Manatees

Ever since arriving in Florida I have wanted to see a Manatee up close, so I was really pleased when a friend invited me to go along with her to Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, (I thoroughly recommend  a visit if any of you are this way.)  Despite watching several wildlife programmes about these animals I was totally unprepared for their size, they are huge!  Surprisingly though despite appearances to the contrary they carry very little body fat and can catch a chill very easily, hence the reason they group together at the warm springs in Florida in the winter.  Much of their huge size is taken up by a huge gastrointestinal tract (accounting for 20% of their body mass) and lungs. Obviously such large lungs means the Manatee is very buoyant, to combat this the manatees bones are dense which means they are immensely heavy.  It also means, unfortunately that they are very brittle and shatter when hit.  We were told that most manatee deaths are caused not by props - the skins on their backs is 2 inches thick and damage caused by props isn't usually serious, they are killed more often than not by being hit by the prow of a boat which will cause the bones to shatter throughout the body.  Indeed they had one female there that had the use of only one lung as the other had been irreparably damaged by her ribs being shattered after being hit by a boat prow.  Manatees consume huge amounts of vegetation - between 10 - 15% of their bodyweight.  So a 1,000 pound manatee will eat anywhere between 100 to 150 pounds of food a day.  Surprisingly considering how docile and slow moving they are Alligators and Sharks don't touch them.  Can't work that one out myself as I couldn't imagine an easier meal if I was a large predator.  

Looking through the underwater observatory

View of a manatee with scars along it's back from a boat prop.

A large blue heron

I don't think I need to explain who, or what this is!  Perhaps surprisingly they are tasty to eat.  The meat is white, chicken like, but juicer and with a tang that is not unpleasant.

A Horned owl

Beauty the Golden Eagle has only one wing due to being shot by a poacher and then having to have it amputated.  How anyone could want to hurt anything so majestic is beyond me.

 Bald Eagle

Brown Pelicans, don't know why, but there is something fascinating about these birds, perhaps it's their ungainly appearance, but I can't help but watch them.  Especially at Cedar Key where they seem to be everywhere you look.  They especially seem to know when one of the boats has been fishing and sit waiting for tidbits.

Red tailed Hawks

Bald Eagles - believe me, these guys are somewhat on the large side, but have a soft call considering their size, or at least I think so.

A Florida Panther.  Beautiful creature.  I have actually been lucky enough to see one of these in the wild, leaving Cape Canaveral a few years ago it ran out of the woods on the side of the road, heading towards the road, before seeing the cars, skidding to a stop and heading back into the woods.

A bob cat

Ospreys nest

Blue Jay - so pretty, unfortunately I couldn't get a shot of him without the cage wire getting in the way.

To end with here is some film of dolphins/porpoises at Cedar Key.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mOfBhWRzrOJuakunMvBOhjmFAKW2aynezA


I have been incredibly lucky, every time I have been to Cedar Key I have managed to see Dolphins or Porpoises, haven't seen a shark yet.  Apparently there are a few Bull sharks in the water.  Hope they don't make an appearance the day I decide to Kayak!

Crabs, Cowboys and Caterpillars

It has been a hectic week, hence no blog last week.  It was the Arts Festival at Cedar Key last weekend, so much talent! It was amazing, unfortunately most of the artists had signs asking you not to take photo's, which is a shame as it means I cannot share some of the beautiful works of art with you all.  However I do understand the reasoning.  There was quite a lot of work gone into all the pieces on show and obviously it was all for sale, and to have people take photos would have been akin to allowing people to steal it all. One particular lady was very happy as she had sold all but a few pieces by the time we got to her stall on Saturday afternoon, and quite understandably too, beautiful pieces of art made from metal and coloured glass showing such scenes as flamingoes and palm trees against tropical seas and skies. Whilst we were there we visited the beach area and imagine my delight when we spotted two horseshoe crabs.  I am not sure they appreciated me taking photo's as they were rather busy at the time!  It is a fascinating fact that these creatures have remained virtually unchanged for 450 million years - that's 200 million years before dinosaurs existed!  Horseshoe crabs have baby blue coloured blood due to the fact that it is copper based as opposed to ours, which is iron based.

As you can see, the female, fawn coloured one, is much larger than the smaller male, which is grey.

We spent a pleasant hour or so over lunch looking out over the Gulf of Mexico, watching for the occasional black fin telling us there were dolphin.  Unfortunately try as I might I was never lucky enough to get a shot of one.

 Looking out over the Gulf of Mexico

 Looking back at the town of Cedar Key 

Trying, unsuccessfully, to get a shot of black fins playing in the water!

 I mentioned butterflies the other week, but was unable to get a picture of one, imagine my delight when this lovely creature landed near me on our visit to the garden centre.  Unfortunately the picture doesn't adequately show the size as it was quite large.  Definitely bigger than anything we are used to in the UK.

Someone had told me of the beautiful flowers on the bottle brush bush, but I was quite unprepared for the sight when we found one on one of our trips to Cedar Key.  The flowers truly are the most stunning red.

I was taken to my first Rodeo, which I really enjoyed, and not just because of the cowboys! I have always liked watching true horsemanship that has evolved from working with horses, more than 'sport' horsemanship.  And before any of you that know me, and know I like dressage, argue that dressage is 'sport' horsemanship should look up it's origins and how it was originally used to train horses for war.  I really enjoy watching the relationship between horse and human and how they work together.  I love watching Spanish equitation classes and anyone that hasn't seen Spanish equitation I suggest looking it up on Youtube, it is breathtaking and for me what riding is all about - the relationship of horse and rider.  At the Rodeo, watching the horse help to rope a calf and hold it whilst the cowboy jumped off to tie its legs together and tip it on its side is truly amazing in my opinion, and before all those 'do gooders' start yelling about cruelty, they need to remember that 'out there' in the real world these skills have evolved through working cattle, and ask themselves how else is one supposed to cut out and administer medicine etc, to a sick calf in the middle of nowhere.  Having said that I found the barrel racing really exciting, and found myself cheering and clapping madly along with everyone else, which for anyone that knows me is probably a bit of a surprise, considering my usual British reserve!  One of the other things that I really liked at the Rodeo was the fact that all serving and ex serving members of the forces were recognised and thanked.  We were also asked to stand and pay tribute to the Stars and Stripes when it was brought in and the National Anthem was sung.  I find it quite sad at how we in the UK seem to be ashamed to be seen to be patriotic.  I for one am proud to be British and would love to see pride in the country of our birth make a return.  If one looks at history and what we have contributed and still contribute we have a lot to be proud of.

With the Spring and warmer days we have been inundated with caterpillars and not the pretty kind either but the kind with stinging hairs :-(  Last week you couldn't step outside with coming across these things, the caterpillar of the Tussock moth.  I tried to sit outside for a while, but after glancing across at the other chair and seeing at least four of the damn things, every blade of grass that touched my leg, or tiny bug that landed on my arm had me jumping in case it was one of these, I finally gave up and came inside after five minutes of jumping up and down to check what had just touched me!

On my look out for the Tussock moth caterpillar on the tree and their cocoons I did spot this guy, very well camouflaged.

I think, looking online it's an Underwing moth caterpillar, but don't hold me to that.  The white fluffy ball next to him is the cocoon of one of the Tussock moth caterpillars that had me jumping around the garden.

History, fairs and horses

This week I have been looking into the history of the area I am in which I have found both fascinating and frustrating in turn.  This was prompted by the moving of a house called the Hardee house from it's previous position across a road, then across a complete (large) field, across and along State Road 320 west , to where it now currently resides.  We have watched it's progress with interest.  Idiotically I didn't think to take any pictures until it was dropped at it's new position.  http://hardisonink.com/florida-community-news.php (you will have to scroll down to the story on the Hardee house and it's move)

 Yours truly in front of the Hardee house in it's new spot.

Closer picture of the Hardee House in it's new position.

In addition to moving the house itself the corner stones are being used to mark the boundary of the new site.

The corner stones on the trailer waiting to be installed.

The movement of the Hardee house has spurred me into looking further into it's history, but without much luck apart from a few unsubstantiated stories.  The one thing I did discover though is that the name Hardee has a long history in Chiefland, with most of Chiefland once being part of the plantation owned by Isaac Hardee. I was told that the name Chiefland came about because it was the meeting place of the Chiefs.  The name Chiefland certainly came about from the original 'Land of  Chiefs'

We are not very far from the Suwannee River famous from the song, 'Way down on the Suwannee River'.  The Suwannee has a very rich history and reading about it online has been fascinating.  There are several explanations for the Suwannee's name, including its derivation from the name San Juan.  Which is what the river was called by the Spanish Missionaries, but by far my favourite explanation, and the most plausible in my opinion is that the name Suwannee is an anglicization of the Creek word for the Shawnee Indians - Suwani.

 

Pictures of the Suwannee taken from the landing at Treasure Camp.

There is supposedly treasure hidden somewhere at Fowlers Bluff that was buried by a French Pirate called Jean Lafitte, hence the name Treasure Camp at Fowlers Bluff.

The verges are a virtual sea of colour now and everything is so green.

We visited the Levy (pronounced Leevy) County Fair at the weekend, which was fun.  Was a beautiful day.  We had originally planned to go on the Saturday, but after a night of storms woke up to a very very wet day,  that really reminded me of wet days at home in the UK.  The rain showed no sign that it was going to stop anytime soon, so we rescheduled and went on the Sunday.  I found it interesting watching the junior cattle showing and listening to how the judge awarded the rosettes. Some of the youngsters barely came to the shoulders of the young calves and cattle they were showing.  One tiny little girl showed real pluck as her charge kept jamming on the brakes and refusing to go anywhere.  Was so pleased to see her get a first - she really deserved it. 

Just to prove I was there!

Had to be done ;-)

Popping into the stores earlier this week someone pulled up towing a trailer with horses and dogs quite happily ensconced within, so that the, rather good looking, horseman could pop in and get himself and his companion a take away pizza. I am constantly surprised at the difference with which we in the UK and other countries look after, use and care for our horses, and sadly I quite often don't agree with the methods we use in the UK, and the tendency we have to wrap out horses up in cotton wool, buying every little piece of equipment that the magazines say we should have without actually looking to see if our horse needs it.  Meanwhile the Equine product manufacturers rub their hands in glee at another item becoming the 'must have' gadget of the moment whilst they make their way to the bank to make another deposit in their already healthy accounts.  Anyone that knows me, knows I hate the way we keep our horses in their own separate little paddocks so that they have no interaction with any of the other horses kept at the yard.  I don't know about you, but I can't imagine a life without being able to interact with members of my own kind ,and horses are after all social creatures with a strong instincts for interaction and group cooperation.  Anyone that has watched horses communicate and play as a group and watched the intricacies of the herd hierarchy being played out will truly appreciate this.  I couldn't help but compare this trailer with the horses, tacked and loosely tied to the bars of the trailer against the padded cells that we transport them in.  The horses looked well and totally unconcerned about the dogs loose in the trailer with them and everything else.