On Friday I lead of a group of Florida Master Naturalist Alumni to the beautiful barrier island state park,
Cayo Costa! We couldn't have asked for better weather. Park Ranger Mary Olson gave us a tour of the island via golf cart, which was unique in itself. If you have never been to the park, I highly reccomend it. You can't ask for a better example of a pristine barrier island. You can only get to the island by boat. We took a ferry from Pine Island. The day was a great lesson in barrier island ecology. We drove through tropical hardwood hammock, pine flatwoods, coastal scrub, and of course saw the islands amazing dune and beach habitats as well. We also had the opportunity to pull a seine net on the lagoon side; we caught a sea robin, lizardfish, mojarra, scaled sardine, sheepshead minnow, goldspotted killifish, bay anchovie and blue crab. Unfortunately, I had to take the early ferry back because I wasn't feeling so great, but it was still a wonderful day. Enjoy the pictures.
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| There use to be a quarantine station on the north end of the island |
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| look out to Boca Grand Pass |
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Ranger Mary tells the group about some endemic plants
to the island |
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There is a cool cemetary on the island with head stones
from the 1800's |
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| Driving through some coastal habitats |
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| This is the lagoon where we did our seining |
On Friday I lead of a group of Florida Master Naturalist Alumni to the beautiful barrier island state park, Cayo Costa! We couldn't have asked for better weather. Park Ranger Mary Olson gave us a tour of the island via golf cart, which was unique in itself. If you have never been to the park, I highly reccomend it. You can't ask for a better example of a pristine barrier island. You can only get to the island by boat. We took a ferry from Pine Island. The day was a great lesson in barrier island ecology. We drove through tropical hardwood hammock, pine flatwoods, coastal scrub, and of course saw the islands amazing dune and beach habitats as well. We also had the opportunity to pull a seine net on the lagoon side; we caught a sea robin, lizardfish, mojarra, scaled sardine, sheepshead minnow, goldspotted killifish, bay anchovie and blue crab. Unfortunately, I had to take the early ferry back because I wasn't feeling so great, but it was still a wonderful day. Enjoy the pictures.
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