I am in central Florida this week on a biology field trip. I had two main goals, both of which are now accomplished, but I will come back to those later, because they were not the first things I accomplished. I saw things I thought I might see, but those were not the primary goals of the trip. That said, accomplishing them was enjoyable.
I spent most days exploring Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, on the Atlantic coast of Florida pretty much due east of Orlando. This is a large refuge with diverse aquatic and terrestrial habitats, and lots of diversity of birdlife and other creatures. My first visit was to the visitor center for advice about where to see certain things – the refuge is large and diverse enough that I figured I would not waste time looking for things on my own. I was advised to visit three main areas: The Scrub Ridge Trail (spoiler alert – one of my goals was to see Florida scrub jays), the Pine Flatwoods Trail, and the Manatee Observation Deck.
I stopped at the Scrub Ridge Trail first, hoping to see scrub jays. An aside – I knew it was going to be hot, humid, and buggy in coastal central Florida in July. I was mentally and physically prepared, but the density of mosquitoes was still astonishing. I walked the Scrub Ridge Trail but saw no scrub jays. I did see several other things, like an indigo snake and a garter snake, an eastern towhee,
And multiple ospreys.
After finishing the trail, I went next to the Manatee Observation Deck, which is a location right next to the road on the Haulover Canal.
The manatees hang out in this area, which is why the Fish and Wildlife Service put the Manatee Observation Deck there.
And hang out they do. What you normally see is a “boil” when a manatee comes close to the surface, sometimes a snout,
And you can actually see the manatees themselves in the relatively clear water.
I visited this area more than once. On one of the visits, I noticed a small anole doing displays while perched on the leg of a bench. I got several photos before I figured out why he was doing this.
(He was doing "push-ups," which is a movement display)
(Also flairing the "dewlap," which is a color display)
He was trying to impress a female.
My third stop was the Pine Flatwoods Trail.
By the time I got there, it was mid-day and very warm. I hiked anyway. This was supposed to be an easy 1 mile loop. I hiked in part of the way when I heard what sounded like the call of a jay (there were lots of mockingbirds trying to sound like jays, but I could tell the difference). I stopped, listened, and looked for several minutes, then a jay appeared in a pine snag several meters away. But there was just the one, and it was not doing much. I walked farther, but the trail kept going in a direction that did not seem right, plus it was really hot, so I turned around and walked back to the car. As it turned out, I had taken the first turn, which was not the actual trail, but I didn’t find this out until the next day.
Recent Comments