Florida Day 2

24/02/19

The second day we spent at Lovers Key. This is part of a 1616 acre state park that used to only be reachable by boat (until 1965). It was originally destined to be made into a luxury condo site but was gifted to Florida for everyone to enjoy.
Lovers Key State Park is made up of 4 barrier islands; Lovers Key, Black Island, Inner Key and Long Key.

As soon as we stepped out the minibuses we saw our first Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) fly overhead and also spotted Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) in a nest they’d made on top of a lamp post.

The Park has two main trails; Black Island Trail, that follows estuaries and canals- that were dredged for the original plan of development. The Eagle Trail goes through Maritime Hammock and passes through marine swamp where red and black mangroves can be seen.
Along with the trails is a stunning 2 mile long beach.

Christian Dunn (one of our lectures) gave us an introductory talk to mangroves and what to look out for on our walk.
Red mangroves are the ones found closest to the water. They have a heavy root system and propagules that are live young that drop off the tree and float, when they hit mud they start creating roots. Because they’re already germinated they don’t need oxygen to start growing. The leaves of red mangroves are pointy and green on both sides and shiny. It has a dark red wood that’s covered by a grey bark.
Black mangroves are second closest to the water, they have smaller propagules than red mangroves. It has very dark bark. Leaves are pointy like red mangroves but are less shiny.
White mangroves are the furthest in land. Their propagules are very small. The leaves are more rounded than the other two and they have two bumps on the underside bottom of the leaves. These secrete a sugar/nectar solution. They have a mutualistic relationship with ants that protect them. The bark of white mangroves has scars on it.

Mangroves are great nurseries for young marine life as they act as protection and hold sources of food for younger animals.
Mangroves can in fact live in freshwater but they’re the only plants than can fill the saltwater niche.
Mangroves don’t reside in the UK because they couldn’t withstand the frost. Anymore than three days worth of frost and they’d be wiped out. With warming weather however, mangrove communities are spreading into salt marshes. It’s not yet been decided whether mangroves or salt marshes are better at carbon storing but evidence is leaning towards mangroves.

After our talk we went on a walk on one of the trails to see what we could find as well as to identify the different mangroves ourselves.
– One of the highlights of the whole trip was definitely seeing a manatee (Trichechus manatus) pair floating in the water, we didn’t manage to get very close but it’s amazing being able to say we saw them.
– Another Black Racer (Coluber constrictor Priapus) was seen skirting along a pipe in the butterfly garden but moved off into the bushes when we got too close.
– A Brown Anole (Anolis sagreiwas) resting on a lower tree trunk.
– Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus) flying over a body of water.
– Crab-like Spiny Orb Weaver (Gasteracantha cancriformis), seen on it’s web.
– Spanish Moss (Tillandsia usneoides)
– Juvenile Gopher Tortoise, moving across sand and eating.

After our walk we spent time on the beach and had a swim in the sea. This is where we saw a few Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) fishing right next to us. A perfect way to end the afternoon.