
The Grind

I adventured last week with some fellow nature lovers to Estero Marsh Preserve, a Lee County Conservation 20/20 property in Fort Myers, Florida, where we encountered this beautiful osprey. She was quite vocal and animated about something as we passed by the huge slash pine where she was perched. Here are some FUNky facts I’ve learned about the osprey.
1. The osprey occurs on every continent except Antarctica. It’s the 2nd most widely distributed raptor, right after the peregrine falcon.
2. Ospreys have a reversible toe that helps them to hold onto slippery fish. You can see the toe in this picture, gripping the back end of the branch while the other toes are in the front. However, I have personally witnessed the failure to hold onto a fish. Several years back, I saw an osprey snatch a fish from the pond in my back yard, only to drop it back into the water on the ascent. The bird circled round and round, screaming in frustration, but was not able to find the fish again, and eventually gave up. Lucky fish!
3. The osprey pairs for life, breeding with the same mate year after year. They build a giant nest of twigs and sticks, often atop man-made structures such as channel markers and street light posts. A pair of osprey will cohabitate for about half the year – as long as it takes to mate, lay and incubate eggs, and fledge their young from the nest.
4. 99% of the osprey’s diet is comprised of fish, so they always live near water. They hunt in fresh water as well as brackish and salt water. What comprises the other 1% of the osprey’s diet? They will occasionally catch and eat small animals such as mice, rabbits, frogs, lizards, or other birds.
5. The more dense the local population of ospreys is, the later in life an osprey will breed. This is due to competition for suitable nesting sites – places that will support the massive nests and are high enough off the ground to reduce the risk of predator invasion. Sometimes, environmental or wildlife groups will build platforms to provide more nesting site options.
More photos of local ospreys:
A Sanibel osprey vogues for me
Critter encounters at Bowditch Point (scroll to the bottom on this one)
I feel lucky to have finally discovered one of these – it’s a sand
collar, or more accurately, the egg mass of a moon snail. "Moon snail"
is the common name for a family of gastropods known as Naticidae. The
snail uses sand and it’s own mucus to make these collars, which consist
of two layers. The eggs are between the layers. It’s pretty sturdy
until the babies start to hatch; then, it just disintegrates. This
means that no one should really have a sand collar in their
beach-combing collection, for if it’s intact, that means it was still
carrying babies. If you find one, by all means examine it, but then
leave it where it is so the eggs can hatch.
sand collar from Bunch Beach in Fort Myers, Florida
I have a lot of shells; make that a whole LOT of shells. They live in
Rubbermaid bins and plastic Domino sugar containers in a big kitchen
cabinet. They clutter book shelves, fill up bowls on the piano and the
kitchen breakfast bar, and generally hang out in odd places here and there,
all over the house. I’m going to say something that would have been unheard
of 10-12 years ago when I first started to collect sea shells. I have TOO
MANY shells.
Still, I love to trawl the beach, and I cannot break myself of the habit of
looking for them and picking them up. But I know that when I get them
home, I will have to perform some combination of washing, de-sanding,
de-stinking, barnacle removal, drying out, sorting, shining, and putting
away. You know, in those Rubbermaid bins and plastic Domino sugar
containers in the big kitchen cabinet.
So last week, I freely looked and hunted and collected, but stopped just
short of bringing them home. Instead, I went up a little way beyond the
high tide line, wrote a message in the sand, and left my gifts from the sea
for some (hopefully delighted) tourist to find.
I think I’ve discovered a new hobby 🙂
[image: sea shells for you Bunche Beach Fort Myers Florida]
Striped burrfish at Bunche Beach, originally uploaded by Erin *~*~*.
After photography class the other day, during which I was treated to a dizzying array of fun facts about my digital camera, I went for a walk at San Carlos Bay Bunche Beach Preserve in Fort Myers. The Gulf coast has suffered a recent spate of red tide occurrences, ranging from up in Sarasota to as far south as Naples, on the northern tip of the west Everglades. This, combined with a series of cold fronts, has resulted in some fish kill. While dead fishes washing up en masse isn’t fun for anyone, it does afford an opportunity to examine species that a non-fishing enthusiast (like me) would not normally get to see.
This is a *striped burrfish*, also called a *spiny boxfish*. The first thing I noticed about it, aside from the painful-looking spines, was his black spots. This reminded me of some butterfly species who have “false eyes”, dots on their wings that fool predators into thinking it’s a much larger “something else”, something not so tasty as a butterfly.
According to some quick research, the striped burrfish seems to like warmer waters than we’ve had; although they range up to New Jersey for spawning, that usually happens only when the water up north is warmer, typically July. The southern end of their range is the West Indies. The beaches were cleaned of dead fish after last week’s episode with red tide, so I’m leaning toward the possibility that this little dude expired of the cold.
Downtown Pizza! In Fort Myers, originally uploaded by Erin *~*~*.
It was cold and windy, so after touring the farm, making some purchases, and standing around schmoozing for awhile, we headed to the warmth and comfort of Downtown Pizza, in the Fort Myers River District. We finished our lunch and, revived, took a walk around the waterfront. Then, weaving our way through the streets, we finally arrived back at the car.
The farm stand at Roots Heritage Urban Farm is located at 3901 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd (SR 82) in Fort Myers FL. They plan to be open 6 days a week, and want to expand into a real farmers market. If you are a vendor, check them out!
Lee County’ organic compost, originally uploaded by Erin *~*~*.
Lee County FL produces and sells organic compost. It is made primarily from yard waste; in my neighborhood, that’s collected on Fridays. It can be used to amend soil or to top dress/mulch plants and trees. And it is exempt from lee County’s fertilizer ordinance June through September.
I got some of those oranges too
A farmers market is developing here. I got some local honey.
It’s really neat to see how they look while growing
Looks like we might get rained on – it’s pretty cold, too.
I believe they might be "volunteers" that came in with the compost
We’re going to take a stroll amongst the rows
Roots Heritage Urban Food Hub will celebrate their Grand Opening today here in Fort Myers, FL.
Roots Heritage Urban Food Hub is a sustainable garden growing on 5 acres off Martin Luther King Blvd where seasonal vegetables are grown without chemical assistance, using recycled water and bio solids.
We’re hoping that something tasty for lunch will be for sale. If not, there’s always the possibility of pizza in the Downtown Fort Myers area.
Weather permitting, I’ll mobile blog some photos when we get there.
Ready? Lets go! 🙂
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What a beautiful time of year it is to live in Southwest Florida!
The summer can be unforgiving – the heat and humidity are relentless, the rain is capricious, and there is always the threat of a hurricane or two hanging over our collective heads.
However, as October melts into November, a kinder, gentler Southwest Florida emerges. Blue skies and refreshing breezes reign in the late autumn and early winter days. It’s a little cooler, a little drier, and much more enjoyable. It’s time to take it outside in Southwest Florida – let’s go!
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The weather has definitely broken into fall here in Southwest Florida, and that means the delight of being able to exert one’s self outdoors without risking heat stroke and/or coming home dripping wet.
This is an awesome time of year for hiking and exploring in Florida’s parks and preserves. One of my favorites, in part because it is so close to where I live, is Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve in Fort Myers. The slough is a sacred place, where water moves at a snail’s pace and all manner of flora and fauna grow and thrive. I see something new every time I go there. It never gets old.
Due to the heavy concentration of cypress trees in the Slough, it’s a great place to witness the colors of autumn. Yes, you heard me. Bet you didn’t know that the trees change color and shed their leaves even here in Florida. Well, it’s true! I’ll show you. Ready for a walk? Let’s go!
I lost Jacquie and Marnie – on a seek mission
See? To the dogs!
These zombies look like they are from Disney’s Haunted Mansion
This is all she could talk about during dinner…
We had him vogueing for us
People are really good about stopping for pictures
Apparently, the Starship Enyerprise has spawned a few undead.
This was AWESOME. Floating in broth with veggies and goat cheese, I had them top it with sautéed shrimp. This dish I a WINNAH 🙂
That’s a Morgan House rum punch – it’s delicious 🙂
We are having difficulty finding a table here. There are lots of empties but newly all of them are "reserved"…
It’s Jacque’s birthday and we are Downtown Fort Myers for dinner. ZOMBICON is happening at Harborside Convention center and the streets are shut down – the better for the zombies to chase us through. Let’s go!
Some beautiful views can be had along the Fort Myers riverfront. So glad I live here!
Lovely reflections in the Caloosahatchee River this time of evening 🙂
Spent ladies night cocktail hour at The Twisted Vine with local friends. Now walking around River District in fort Myers, enjoying Yet Another Sunset. Will I ever tire of this? Doubtful!
This epic view can be seen from the dock adjacent to the west of the Fort Myers Yacht Basin. Had a lovely “Ladies Night” at Twisted Vine Bistro with some friends, and took a stroll down to the river before departing for home. Beautiful views!
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The blog has been quiet, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been languishing – far from it! Most people think this part of the country is a paradise only in the winter, a respite from the frozen north. Well, that may be true, and it may also be true that while the rest of the world comes out of the house and comes alive in the summer, we tend to go inside to the blessed relief of central air conditioning.
Despite the heat, there are still things to do, places to go, and people to see in the summertime in Southwest Florida. My month started out a little slow, after all the June excitement with Tropical Storm Debby and the treasures brought to the beach by that natural phenomenon – but I’m happy to report it rapidly picked up speed and I’ve had a blast this summer so far 🙂 Are you ready to see what I’ve been up to? C’mon – let’s go!
We’re posing for a group shot with this as the backdrop – not so shabby!
We have migrated from the bar to the porch. This is our view. Life is so rough.
Charley’s Cabana is a bar/grill at the Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa in the Punta Rassa section of Fort Myers. I’m meeting there with local social media peeps who want to participate in Mashable’s annual Social Media Day.
Cocktails in a beautiful setting – let’s go!
He gave a shout as I ran past, so I went back and played paparazzi.
Weird thing to find a rake abandoned alongside the lake, until you realize that this park is maintained by a dedicate band of community volunteers. Then, you simply wonder what made him drop it and run…
Running in Lakes Regional park (Fort Myers, Florida) this morning, the world suddenly turned upside down!
If there was any doubt about how early I headed out to run this morning, then here’s the definitive indicator – it was so early, the moonflowers had not yet closed up! How pathetic is that? ROFL! 😀
There are banks of moonflowers to be found here and there throughout the park. I wonder if that means there would be lunar moths there at night?
I am always finding lost things on my runs – and I seem to specialize in mystery shoes! This poor soul was in the parking lot near my car when I returned. It was not there when I arrived – or, maybe it was and I just didn’t notice because it was still o’dark-thirty 😉 Hope the tiny-footed owner returns for it.
I passed this fellow twice during my run in Lakes Park this morning, and both times he screamed his head off at me. I am embarassed to say that I could not ID him by sight because I wasn’t wearing my glasses – but his screaming gave him away as an osprey.
Came trundling up the bridge on my morning run, and who do you suppose swooped in low before me? He came to rest on the rail and allowed me to take his photo. He kept a watchful eye on me as I thanked him and passed. The stop was worth ruining my time this morning (dipping down into the low 14:xx minute mile nowadays).