Mangroves, Coco Plums, and the Autumnal Equinox: A Day at Hugh Taylor Birch

Welcome to Fall everyone!! Well, it's been almost a week since the first day of Fall, but it's slow to happen around here anyway. There has been a slight change in the weather...the breezes are a bit cooler, the nights balmy and sweet, and the winds are picking up - lessening the humidity.

We are still having thunder storms and some afternoon showers - a welcome event that clears the air and cools down the still-high temperatures. The September Equinox, or Autumnal Equinox, here in the Northern Hemisphere, happened Tuesday, September 22 at 5:03 pm in Florida. The sun held over the equator causing almost equal night and day, hence the term "equi-nox" - equal night. The sun will be heading down south now, down under - providing spring for the folks down there. Here we will have less sun, giving us fall and winter.

The seasons are minimal here, less pronounced, especially for people that have moved here from the north. The signs are less obvious and take a keener eye to spy them out. Florida's wet season is almost at it's peak, so lakes and streams, estuaries, and wetlands are full to the brim. Birds are beginning to migrate through on their way south for the winter. Song birds will enjoy our warm weather here for the fall and some will stay through the winter. Keep an eye out for little, colorful birds that weren't here all summer. September and October are especially abundant in Hawks. Raptors pass through or winter over, providing us with especially good bird watching. Our population of wading birds also increases, filling our wetlands with Wood Storks, egrets, herons, and more.

Taking a walk in the forest at this time of year will also show signs of Autumn. Look for fruit - the sign of plenty - what we reap in the harvest.

Many plants are burgeoning with fruit (edible fruit to make it even more exciting) - look for Sea Grapes and Coco Plums and Laurel and Strangler Figs. A few weeks ago you might have found flowers bursting all over the mangroves, now you will find seed pods filling every nook and cranny of these salty plants. If you look down at the ground, you might notice baby mangroves trying to take root in the mucky soil.

Spiders are everywhere, this is the height of their annual season. Look up and you might see many, many Golden Orb Weaver webs dotting the forest canopy. Unfortunately, mosquitos are still in season as well, they took advantage of our warm blood during our walk, leaving many of us with welts -reminding us of our lovely fall walk. My son and I were also left with streaks of poison ivy - not sure where we encountered it, luckily haven't heard from anyone else getting a rash.

Our day began with simple lesson about the equinox. Using a small globe and a ball, I described how the sun positioned itself for the equinox. They were very excited about holding the props. We then headed out on our walk. We admired and sampled the ripe Sea Grapes on our way. There was a mixed reaction, some kids loved them, others thought they tasted horrible. We also sampled Spanish Needle, which is a lot like Spinach, and talked about the ripe berries of the Wild Coffee Plant, so aptly name Psychotria Nervosa. I didn't want any nervous kids, so we stayed away from eating them.

As we walked along the trail, the scenery changed, the elevation lowered, the ground got muckier and we noticed lots and lots of mangroves. Hugh Taylor Birch State Park in Ft. Lauderdale is a barrier island, an old one. It is surrounded by the intracoastal waterway and the Atlantic ocean. In the middle is a Hardwood Hammock and a Mangrove Estuary.

The walk provided an excellent pathway to learning the specifics of our 3 types of mangroves:

Red - with it's walking roots and cigar-shaped propagules, or seeds,

Black - with it's salty leaves that we love to lick and it's pneumatophores reaching out of the ground,

and...

White - with it's bite out of the top of the leaf and it's beautiful seeds.


We were excited and thrilled by the spiders and crabs - land, fiddler, and mangrove tree crabs; and we were grossed-out (including me) by some weird, slimy, long, and skinny red muck worm.

As we began our hunt for the snake, we found that the ground wasn't just mucky, it was WET. The tide must have been high and the water was flowing in through the mangroves. It was SO FUN. We waded through rushing, swirling water, fascinated by the forest around us. We stopped to watch spiders and crabs, to listen for birds and popping shrimp, and to partake in lots and lots of Coco Plums.

Too bad for the Thursday class and the folks that stayed behind (there wasn't high tide on Thursday), because it made my day and the day of the gang of kids I had with me (and the moms too, I'm sure).

We eventually got to the spot where the snake was lying in the path. There were still flies, but not as many and the snake had some bits missing. HOWEVER, on Thursday, to our surprise, all that was left was pile of white vertebrae and one inch-long piece of skin. Those decomposers sure move fast. We made sure to sing the decomposition song in honor of their job well done!!!

Upon our return to the field and picnic area, we played Sharks and Minnows, the kid's favorite game, and enjoyed the amazing beauty of the big banyan tree ( a true wild playground). It was a beautiful start to the Autumn Season...

Thank you to the websites I borrowed the pictures from: seabean.com and tradewindsfarm.com

More pictures from the nature families coming soon....

A Day in the Life of a Raccoon - Greynold's Park

ECO - Every Child Outside Nature Class
Greynold's Park, North Miami, Florida
March, 23, 26, 2009


In North Miami, tucked behind the railroad tracks, is a beautiful and stately county park - Greynold' s Park.

As you enter you feel part of an older Miami - the more tropical, overgrown and peaceful Miami.

The road passes by giant Banyan trees,
acres of mangroves,

a tranquil lake,

stretching Gumbo Limbos,














majestic Royal Palms,

and lovely old Live Oaks.

Once upon a time this land was home to the Tequesta people - as was most of the higher ground in South Florida. The Oleta River, which at one time twisted and turned along the eastern side of the land - it is now dredged and runs like a canal, was used as a transportation waterway for the Glades natives. Later, the Seminole Tribes used the river and the dry, high hammocks as a trading post.

In more recent history, after all the native peoples were pushed out to the Everglades or elsewhere, the land was turned into a rock quarry. Convicts were used as a labor force to blow-up and dig out the ancient coral rock below the ground. The rock was then used to build roads and buildings in the early 1900's.

In 1933 the land was given to Dade county. The Civilian Conservation corps is responsible for constructing the park. The rock castle in the middle of the park is one of the structures the corps built; it sits high upon a mound, which at one time was the highest land-point in the area. The rock used to build it, of course, came from the quarry. It is beautiful limestone rock, telling the story of when the ocean used to be here.

When standing on the castle, you overlook majestic hardwood hammocks, mangrove forests, the quarry lake, the Oleta River, the Boat house and the golf course.

Below lies two lovely trails, the Hammock Trail and the Conservation Corps Oleta River Trail. On Tuesday we chose to walk the Hammock Trail first. It was one of those times that I used poor judgement and didn't turn around. There was tons of Poison Ivy - all along the sides, just at hand level to a 3 year old. I haven't heard that anyone broke out in a rash, which I am so thankful for, but am sorry that I chanced it. I was really hoping to see the raccoons in the trees like we did last year - following us from on high, lounging in the bosom of the grand Live Oaks. But, the coons chose not to show themselves (except for very briefly after class) on the day we were learning about them...oh well!

Of course, the hammock trail was beautiful, even with those leaves of three around.

We cemented our learning of hammocks and played the "Who Am I" game, reading a fact about a specific animal's adaptation and trying to guess the animal. For example, "I have 5 fingers on my very sensitive hands and feet and can live almost anywhere." "Who Am I?" Yes, you guessed it...the raccoon. The kids were great at guessing. We discussed how the hammock would be where the raccoons would nest and do some foraging of grubs, fruits, and insects.

Once out of the trees, we came upon the huge field of Royal Palms.
The place is lovely and makes you feel small, no wonder they are royal. We found a raccoon foot print in the mud and talked about when he/she might have been out hunting and foraging.

I returned to the footprint on Thursday without going through the poison ivy. We went the road way instead. After examining the footprint we moved on to the Oleta River trail.

I told the kids how they, too, could one day work for the conservation corps and travel around building trails, I had a lot of excited kids, ready to get to work.

The trail runs along- side the Oleta River
and the quarry lake - through the mangrove swamp.

This swamp is the perfect place for the raccoons after dark, going out to dig around in the mucky muck, feeling for crabs and crayfish, and maybe climbing in nests for eggs. Raccoons are very successful omnivores, eating just about anything - including "trash" as all the kids say. I let the children know that the "trash" is actually un-eaten food left by us humans and that they don't actually eat the plastic, etc. I reminded them that it was up to us not to leave it behind and not to feed them so that they eat what is healthy for them as a wild animal.

One thing I learned about raccoons which I find so fascinating is that they can determine what an object is before they actually touch it - with their vibrissae - whiskers at the top of their fingers. The vibrissae are so sensitive that the raccoons know exactly what they are touching and can almost always find what they want. Their hands are also very adept at digging and lifting and taking apart (as we all know). The reason we think they are washing their food is because it looks like they are when foraging. They are mimicking their natural digging/foraging routine while in captivity, when they "wash" their food.

The trail through the mangroves was peaceful and tranquil. We searched for crabs, but were unlucky. I'm thinking they are quiet, waiting for the heat and rains to come. The mangroves here, mostly red, are quite old and well-established. The water is replenished by both the ocean and the freshwater coming down from the everglades. The Oleta River is dredged, but it still allows flow from the River of Grass. On the eastern coast, the Atlantic rises and falls, sending ocean water up through the intracoastal and Oleta River estuary (see my post about Oleta River State Park). The combination of salt and fresh creates a brackish environment, perfect for the mangroves...and their inhabitant -the American Crocodile.

These quiet monsters are known to live here, but rarely show themselves - due to their shy natures.

We saw evidence of the tides - at 8am the trail was dry and at 10 am it was filling in with water (luckily we were on a boardwalk).

At the end of the mangrove walk we came upon a sign of decomposition - a rotting tree trunk- and had to sing the song "Decomposition, I break down, I get down, muncha muncha". Then we helped the tree along and banged it up a bit.

We got lucky in the "crab-observing" department

and found a Mangrove Tree Crab by the rotting log.












We observed two lovely edibles - the Saw Palmetto and the Elderberry.

The Saw Palmetto has saw-like stems and is cousin to the Sable Palmetto (or Cabbage Palm), the berries are edible. It was flowering and fruiting, so we got to see two stages.










The Elderberry's flowers and fruits are edible, but the berries are toxic.

They are okay cooked or made into wine. If you stand under an elderberry at sunset, you might see the sprites of the forest.

The rest of the trail wound through a higher, drier hammock, alongside the lake, past a rough and tumbley pile of limestone rocks that had to be conquered by our determined explorers,

and across a quaint covered bridge.

Before the quaint bridge there is a floating dock on the river side. The kids became adventurers.


We piled on and they started rockin and rollin.

At first I thought, "STOP", but then I thought, and said, "GO FOR IT". And they did. What fun, they let loose, no one got hurt, and the kids will never forget that feeling.

After the bridge we spied a Knight Anole


(an immigrant reptile from Cuba) and a fiddler crab - strutting it's stuff across the trail. We peeked through the slats of the bridge to the water below to observe fish and oysters - a sign of a healthy ecosystem.

Not a raccoon in sight.

The kids ran and played and climbed, then we headed back to the picnic tables and playground.

They listened to the story of how the raccoon acquired his mask
http://www.sjwildlifecare.org/how_the_raccoon_got_his_mask.htm
and some of the kids made their own raccoon puppets out of brown bags. We recited raccoon poetry and sang a song and then we played.

I organized an activity so that the kids could experiment with touch, and understand the raccoons a bit better. I had three buckets filled with sand.

In the sand I buried pennies, rocks, shells, game pieces, and some other random stuff. The kids took turns trying to find stuff.

First, they had to do it blindfolded and with oven mits on, then with lighter gloves on, then with a fork or spoon or shovel, and then bare-handed. Of course, bare-handed was easiest. They could have sat for hours digging in that sand - especially the little ones.

I had a teacher suggest to me once to entertain my son by giving him a big bucket filled with rice or marbles or something -with treasures hidden within.

It was a very wise suggestion.

These beautiful pictures were taken by Kim.

Escape to Key Largo - John Pennekamp State Park

ECO - Every Child Outside Nature Class
A Visit to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park
Key Largo, Florida

After our wonderful and exotic visit to the Dagny Johnson Botanical State Park hardwood hammock, we were ready for a refreshing visit to the shore. The kids were jumping for joy at the thought of a swim and the possibility of seeing fish. After having lunch at the cool and breezy picnic tables, we visited the wonderful aquariums at the visitor center. Their largest tank is being renovated, but what was left was enough to thrill the little eyes of our students.

Since we weren't able to take a trip in a boat out to the reefs, it was wonderful to see some of the reef life up close. Maybe some of our older, experienced swimmers will be able to go out this summer if we make another trip.

Because of the aquariums we were able to see spiny sea urchins, brittle sea stars, a moray eel and its symbiotic companion, the coral banded shrimp. The aquariums were full of live coral polyps - so unusual and beautiful and of many different colors - giving the children a taste of the underwater garden not too far off shore.

John Pennekamp State Park opened in the 1960's, and was the first underwater park opened in the United States. It is home to the largest coral reef in the continental United States and is protected as a National Marine Sanctuary. The coral reef is an ecologically diverse and extremely beautiful habitat. The reefs provide shelter and food to hundreds of animals (including humans), they provide oxygen to the ocean and it's inhabitants, and therefore to the world outside the water. They provide a natural barrier to hurricane and storm and tidal surge - creating the first wave of defense for the rocky shore nearby. We have enjoyed their beauty, reaped their plenty, and inadvertently (hopefully) almost destroyed them.

Surrounding the reefs is lovely, warm, crystal blue water - leading to the shoreline. The shoreline was once covered almost entirely with mangroves - the second defense for the shore against hurricanes. Mangroves are crucial habitat. They provide a nutritious muck and soup from their leaves - filling the water with nutrients for the baby sea creatures that hide in their branches (above and below the surface).

The park is home to a forest of old, knobby mangroves, creating an enchanted paradise for everyone who enters. The children and the adults in our group were in awe of these majestic mangroves that looked like they had survived many a storm. It was quiet and cool in their depths, I'm sure in about a month or two we won't be able to set foot in there because the mosquitoes will take over. Nonetheless, this day the children were able to climb and play and be a part of the mystery.

Further away from the shore, past the red mangroves, then the black, then the white, then the Buttonwood, the hardwood trees grow. There is a lovely hardwood hammock trail, older and cleaner than the forest at Dagny Johnson. Many of the same trees and creatures are present as at the Botanical Park, making it a unique and fascinating place to visit. There are Poisonwood trees galore, Mahogany, and the smelly Spanish Stopper, to name a few.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in lazy,beachy bliss - picnicking and swimming, climbing the Sea Grape trees and lounging in the shade or sun. The kids frolicked and hunted on the seashore, carrying nets and buckets on their quest, occassionally finding a shell or seaweed of interest - or just digging in the dirt.