Category: environment

Arthur Marshall Fish and Wildlife Tree

It looks just like a tree, but it isn’t. I don’t know what kind of tree it is or anything about it, except it sits in the Swamp Walk at Arthur Marshall Fish and Wildlife Center. I look at it for a few seconds as I do a loop.

No one cares for it, but it cares for us, dancing in the wind, casting reflections off the mossy water. In the Spring it will sprout leaves again and the whole swamp will take on a new charm. If you walk by, it probably won’t look like this; it changes its appearance by season and time of day. And of course, my camera sees it differently from your eyes.

People look for gators and birds and our Barred Owl in residence as they walk around the swamp on the boardwalk. People want a Disneyland type experience from a nature setting. Seeing me with my camera,  they ask if I have seen anything. I always reply, “Yes I have.”

 

Fish Kills

So, we are having a problem. Fish die in our pond. The naturalists called it “Fish Kill”. What is causing it?

Dead fish lie on the grass. Birds congregate to eat them. Some birds eat the dead fish; others won’t. The expired fish smell, no wonder only the ones who like carrion eat them.

Could be algae, but they said no. Could be chemicals, but they said no. Could be a lack of oxygen, but there hasn’t been a lot of rain. Could it be global warming or climate change?

 

Overflow

Not that we don’t have enough problems, but it is now Hurricane Season. Covid causes death, despair and disease. Rain and wind destructs, demolishes and decimates. Any way you look at it, society gets eradicated in an unpleasant way.

The canals await the rainfall, already over their early June limit. Deadly frogs live around them. Lizards and geckos which didn’t die due to climate change (no cold spell) abound and there is no species to eat them or drive them away. Unbelievers continue to ignore the signs, partying on the beaches and in the clubs. Well, so-be-it.

Gene Joyner’s Unbelievable Acres Botanical Gardens

Gene Joyner build a rain forest in West Palm Beach that few have visited. Called Unbelievable Acres Botanic Gardens, it is open to the public by appointment or on select tour dates. Featuring rare tropical fruits, foliage plants, flowers, trees and a host of other botanical creatures, many of which you have not seen. Running around are a host of  reptiles that love the heat and humidity, in addition to a bountiful supply of bugs. Its a treasure.

This leaf has a name. I cannot remember all Gene taught me. Years ago, he was the botanist for the State of Florida. This garden/rain forest was built from scratch, by him. You have never seen anything like it.

Baby Alligator

So, we walked at Green Cay, again. Love the place. People smile. Some workout by walking around and around.  Mostly, people want to see an alligator.

Here’s a baby. Mom swam nearby. Several other babies hid in the reeds. A woman standing next to me, photographing with a cell phone complained: “…, hard to get this shot; he has the same coloring at the grass.”

“Yup, I replied, “and it only took 200 million years.” She didn’t laugh, but others did.