Day 4 saw a little lay in, until 8.00am. The weather today was..... sunny and hot.
Today we went to Lovers Key, only a 15 minute drive from Vester.
Lovers key is one of 4 barrier islands, Black Island, Long Key, Inner Key and Lovers Key. The only way of accessing these islands was via boat, so ;legends suggests if couples wanted to spend some along time, this is where they would head to, hence the name lovers key. A road was built in the 1960s to connect the islands to the mainland.During the alterations the mangrove forests where altered severely. During the 1980s the landowner wanted to drain the land and build homes and businesses but fortunately the owner found out it was illegal to change the land, so the land was donated, the Islands where merged with Carl. E, Johnson state park. In total there is 1616 acres of conserved land. Black island got its name from a pirate called Black Augustus who had been caught but then later escaped and Black island was his home until he died, so legend has it.
Two sections were drained; a barrier island and a beach.
Lovers key has an ecotone which is an intermediate between 2 habitats/ecosystems, marine into land. It is very important for mating.
Lovers key are home to keystone species; gopher tortoise, they hold the ecosystem together by digging tunnels and this is used for a refuge to small animals during wild fires.
The State of Florida are in the process of restoring the land by removing the invasive vegetation and allowing the native plants grow. The land was previously set up by artesians which supplied fresh water but these where abandoned when the construction work was due to commence. The islands are now used as recreation uses for example, swimming, canoeing and other water based sports.
Arrived in Lovers Key.
9.27 black vultures on post in car park. x2
Today we went to Lovers Key, only a 15 minute drive from Vester.
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| View from the bridge- searching for manatees |
Two sections were drained; a barrier island and a beach.
Lovers key has an ecotone which is an intermediate between 2 habitats/ecosystems, marine into land. It is very important for mating.
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Gopher tortoise |
The State of Florida are in the process of restoring the land by removing the invasive vegetation and allowing the native plants grow. The land was previously set up by artesians which supplied fresh water but these where abandoned when the construction work was due to commence. The islands are now used as recreation uses for example, swimming, canoeing and other water based sports.
Arrived in Lovers Key.
9.27 black vultures on post in car park. x2
9.34 grey squirrel
9.55 mosquito fish
9.55 brown anoles
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| alligator chilling in the shade |
10.00 mosquito fish – swimming slowly, or being still
10.00 brown anole change a lighter colour
10.08 Zebra longwing butterfly
10.14 grey squirrel – climbing tree, then jumping to the
next tree.
10.16 Prickly pear cactus
10.20 Eastern screech owl – perched in a hole within a
tree – resting
10.21 strangler fig surrounding tree
10.22 small jellyfish, looks like a small plastic bad –
seen from the viewing platform at the waters edge.
10.22 school of small fish,
grey, black stripe on top with whiteish head.
10.26 conch, in shallow water
surrounding viewing platform
10.26 Gumbo lumbo tree – red bark peeling off
10.31 Grey nicker bean
10.32 Gopher tunnel
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| Eastern screech owl having a snooze |
10.35 Gopher tortoise next to tunnel visible, facing the
tunnel.
10.14 Gopher tortoise, in burrow, rear end
visible, moved slowly, head visible, backed back into the hole out of sight.
Location – off path in shade of trees.
11.10 Dragonfly – yellow/ orange, only underside visible
11.10 buzzing noise in bushes it could be crickets
11.19 strangler fig
11.22 white ibis, perched on mangroves
11.25 Needle fish – long blue needle like fish, medium size, black
stripe on back.
11.30 Julia butterfly
11.41 blue heron
11.44 Several juvenile alligators
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| Brown anole |
11.50 Bees
11.55 Fish jumping out of water – sign of hunting or dislodging
parasites
12.00 brown anole near water
12.14 black racer snake
We walked around the reserve for a couple hours, finding many animals and plants.
After lunch we went onto the beach for a while, it was amazing, definitely what we needed to cool down from the heat. We saw a wide range of wildlife, horseshoe crab shells, which had been eaten by raccoon's, brown pelicans and great blue heron. These birds in particular where obviously used to humans, as they allowed you to within touching distance before they flew or moved away.
When we returned from Lovers Key, we went into the canoes. This was a great opportunity to up close to some of the wildlife and to get a closer look at the mangroves. We saw a wide variety of birds especially the osprey. We thought we saw an alligator, but got to scared and paddled away. The water was surprisingly shallow, so we could see the bottom and the array of oyster shells. It wasn't only us on the water, it was very popular with boat owners, so we had to be careful and get out of their way.
At approximately 22.50 NASA launched a rocket, to send supplies to the space station, even though we were hundred miles away we could still see it. It was like a small ball of light heading into the sky. This was a great to experience witnessing a rocket launch.
We walked around the reserve for a couple hours, finding many animals and plants.
After lunch we went onto the beach for a while, it was amazing, definitely what we needed to cool down from the heat. We saw a wide range of wildlife, horseshoe crab shells, which had been eaten by raccoon's, brown pelicans and great blue heron. These birds in particular where obviously used to humans, as they allowed you to within touching distance before they flew or moved away.
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| ahhh watch out! |
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| Lovers Key Beach |
When we returned from Lovers Key, we went into the canoes. This was a great opportunity to up close to some of the wildlife and to get a closer look at the mangroves. We saw a wide variety of birds especially the osprey. We thought we saw an alligator, but got to scared and paddled away. The water was surprisingly shallow, so we could see the bottom and the array of oyster shells. It wasn't only us on the water, it was very popular with boat owners, so we had to be careful and get out of their way.
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| Abbie and I canoeing at Vester Field Station |
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| Group of us returning to base after an afternoon in the canoes at Vester Field Station |
At approximately 22.50 NASA launched a rocket, to send supplies to the space station, even though we were hundred miles away we could still see it. It was like a small ball of light heading into the sky. This was a great to experience witnessing a rocket launch.
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| Rocket launch. |
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