animals | Serenity Spell

Apr 2

The Nesting Great Blues

I’m lucky to have close access to the Green Cay and Wakodahatchee Wetlands (Seminole for “created waters”), and when we’re not able to hike the Everglades or some of the other far-reaching natural area, a stroll around these boardwalks will soothe my spirits. It’s full-on nesting and baby season, and while I’ve posted some pics of the anhingas and others (the baby gators I’ve yet to post), I’ve saved the biggest for last: the ever-so-graceful Great Blue Herons. Their displays at the rookery fuel the attentions of every amateur and professional photographer and birdwatcher for miles, and the meek (*me*) have no place if it’s crowded…which is fine, because while the herons are divine, there’s plenty of other loveliness to be found when no one’s looking.

The Great Blue parents share the responsibilities of feeding their young at the nest, by hunting on a full-time schedule and regurgitating the food. The battle for food is brutal among the chicks; the first to hatch is more experienced in food handling, and consequently grows more quickly than the others. Such aggression in the interaction with the sibling chicks (as well as the discrepancy in size) can be seen at the Wakodahatchee rookeries, where the humans root for the younger, weaker chicks that consistently lose after fierce battles for food. This particular nest had two young herons — there initially may have been more eggs however, because we spied an iguana lurking in the depths of the rookery, obviously looking for eggs to steal.

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The size discrepancy of the chicks often dictates the winner of the food…

The end of a fierce struggle for food…

Mar 28

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Nesting Season at Wakodahatchee

For the last two months, it’s been nesting and baby season at the Green Cay and Wakodahatchee Wetlands — oases of green in South Florida’s suburbia, nestled on the edge of the Everglades. In the Seminole Indian language, Wakodahatchee translates as “created waters” — and that’s exactly what’s been done at these wetlands. Wakodahatchee’s present-day 50 acres of wetlands were, in their previous incarnation, unused utility land. But the space has been transformed into an Everglades wildlife ecosystem, with marsh habitat, intermittent tree islands, and cypress hammocks. Each day, the Palm Beach County’s Southern Region Water Reclamation Facility pumps nearly two million gallons of highly treated water daily into Wakodahatchee; the wetlands themselves further naturally cleanse, recharge, and filter the remaining nutrients and maintain earth’s water cycle. Dozens of different species of trees, shrubs, and aquatic vegetation were also incorporated to help manage this feat.

Wakodahatchee is a birdwatcher’s paradise — the site is part of the South section of the Great Florida Birding Trail, and common sightings include egrets, herons, ducks, grebes, bitterns, ibis, moorhens, warblers, blackbirds, cardinals, owls, hawks…and the list goes on, with more than 140 species identified. Many turtles make their home at the wetlands, and marsh rabbit can also be seen in the grassy and low-lying areas. As always, alligator sightings are common at Wakodahatchee, and non-poisonous snakes and frogs live on the fringes of the boardwalk. But I’ve even had the most fortunate sightings of shy otters and bobcat. Right now however, it’s the babies that are catching everyone’s eyes….

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A most entertaining trio of young anhingas:

Big Like You: The crowded rookery, with great blues, anhingas, tri-colors, and ibises (the egrets have their very own space):

Yummy mealtime for the young anhingas (those mommas work hard)…

And some of the rookery’s newer fuzzy anhinga residents…

Mar 26

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See You Later, Alligator

See you later, alligator. After a while, crocodile. -Bill Haley

Alligator and Duckweed in the Green Cay Wetlands

Dec 13

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An Ethereal Swamp in Riverbend

After visiting the newly created (and still-in-development) Cypress Creek Natural Area (see corresponding post), we darted through one of my favorite areas of Riverbend Park in Jupiter, Florida — not exactly a difficult hike in this particular location, but we weren’t exactly looking for one, after spending 4 hours plodding through the (occasionally) deep sand of Cypress Creek.

Awhile back, we discovered a cut-through (perhaps the beginnings of a new trail) leading to Riverbend’s cypress swamp — a truly beautiful area of the park. The shortcut is lovely, and is obviously used by many critters judging by the tracks. We even managed to stumble upon a flock of wild turkeys and several hunting osprey, as it was approaching dusk. But Florida’s cypress swamps are a sight like no other, and it’s wonderful that this area of the Loxahatchee River — Seminole for “River of Turtles” — has been protected in all of its glory. (The Loxahatchee’s source is actually in Riverbend, winding through Jonathan Dickinson.)

Per the park’s signage:

“Riverbend Park’s aquatic habitats are invaluable. They provide food, water and shelter for a vast array of unique species of aquatic and semi-aquatic wildlife. Protection of these riparian or river ecosystems within Riverbend Park not only gives visitors the opportunity to study local wildlife, but provides critical habitat for the wildlife, thus ensuring their survival.”

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Wildflowers, Riverbend Park

Birds’ Feast, Riverbend Park

Plethora of Palms, Riverbend Park

Cypress Stump in Swamp, Riverbend Park

Cypress Swamp, Riverbend Park

Signage, Riverbend Park

Wild Turkey, Riverbend Park

Dec 9

The Florida Trail & a Gopher Tortoise Rescue

Hiking Jonathan Dickinson State Park in the Riverbend area has provided us with some amazing scenery and images. This extension of the Florida Trail is accessible through the park (under Indiantown Rd.), or attainable across the street, near the Loxahatchee River (we jump the fence across the street for quicker access to the trail). The Ocean-to-Lake portion of the Florida Trail also runs behind the park, to the south. It’s a fantastic trail, with a gorgeous watering hole, canopy trees, old growth, prairie, and miles of hiking, that leads to Jonathan Dickinson. Natural Florida at its BEST. It’s rarely traveled — we’ve never encountered another hiker/kayaker past the watering hole.

During our most recent trip, we saved a gopher tortoise. One of the oldest living species, the burrowing tortoise is found throughout Florida and southern Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, and eastern Louisiana. These tortoises dig and live in long burrows in longleaf pine savannas, thus protected from summer heat, winter cold, fire, and predators. Gopher tortoises are essential to the local ecology — their burrows also provide homes for other animals, including indigo snakes, gopher frogs, mice, foxes, skunks, opossums, rabbits, quail, armadillos, burrowing owls, snakes, lizards, frogs, toads, and other invertebrates. Their burrows — abandoned or shared — may be the homes to more than 300 species of animals at one time or another. Pretty amazing; and it’s easy to see how destroying the habitat of the gopher tortoise alters the already fragile ecosystem. Federally protected as a threatened species (FINALLY in Florida, where the status was “under review” for years), the tortoise’s main threat remains: Habitat loss and destruction. For instance, it wasn’t until 2007, in Florida, that developers were forced *by law* to relocate burrowing tortoises — until then, development could shockingly occur with no thought to the safety of the animals and the destruction of their habitat.

This poor guy was trapped behind acres of personal enclosure, and had been unsuccessfully attempting to burrow in the mulch — there were dozens of failed holes. We stayed awhile, seeing if he could escape on his own (or if he was choosing that location), but then saw how the fence was buried, impeding his escape. Between the buried fencing, his constant dodging, and the myriad failed burrows, we quickly relocated him to a perfect burrow-able location nearby — literally 10 feet away his natural habitat awaited him, for pete’s sake. Rule of thumb with turtles and tortoises, help them safely in the direction they’re trying to head. It would have been nice for the actual property owners to have done so, of course; it wasn’t difficult to see the poor guy’s quandary.

We’ve also seen great horned owls, red-shouldered hawks, and alligator, to date, on this section of the Florida Trail — as well as a territorial pit bull during a brief stint of occupied home/farm ownership. Note to owners, or park management: Fix the freakin’ fence to prevent his escape. I’m sure the very nice farmer down the path would be equally grateful to have his chickens lay more eggs.