica structure) tying palmetto fronds for new thatching. I have lots of great memories of Morningside.

Securing the Poles on the Paha

The Paha

My plan on Monday evening was to walk the park until sunset and maybe see owls and bobcats, or at least coyotes, but I was thwarted by yellow flies. They were biting hard, despite my DEET. So I left before it got dark and the rest of the bugs came out. But in the time I was there, I managed to see a Northern Flicker. Finally! I think it was because I was wearing my lucky flicker shirt. Or, more likely because I played a flicker recording. When it heard me, the flicker came tearing across the sandhill and circled around to see who this invader was. I felt a little bad disturbing it, but I have been looking for a couple weeks and I just had to call it.

Wearing My Lucky Flicker Shirt! (From Target, FYI)

I also saw a lot of deer. The herd at Morningside is large and healthy. At least twice, in different sections of the park, I was startled by a snorting deer. They sound to me like they are coughing, and it's not scary, but sometimes I mistake the sound for another person and it can be a surprise. I counted about 10 deer in total.

Velvet Antlers

Just as I was nearing the NE sandhill area, I saw a Gopher Tortoise grazing on the path. At last! It has been a very long time since I've seen one at Morningside. I was starting to worry. It saw me and ran back to the safety of the tall grass. They can move faster than you'd think for a creature with such short legs.

Gopher Tortoise Running

I looped around the sandhill and saw that the vegetation is growing back quickly after the prescribed burn of about a month ago. The Paw Paw is flowering and it's almost hard to see where the Wiregrass was burned back. I love how the pines look in fire maintained sandhill. It is a beautiful habitat.

Slimleaf Paw Paw (Asimina angustifolia)

Twinflower (Dyschoriste oblongifolia)

Wiregrass (See the blackened base?)

Life in the Lovely Sandhill

From there I walked over to the Education Building, listening for Yellow Throated Vireos. I didn't hear any, though the White Eyed Vireos, Towhees, Red Headed Woodpeckers and Brown Nuthatches were all quite vocal.

Red Banded Hairstreak on Sowthistle

Red Headed Woodpecker Diving

Carolina False Vervain (Stylodon carneum)

A trip through the Cypress Dome did not yield any new birds but I remembered to look up and saw the beautiful tops of the Cypress Trees. I'm glad I spent the evening at Morningside.

Bird Count: 94, Natural Places: 28

Remember to Look Up

Of Gophers and Salamanders

A few years ago, my friend and co-worker Merald and I took the Uplands section of the Florida Master Naturalist Program. For our final group project, we teamed up and did a little skit about Gophers and Gophers. I talked about Gopher Tortoises and Merald talked about Pocket Gophers, but we pretended that we each thought we were presenting about the same thing and chaos ensued, all because of the confusion caused by using common names. We stood side by side next to our posters and took turns talking about various aspects of the two kinds of gophers. At the beginning of the presentation we agreed on the basics--that they lived in burrows in the uplands--but as we got more specific, the confusion became more clear. When Merald said that gophers were mammals, I interrupted and corrected him, and when I said they layed eggs in the apron of their burrow, he got very worried looking and sputtered. It was all good fun. We were perhaps too good at our play fighting because later on some people in the class told us they were starting to feel bad for us bombing so badly on our presentation.

Merald's Poster About Pocket Gophers

My Poster about Gopher Tortoises

I think about the gophers and gophers a lot when I'm out hiking because I'm quite likely to see signs of one or the other of them in the Sandhills that are so common around Gainesville. Pocket gopher mounds are far more common than gopher tortoises but you can often see both together in the same area, which causes some confusion. In fact, there is so much confusion in the names in general that it really becomes quite silly. In researching for the project we learned that the word "Gopher" comes from the French "Gauphre" which means "honeycomb". In Europe, gopher tunnels reminded people of honeycombs and thus the name for the animal. Later, when European explorers came to N. America, they applied the term "Gopher" to burrowing animals in general. One report we read said that in some regions of the U.S., moles and voles are called Gophers. The term is also applied to at least one species of ground squirrel. The animal we know in Florida as the Pocket Gopher is the Southeastern Pocket Gopher and is one of 6 species of pocket gophers in the U.S. But the term is also applied in the Southeast to a burrowing tortoise, the Gopher Tortoise. And some people refer to either the mammal or the reptile as just "Gopher", so you have to be sure you know which one they mean--Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) or Southeastern Pocket Gopher (Geomys pinetis).

Pocket Gopher Mounds in the Sandhill

Gopher Tortoise Burrow in a different Sandhill Nearby

But to make things even more complicated, in some areas people also refer to Pocket Gophers as "Salamanders". A real salamander is an amphibian, so there is no way that people confused them with the furry mammals. Actually, the term came first from "Sandy Mounder" because of the way the Pocket Gophers push out mounds of sand when they tunnel. Later this term morphed into "Salamander" because it sounded similar to Sandy Mounder. I recently learned that the term "Gerrymander" comes from Salamanders, too. In 1812, the Massachusetts legislature redrew electoral districts to favor Governor Elbridge Gerry. The distorted districts were drawn in a shape that resembled a salamander. People termed it a "Gerrymander", blending the names of the district shape and the governor.

I've been lucky enough to see many gopher tortoises. I've even moved some out of the road to safety.   I've never actually seen a salamander in the wild. The closest I've come is a few years ago when I was with an adventurous kid who caught a newt. I've also never seen a pocket gopher, although I have seen photos from a friend, so I guess I believe they exist. I have seen the mounds they leave in every sandhill and cow pasture. For the first five or ten years that I lived in Florida, I thought those mounds were fire ant hills. They look a little similar. Both fire ants and pocket gophers are pests, but not the gopher tortoise. Gopher tortoises are endangered and protected. They are endangered because their habitat is disappearing, and because people like to hunt and eat them. They provide critical shelter in their burrows for hundreds of species of animals, some of whom just share the space, and others who use it to escape fire. Pocket gophers eat tree roots and crops and dig up fields and yards, causing headache for farmers, ranchers and homeowners. They are abundant and annoying even if I've never seen one because they are "crepuscular" (marvelous word!), meaning that they are active at dusk and dawn. But they do play an important role in the ecosystem. Pocket gophers aerate the soil, and they are food for predators, including endangered Pine Snakes, who live in the sandhill and prowl pocket gopher mounds for their preferred food.

Gopher Tortoise

Red Eft That Will Grow Up to Become a Newt

And finally, I get to the main reason I started this whole tale of gophers and gophers.  The other day I was hiking at Morningside Nature Center and saw the tail end of this Pine Snake sticking out of a Pocket Gopher Mound. It was so focused on hunting that I was able to get quite close. Eventually I spooked it and it slipped all the way inside the mound. Later I came back to see if it was still around and the snake was stretched out in the sun, basking. I hope it was busy digesting pocket gophers, because it looked a little skinny. But it was nice to get a chance to see such a beautiful reptile up close and at work. I didn't see a Pocket Gopher, I didn't see a Gopher Tortoise and I didn't see a Gopher Snake, although they do exist. But I did see a Pine Snake. At least it wasn't a Salamander Snake--that would be an Amphiuma, and I have seen those. But that's another story at another park. Too confusing.

Pine Snake Going in For Dinner

Detail of the Beautiful Scale Pattern

Pine Snake Stretched Out in the Sun

Beautiful Face Scales

Thanks, I needed that!

My husband had a bike accident last week and broke his collarbone. He's healing well, but I've been doing a short stint as his caregiver since the accident and thus have not been able to get outside as much as I'm used to. So it was a welcome treat when I was able to swing by Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park after dropping him off at work today. I had to renew our annual State Park Pass (great deal!), so I went to the main entrance of the park rather than La Chua Trail, where I usually go. I decided to check out the area around Lake Wauberg, by the Puc Puggy Campground. It was late morning by the time I got there, so I didn't think I'd have much chance of seeing Otters and Eagles, but it was still beautiful. I have not been especially taxed as a caregiver. My husband is able to take care of most of his needs. He's in pain, which is hard to see, and he's very uncomfortable. And he can't lift anything, or do his contact lenses (I hold his eyelids up). But otherwise, my work is relatively minor. Still, I've been tired and tense, and the cool breeze through the big oak trees felt so good. It was great to step out of the car and hear the "cheer, cheer, cheer" sounds of the Cardinals and the White Eyed Vireos chattering about "beer, Jack".

Big Oak Trees

I walked over to the short boardwalk on Lake Wauberg and saw an Anhinga that had just caught a fish. There were scores of Dragonflies in the Pickerel Weed. After many tries, I finally caught a shot of one mid air. I saw a Catbird in the blackberries and a female Blue Grosbeak perched on some Dog Fennel, and watched a pair of Osprey successfully fishing. The Fish Crows were Ca-ha-ing from the oak trees. The Green Anoles blended in perfectly with the water plants, taking on green and yellow backgrounds. Squirrels rustled in the tree leaves and scolded me as I walked along.

Mid Air Dragonfly

Blue Grosbeak

Hiding Anole

Wary Squirrel

I continued to the short Lake Trail, through the magnificent Oaks. Just past the Oaks there was a clearing and I could see a Gopher Tortoise walking towards me on the trail. I tried to speed up to get a closer look, but the Tortoise saw me, turned around and practically ran to its burrow! I caught a couple of shots of it tearing through the grass, and one more as it dove into the opening. I felt a little bad and selfish about scaring it, but I hadn't seen one for a long time. Right across from its burrow was another burrow that also looked active, but it also looked as if something had been digging in front. I suspect that something dug up and ate eggs that were buried in the apron of the burrow. I couldn't tell from the tracks what did the digging, but I suspect it could have been armadillos.

Gopher Tortoise Trotting Along

Turns Around and Runs Away

Tearing Through The Grass

Whoosh Down Into the Burrow

Digging--Maybe An Egg Thief?

I continued along the trail, passing fields of cactuses in bloom. Years ago, I thought it was odd when I first saw cactus in semi-tropical Florida. But I understand now that many Southwest desert species, including the Gopher Tortoise, Florida Scrub Jay, Burrowing Owl and Cactus have ancestors that migrated to the Southeast a million or so years ago.  It's our funny connection to the West where I grew up. The butterflies were excited about the early spring blooms of the Cactus, Tread Softly and purple Heliotrope.

Flowering Prickly-pear Cactus (Opuntia humifusa)

Tread Softly (Cnidoscolus stimulosus) with Visitor

Clasping Heliotrope (Heliotropium amplexicaule) and Fiery Skipper

As I walked I looked down and noticed that the sandy road was covered in animal tracks. I saw tracks from Raccoon, lots of birds, squirrels, armadillos, lizards, deer, some sort of canine, and huge bird tracks that I figure were probably Turkey or Sandhill Crane. I looked for signs of snakes and bobcats but didn't see any indication. It's always interesting to look at tracks to see what animals have been in the area . This road was very busy!

Armadillo Tracks (See the Funny Feet and Tail Marks)

Birds Hopping

Raccoon Tracks on the Left and a Lizard Tail through the Center

Big Bird Track (Turkey or Crane?)

Intersecting Lizards

Critter Hoe Down!

On the return trip a Great Crested Flycatcher flew down and took a dust bath in the road right in front of me, while a Red Bellied Woodpecker thrashed around in a Palm Tree looking for good bugs. I watched a White Eyed Vireo catch a big bug, maybe a dragonfly, and feed it to its chick. The Cardinals called from every corner, and the Crows chased an immature Bald Eagle away from the lake. Back at the boardwalk, I saw a Common Yellowthroat and a Northern Parula looking for bugs in the bushes, and a Spider web sparkled in the woods on the way back to the car. It was all so soothing and pleasant and much appreciated.

Great Crested Fly Catcher Takes a Dust Bath

Red Bellied Woodpecker in the Palm

White Eyed Vireo

Cardinal Peeking Through the Leaves

Immature Bald Eagle Flies Away from Crows

Sparkling Web

Which got me thinking. Luckily and thankfully, my stint as a caregiver will be short and relatively easy.   My husband has the hard part. But many people do this difficult and important work every day for loved ones with serious, ongoing conditions and get little respite from the caregiving. Wouldn't it be nice if those caregivers could get away for some mind-clearing, soul-healing Nature Therapy? A little time outside gives you new energy and perspective. Here's an idea: If you are a caregiver, take a mental health day and go for a nature walk! If you know a caregiver, give them a restorative gift. Help them to take some time--a morning or afternoon, or even a whole day--to get away and go outside. Tell them to find a park, listen to some birds, watch the butterflies and breathe some fresh air. It will make a world of difference!

Nature Therapy