Temperature - 28 C
Humidity - 86%
Cloud Cover - very light almost none
We woke to another clear morning and were again greeted with the sounds of Ospreys calling to each other from the near by nest. Today's plan was to visit the Florida Gulf Coast University Campus which was about a 30 minute drive from the Vester Field Station. Whilst being driven to the university we kept our eyes peeled for wildlife and saw species such as the Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) and the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius). The American Kestrel was behaving much like the European Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) and was seen hovering over the bank verges of a highway where it was searching for small mammals.
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| A storm pord at the FGCU |
Wynn went on to explain a little bit about the layout of the university and that it is more than meets the eye. He began by explaining that the university campus had set aside 50% as a reserve for wildlife. There are many large pools are water around the campus as well, these were constructed in order to act as storm ponds. When there is heavy rainfall the water flows straight to the ponds and this avoids any flooding and allows the university to hold the water on campus. The storm ponds not only serve the university but provide a valuable habitat for species such as the Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga) and the American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis). There were many signs posted around the campus instructing everyone to avoid the alligators and above all to not feed them. Wynn explained that if people were to feed them the alligators would become more bold and potentially threaten the safety of the public. If an alligator is known to have been fed it then must be culled, a popular saying is "a fed alligator is a dead alligator".
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| An Alligator occupying a small storm pond at the FGCU |
We were visiting Florida through it's dry season so the water table was very low. We walked over a dried marsh where, had we arrived in the wet season, we would have been knee deep in water. Here we saw small mounds of earth that had been pushed up by burrowing crayfish that were escaping from the heat by digging down to the water table. It was here that I first experienced Sawgrass (Clanium californicum). Sawgrass is a vascular plant that to approx 1m in height. It is given it's name by it's serrated edges that if pushed against can easily slice into flesh. We also saw Saw Palmeto (Serenoa repens), Wynn went on to explain how he saw this plant species as an indicator that there was once a large herbivore that grazed on them as only a large herbivore could deal with the saw like defences.
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| Saw Palmeto grow as large shrubs |
We then moved into a small Cypress Swamp. We were invited to split up and see what wildlife we could find. I came across a Rabbit's Foot Fern (Davallia fajeensis) which was named after it's visible root system that resembles a rabbit's foot. One of Wynn's assistants began to play a breeding call and drum of a Red Bellied Woodpecker (Malanerpes carolinus). This immediately caused a raucous in the trees. The woodpeckers are highly territorial and will not stand any intruders, so once they heard the fake calls they were screeching from tree to tree and drumming threats in return. This gave us a perfect opportunity to see them up close and they even led us to one of their nest holes. The floor was also littered with the empty shells of Apple Snails (Pomacea maculata). These may have died through predation by Raccoons (tracks were found near by) or may have simply succumb to desiccation in the heat.
We went further into the swamp and began walking though Alligator Flags (Thalia dealbata) which were growing in the parts of the swamp that were still holding surface water. We could see small fish using them as shelter to avoid predators. Upon exit of the swamp we were fortunate to see two American Robins (Turdus migratorius) which were perching high up on a Cypress Tree branch.
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| Empty Apple Snail shells littered the floor of the Cypress Swamp |
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| A pair of Red Bellied Woodpeckers drumming in retaliation to us playing a fake call |
After the swamp we headed over to a sustainable garden project that the university had been working on. The students at the university are required to put in a certain amount of hours of voluntary work at the garden. Through this system the garden has become very productive and the produce is sold to the local community.
Once we returned to the Vester Field Station we were given the option to head out onto the waterways in canoes. This gave us a fantastic opportunity to get close to the surrounding Mangroves and see the wildlife that resides within them. We saw many Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) coasting on the water surface looking out for prey. Whilst in our canoe we saw a very strange disturbance in the water. We could not identify what it was but our best guess was that it was a Bottlenose Dolphin swimming on it's back with both pectorals showing through the surface.
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| "Ahoy there Sailors" Exploring the Mangrove system via Canoe |
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