3rin's View…

We are still eagerly awaiting the onset of our rainy season here along the gulf coast of Florida. The ground has long since dried out from the few storms that surprised us in mid-May (typically part of our dry season).

Notably, the rain quit right after I finished putting a new roof on my shed (Mother Nature has a sense of humor). If the rains don’t start back up soon I might consider removing the roof…

This time of year my bird baths are far more popular than my feeders. And no, one doesn’t have to be a bird to partake. 🦝

I caught some sea floor action a few weeks ago during the last full moon. I love a minus tide, when more of the tidal flats are exposed. It’s an area that’s often hidden but it’s just teeming with life!

I spent some time following around the smallest, living horseshoe crab I’ve ever seen (about 2” across). It ignored me as it busily maneuvered through the seagrass in search of a meal. Reminded me of a little bulldozer!

Then a consortium of hermit crabs caught my eye. They were surprisingly agile and quick considering the heavy shells they were lugging around.

I enjoy beach walks any time of day but there’s something special about a morning walk on the island. It’s peaceful to have the sand to myself before everyone wakes up and the hordes encamp.

I was surprised to see some decent waves rolling in. The West Coast is my favorite Florida coast, and it is amazing in many ways, but it is definitely not known for surfing. It was fun to watch an eager wake boarder enjoying the extra ride.

I was relieved to see that my beach is sargassum-free so far. It’s reported to be one of the biggest sargassum inundations in years, the Keys are already knee deep in it and it’s heading this way. It’ll be interesting to see how much floats in…

One of my birds left this unique display on my white fence the other day (above left). Based on the color and time of year, I’m presuming the bird recently made a feast of my ripening elderberries.

I resigned myself a while ago to the idea that I may never harvest any of the fruit off my elderberry. It’s still a pretty bush and in addition to providing bird food it is beneficial for a wide variety of pollinators (at least two dozen species of butterflies and moths are known to use it as a host plant).

A couple days later, my friend Alyssa and I spotted this gorgeous hummingbird mural while attending an outdoor performance by the Florida Orchestra. Something about the color palette seemed oddly familiar, so I zoomed in (see above right).

Which makes me wonder, if I plant a variety of different colored berries, will I’ll end up with a masterpiece on my fence?

Hit the beach at sunrise this morning. There really is no better way to start my day!

Happy World Oceans Day!

Headed out early on my kayak this morning. I launched from a new spot in Fort De Soto Park and paddled across Mullet Key Bayou over to Manatee Cove.

The first part of my trip was quiet; just me, some birds, and a few fishermen. Things livened up on my return when I heard a forceful exhale. I recognized it as a manatee but I was surprised to see that I had paddled near a mating herd of them!

I followed, at a careful distance, as they floated with the rising tide. I noted a satellite tracking device attached to one of the manatees. These are attached when rescued and rehabilitated manatees are released back into the wild so biologists can monitor the mammal’s health and movements.

After watching the group dynamics, I presume the tagged manatee was a female. The weeks long manatee mating ritual is intense, she will swim and feed normally while a group of up to 20 males trail alongside her.

It is a test of fitness because the males do not have time to feed during this process. Their entire focus is getting close to the female for when she finally gives the signal. As you can imagine, there’s constant jockeying for position, with males clambering over each other and some frustrated tail smacking (some of which I caught on video, see below).

I’ve wanted to explore this area for years and it did not disappoint!

I spotted this Dark Flower Scarab (Euphoria sepulcralis) crawling up the exterior of my shed the other day. Not sure where this native beetle was heading, they feed on pollen, nectar, and decaying fruit and I don’t have any of that in my shed.

Hopefully this beetle finds what it’s looking for!

It’s been noisier than usual out at the ol’ bird feeder lately. I have several fledglings hanging around. While they are grown enough to fend for themselves, they seem unwilling to do so (much to their parent’s chagrin).

The Common Grackle offspring screech and squawk until a parent shoves seeds in their mouths. At this point I think it’s more to shut them up than to actually feed them (and yes, I may be anthropomorphizing a bit). 🐦‍⬛

This morning a young Blue Jay also tried the begging routine but quickly gave up and started self-feeding once it realized it wasn’t going to work.

It’s fun watching their antics.