My Florida Nature Walk

On my first venturing out to the nature walk, I was pleasantly surprised to find a series of informational signs that tells you what you will see and what to watch for. I wasn't expecting that. It made the walk much more interesting than just observing various trees, plants and wildlife. I was now on the lookout as I continued on in my walk. This first sign tells of the history of this area. It's somehow very hard for me to imagine that where I was walking was once a former railroad bed for the transporting of citrus over 90 years ago. It tells me to be on the lookout for snook, redfish or mullet swimming among the mangrove trees. So far I haven't found any fish swimming in the shallow waters; but I'm always on the lookout.

Seagrape trees grow in abundance along Floridas waterways and along the coast. I really like the leaves as they are large and sturdy. I recently learned that the green grapes that come in June can be made into seagrape jelly when they mature in the fall. I'll be looking for them later in the year. I might even have to try to make some. Here's a recipe: Sea Grape Jelly Recipe

There's an important side to this tree and plant. As it grows along the coastline, it acts as a sand trap to hold and trap the sand to prevent coastal erosion. It's so important that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection prohibits damage to any of these plants. The Department also regulates the trimming of these plants as they protect the hatching of baby sea turtles. Who knew the wild seagrape trees were so vital to the ecosystem?

I've been looking for the pelicans in the waters; but haven't seen one yet. I see many of them flying overhead from my computer-room window probably scouting for fish in the bay. Did you know that the brown pelican's pouch can hold up to three gallons of water? The mangrove trees are the favorite nesting site for the brown pelicans as well as many other birds.

The signs along the walkway shows three different mangrove trees. The white mangrove, red mangrove, and the black mangrove. The red mangrove is the most easily identified tree because the roots grow out from the limbs and straight down into the water. It looks like they're growing up; but are actually growing downward.

The mangrove trees are also great sand grabbers and keep the sand from eroding. The dead leaves from trees fall into the salt water and decay providing food for shrimps, crab and fish. These trees also are environmentally protected. They have the ability to take the seawater into their systems and then excrete the salt. This enables them to grow where basically few other plants can exist. Some of the trees have these large and strange looking knobs on their trunks. See the picture below. I found out that they most likely are "tree galls". The tree galls are caused by an attack on the trees by some form of living organisms which causes the limbs to explode outward.

The end of the nature trail opens to an observation area that looks out on the backwaters of Terra Ceia Bay. The bay flows west into the Gulf of Mexico. It's a wonderful place to just sit and soak up nature's best and keep a sharp lookout for the living things in the mangrove bushes, in the water, in the sky. Here is a gallery of what you will see along the way as well.

My Florida Nature Walk was updated May 6, 2012.