The Daily Bucket is a place where we post and exchange our observations about what is happening in the natural world in our neighborhood. Bugs, buds, birds - each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
April 3, 2012.
Today was a volunteer workday sponsored by North FL Audubon Society and Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve ANERR
The 246,000-acre coastal reserve in the Florida Panhandle is about 75 miles southeast of Tallahassee and exactly 92 miles from my house. From their website:
Ecological Importance
Nursery Area
Apalachicola Bay is an exceptionally important nursery area for the Gulf of Mexico. Over 95% of all species harvested commercially and 85% of all species harvested recreationally in the open Gulf have to spend a portion of their life in estuarine waters. Blue crabs, for example, migrate as much as 300 miles to spawn in Apalachicola Bay.
Forage Area
Apalachicola Bay is a major forage area for such offshore fish species as gag grouper and gray snapper. The area is a major forage area for migratory birds in particular for trans-gulf migrants in the spring.
Migratory Species
Apalachicola Bay is a major point for migratory birds. The area receives species from both the Atlantic and Mississippi flyways. Also, the West Indian manatee migrates to the Bay during summer months. Diadromous fish species also pass thorough the area.
A map to get us located. We are headed south along east side of bay, under the bridges and out halfways to St George Island that parallels the coast.
Red X marks the spot.
Photos of bird habitat and old causeway below -- plus bonus wildflower pics!
And yes, we finally did sight a pair of oystercatchers - on the boat ride home.
My drive down to Apalachicola means miles and miles of pine trees and not much else as I cross 3 counties to the coast. Liberty County stands out as being nothing but trees. It's early in the morning and I got fog, miles of fog, and foggy pines, all in a row ...
and the fog continued all the way down state road 65 until reaching US-98 and the coast. Then it's suddenly sunny and I'm at the ANERR grounds with 15 minutes to spare.
The goal of this workday is to remove vegetation from the old St George Island causeway to encourage terns and oystercatchers to nest in the sand and shell gravel while gulls stay away in the grassy areas. Laughing gulls are common here, raucous for sure, altho a biologist volunteering with us said that they have few nesting sites themselves.
7 volunteers - me, a guy older than me with a real camera and real film, and 3 ladies not as old as me - 2 very knowledgable and the other I didn't meet with her 2 charges visiting from DC - all happy to be out doing something different. And 2 staff - Megan and her deckhand Danielle.
It was a 20 minute boat ride out into the bay and downstream under US-98 and then swing east and under the Island bridge to the causeway. A bigger and higher bridge a decade ago replaced the old bridge / causeway / bridge but the causeway remained. Now birds replaced cars. Signs are posted to warn of nesting season April 1 to August 31; the screeches of the gulls would also be a hard to miss warning.
This is how ANERR wants the island to look, barren being preferred.
And then there is the other end where it was too rough to plow so the long grass was encouraging gulls. Our tools - 2 big gas weedeaters with metal 3 prong blades. Shoulder harness mandatory. As an able-bodied male and handy with all manner of power equipment, a pro at most, I-ahh, I immediately stepped back and let the ladies go first. I was more than happy to supervise, gas them up, and yank the starting ropes.
and away they go ...
That's an oyster harvester in the background. 1 or 2 to a boat, dig down to bottom and waddle tongs around, pull them up 12' to deck and then sort for size. Watched one guy there had different tongs to scrape down the side of concrete seawall and then scoop up oysters.
Proper form but missing leggings - oweee. Me in my sturdy canvas trousers and mucks went next and it was a hard slog thru 12-18" of grass-sedge-rush. Sure wish I had brought earplus tho. And a pitchfork to haul off the nesting material!
A little storm approaching but I could see on the iPhone radar that it was moving away. Good thing since there was nowhere to go on the island and the docked boat was getting roughed up in the chop.
This is looking back to mainland. The seawall is crumbling all around the island. That may be a good thing. In this section we are setting up fencing to keep the chicks from pitching over the lower parts of seawall and smashing onto concrete or being stranded below. Guess they push to the island edges like it's a normal shoreline but this ain't ...
Fencing, looks like some deer netting for a garden. It was pegged every few feet along the bottom to keep the chicks from pushing it out.
Back at the ANERR dock up on East Bay. The bay is about 3 miles across here.
Looking north along the bay. I looked up here and saw an osprey heading out to water.
Then after I turned and started down this boardwalk, I saw an osprey heading back with a fish to its nest across the marsh into the pines.
BONUS!! WILDFLOWERS
This is on the ride back up SR-65 in Liberty County; renowned for the diversity of plant life and open savannah. See Sanko's Sojourns for a favorable review of the flora.
Group of Yellow Pitcherplants -- Sarracenia flava
As pretty as you please, such an invitation...
but this beetle is not likely to make it back out the flute.
Pipewort
Don't know for sure on this but it changed color as it matured. I'm guessing the orchid family.
Skullcap
And then on SR 267 in Gadsden County going around Lake Talquin, almost home, I spied this. I even turned around to go back for it.
Hitting its prime out here in the sun while my shady Rhododendron canescens at home flowered last month.
And there next to azaleas was another bonus mixing in its flowers and vines. I thought this was groundnuts at first but nope.
So any guesses on the last one? Sorta looks like a wisteria. Hey that's it! Wisteria frutescens, common name American Wisteria. I'm on a roll, any plants you need to identify? What's going on in your neck of the woods anyways? Here in North Florida we maybe started a much needed afternoon rain cycle - and here it comes ......