McCoy's Pascagoula River Tours

October 8, 2016

In early Autumn, the bald cypress (on the right) turn tints of orange in the swamps of the Pascagoula River.

Every year for the last three years, I have had the opportunity to visit the Pascagoula River Audubon Center (PRAC) in Mississippi with the Ecology class at Pensacola Christian College. It is an opportunity I cannot pass up.

The Center itself is a beautiful facility. The old building was very rustic, but definitely in need of renovations. So when PRAC moved to a new location, a brand new building was constructed with beautiful displays of Pascagoula fish, reptiles, and amphibians. The Center is a great, educational place to start any outdoor adventure but for a complete Pascagoula experience you must take one of the boat tours of the river. There are three kinds of people who need to take a tour of the river: bird watchers, nature and wildlife lovers, and everyone else. Because everyone should love nature and wildlife.

A great egret stands nobly on the shore of an oxbow lake. This bird had learned that passing boats washed minnows up onto the muddy shores--easy pickings for the egret--so it sometimes followed boats, eagerly anticipating its next meal.

For the 2016 tour, we piled into Captain Benny McCoy's swamp boat and puttered out into the marsh. As Captain McCoy explained, the brackish marsh is a very different place than the swamp. The marsh is dominated by tall leaved monocots like wild rice and needle rush; the swamp has trees (mostly bald cypress) and is far enough up the river to avoid saltwater infusion.

If you are as lucky as we were, you'll see herons, egrets, ospreys, king fishers, rails, and many more fabulous wetland birds. Captain McCoy knows exactly where to find alligator nests and occasionally, we see alligators (I've seen them twice in the three times I've gone).

A juvenile alligator watches us calmly from the waters near the launch point of Captain McCoy's boat.

Captain McCoy explained that this little 'gator may be a rescue-and-release. Because there are so many alligators in Florida, only small ones are released if they must be relocated. Large adults must be killed or placed in special housing facilities like Alligator Alley.

When you fulfill your destiny aboard Captain McCoy's rig, let me know about your highlights in the comments below.

Bear Lake Trail

October 1, 2016

From left to right: Eric Brewster, Cory Von Eiff, and Josiah Shade hike the Bear Lake Trail loop through a stand of longleaf pines early on a cool October morning. 

I've posted a lot this month about Bear Lake. It's time I expounded on that.

Blackwater River State Forest extends from the coast of Florida's panhandle (in Santa Rosa County) up to the Alabama border. It features many beautiful hikes, paddles, and camping spots along the meandering white sands of the Blackwater River. If you've never been to the forest before, the very recreational Blackwater River State Park offers canoe rentals, tubing, camping, hiking, swimming, and more. But this post isn't about the state park. If you are interested click on the label at the right for Blackwater River State Park (they are in alphabetical order).

At the northern tip of the forest, there is a clustering of small, man-made reservoirs. One of these is Bear Lake. The Bear Lake Trail and the Sweetwater Trail meet here and, taking the Sweetwater, you can hike up to the Krul Recreation Area, which also offers camping. There are a number of trails and camping spots around the lake, including Bear Lake Recreation Area, on the west side of the lake. The recreation area offers many amenities but it will cost you money to camp, boat, or otherwise enjoy the facilities. I'm too cheep, generally speaking, and so I usually pass the road into the recreation area and take the next left off of Highway 4. It's the first left off of that paved road that will take you down to a boat ramp. There is also room for tenting down there.

Swamp sunflowers (a kind of daisy) sprout up from the clustered bases of a stand of bald cypress. There are many wonderful swamps tucked away in the corners of Bear Lake, but this one was at the eastern side.

The 4-mile Bear Lake Trail, starting left at the south boat ramp, will take you through pine forest, and a bit of hammock and swamp, to the dam at the Bear Lake Recreation Area. From there you can take the Sweetwater Creek Trail up to Krul, or continue along the east side of the lake. You will pass meadows of pitcher plants and quaint beaver ponds before taking the pine flatwoods back to the south boat ramp. There is another recreation area on the south side but it is gated and generally used by large groups, such as clubs or churches.

Pitcher plants are commonly found at Bear Lake, but are best viewed from the Bear Lake Trail on the eastern side of the lake. There are benches and platforms overlooking the pitcher plants-- perfect for photography opportunities without disturbing the meadows.

Most importantly, you will see wildlife. Fishing, hunting, and birdwatching, are common pastimes around Bear Lake. Among mammals, you will find deer, beavers, grey squirrels, wild hogs, and, if you're especially blessed, bears. Birding is incredible at Bear Lake. In fact, there are nearby trails that are part of the Great Florida Birding Trail. I can't really highlight specific birds here other than bald eagles and swallowtail kites. However, I've never seen the kites myself and the eagles are much easier to see a little ways north at Hurricane Lake. My favorites are, of course, the reptiles and amphibians. There is a good diversity of frogs at Bear Lake and I've personally found green treefrogs, cricket frogs, leopard frogs, southern toads, and bullfrogs. I've seen watersnakes, cottonmouths, and black racers, but I've been told their are rattlesnakes and alligators in the park as well, though I've never seen them.

As always, respect the wildlife while you are out hiking and whatever you pack in, be sure to pack it out.

The Bear Lake Trail, through the pine flatwoods.

Florida Steam Fog

October 1, 2016

It was colder than it looks. Steam fog rises in wisps from the surface of the warm water. It is a perfect morning for a hike.

The last night of September was cold, at least by Florida standards, and it dropped into the 50s (Fahrenheit). In spite of the chill, I had planned to wake up at 5am and go hiking with some friends up at Bear Lake (northwestern Florida, close to the Alabama border). The last time I was out with these guys was last spring, several months ago, but, when you live a busy academic life like ours, friendships run independent of time.

The following two photographs are experiments in monochrome. The unique qualities of the mist and light gave excellent opportunity to play with filters, settings, and program edits.

This might be were photography becomes more of an art than a form documentation. However, the crystal-like sparkles on the surface of the water are real and I might produce a coloured version of this photograph in the future.

We left later than we had intended and arrived at the lake close to 6:30am, after a 30 minute drive northward. The Gulf must have a significant warming affect on coastal Florida because, once we arrived at the lake, temperatures had dropped bellow 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Those who had sweaters wore them.

The lake was covered in a carpet of mist, like a sheet of silk waving lightly over a glass mirror. The beautiful phenomenon offered an excellent photography opportunity. Steam fog, as it is sometimes called, occurs when the water is warmer than the air. As the warm, moist air from the lake rises and cools it passes its dew point and the water condenses as fog. Together with the orange tints of the cypress leaves, it looked like, here in Florida, Autumn had arrived.

This photo was taken at the same angle as the one above in monochrome. Morning light is so perfect for photography.

Return to Blackwater River State Park

Here is the sort of cypress swamp that I was wading through earlier this spring. Only the weather wasn't as nice.

It takes a sharp eye to make out a turtle hatchling like this,
so far from the water. Not expected. Very surprising. Even
more surprising that I spotted it at all.

As I mentioned in my previous post, my favourite spots at West Campus, my usual weekend destination, was destroyed by a mob of excavators and bobcats. Thus, I started making regular trips out to Blackwater River State Park. When I got back to the park this second time, the weather was perfect. Insects buzzed and people played; birds bounced around the branches of magnolia and pine. After a long hike, we even cooled off in the river a little bit (though it was still quite cold). Sliders of all sizes were out basking on logs and a menagerie of other cold-blooded creatures where spotted and captured. Here are a few of the highlights.
When stalking through the forests, it often takes me a few minutes to "tune in," if you will. I'm usually not at optimum levels until after at least an hour. Then I start seeing things that I would normally never have noticed. A leaf moves on the ground on a windy day and turning it reveals a ground skink. The rustling grass at my feat rustles in a way that disturbs the music and I know someone else is down there. A rodent or snake, perhaps. It's almost sixth-sensish. My peripheral vision becomes exceptionally clear as well. On this hike, my eyes scan back and forth across the cypress swamp, focussing in on logs, stumps or any other protrusion from the waters surface. Ripples reveal a fish turning just under the surface. A soft point reveals the nose of slider spying on me from the rushes. As my field of vision moves toward a slanted trunk, my eyes clamp onto a small lump a couple feet from the water. It's too far away for my eyes to decide exactly what it is, but the lens of my camera does better. It's a juvenile cooter.
Meanwhile, my friend Dakota has begun his own visual search of the pond. He said something, but I was clicking away on my shudder and missed it. Then I caught a key word: snake. "Water snake," he said. I'd never caught one of those (though I've come awful close) and wanted to really bad. My heart skipped a beat as I aimed my zoom lens at the bush he was pointing at. "That's not a water snake," I said, just a little disappointed, "I think it's a cottonmouth." It was after all. That being the case, I wouldn't going to disturb his quiet ambush position over the pond. I've caught lots of cottonmouths before.

This young cottonmouth snake is hiding in a snag above a pond. I'd nickname Dakota "Eagle-eyes" if the title didn't belong to someone else I hunt snakes with already. It's a wonder he spied it. Even after he pointed it out to me I could hardly make it out.

Here is the fence lizard before I tried
catching her. Gorgeous, eh?

Notice the pale blue spot on the
throat characteristic of this genera.

Besides cotton mouths and cooters, Dakota also spotted a fence lizard. From his initial call, it took quite time before I caught the little rascal. My brother and I were crawling and scrambling up and down the river bank grabbing at the frightened little lizard. When I finally had it in hand, both of our hearts were racing. I took as many pictures as I liked to and passed it to some of my friends so they could feel her little beating heart. People find it easier to love something that they can touch and hold. She was released into the shade of the tree that I had caught her under. Always release an animal right where you found it.
I enjoy breaking from the main group and poking around an area alone for a while. In one of my frequent diversions, I spotted a large frog under the board walk. He was sitting in the shade on the bank in a shallow depression. He seemed aware of my presence but had a secret hope that I hadn't noticed him. I approached carefully and was able to successfully swing my net overtop of the ranid and pull him into the open. Once in hand, I called the others over and had my friend Jonathan take some photos of me with my catch. At the time I thought it must be a bullfrog but, after getting back to my dorm room I decided it must be a river frog instead. The mottled groin (area just in front of the leg on the side of a frog) seemed characteristic.