On May 5, ten Friends boarded a pontoon boat on the Alafia River to join Barbara and Dave Howard for a tour of the Alafia Bank CWA islands to see nesting birds. In addition to being “our” Friends, Barbara and Dave are also active members of Friends of the Tampa Bay Wildlife Refuges–a group very worthy of our support. During the boat tour, our group saw nesting Brown Pelicans, Ibises, and Roseate Spoonbills. They also saw Oystercatchers, Great Blue Herons, Little Blue Herons, Cormorants and other shorebirds. After a lovely couple of hours on the river and bay, they enjoyed lunch together at Jerry’s Dockside. We can’t thank Barbara and Dave enough for continuing to make this tour available to us!
Author: Kevin Van Dien
Rainbow River Turtles with George Heinrich
On April 24, nine FPMN members enjoyed wading, kayaking, and snorkeling the upper section of the Rainbow River with George Heinrich, turtle expert extraordinaire. George gave us a turtle ID overview before we launched our kayaks. Between KP Hole Park and Rainbow Springs State Park, we spotted dozens of cooters, sliders, and softshell turtles. On our journey upstream we stopped to enjoy a watery stroll along Gissy Spring Run, where we found the remains of a small musk turtle which might have been an otter snack. The group ate their picnic lunches at the state park, then headed back downstream. A few Friends donned masks, snorkels, and fins and pulled their kayaks behind them as they swam the final stretch–delighting in seeing longnose gar and other fish below them. The fee for this floating field trip allowed us to donate $250 to the Florida Turtle Conservation Trust. Thank you, George, for sharing your expertise with us!
If you’re interested in learning more about George’s ongoing research, check out his Suwannee cooter work here and his findings on gopher tortoise nesting here.