Photo Walk

Our first monthly "4th Tuesday Photo Walk" was led by Friends Board member Michelle Pearson on Tuesday January 24 at the Dennis Creek Trail on the refuge. We learned about lighting, best use of various camera styles, tripod use, angles of the photos, macro and micro photo composition. Michelle shared many design tips and other photo skills with all of us by email after the walk. It was a super class. The next will be on the 4th Tuesday of February, the 27th. Watch the "Events" tab for the announcement about where to meet.

Andrew Gude, Refuge Manager of The Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges and five of his staff of twelve, hosted a community discussion at the Cedar Key Public Library to approximately 40 attendees. Larry Woodward, Deputy Refuge Manager; Pam Darty, Visitor Services and Outreach Manager; Vic Doig, Fire Management Officer; Daniel Berrand, Refuge Forester; and Kenny McCain, Law Enforcement Officer took turns explaining their programs, plans and priorities to those in attendance. Andrew Gude summed things up by talking about his desire to build a stronger connection to the community, his hopes to integrate more educational programs and to expand conservation of our precious resources more through deed restriction and conservation easements than through outright purchases of land. Andrew is also interested in getting greater staff presence in Dixie County. Numerous questions were answered by all of staff members present. Refreshments were served by Friends of the Library and Friends of the Refuges.

Florida Whooping and Sandhill Cranes Talk Big Success

More than 50 people came to learn about the Florida whooping cranes and sandhill cranes from Marilyn Spalding, wildlife disease expert and Friends member. The participants had many questions about the fascinating information Marilyn gave about the resident and migratory cranes.

 

Gopher Tortoise Survey a Success

On January 4 and 5, more than 20 Friends members volunteered to help the Refuge with a Gopher Tortoise Survey. The Refuge will soon be thinning some areas of the forest to improve the habitat for wildlife. When the equipment comes in to do cut the trees, the drivers want to avoid running over and crushing gopher tortoise burrows. So, the volunteers, under the leadership of Refuge staff, fanned out and walked in a grid through the sections to be logged. They marked all burrows with flagging tape to make them easy to spot. Almost 50 burrows were flagged in the two days of work. Hard work, good fun, and a task worth the effort!

 

 

 

January Nature Walk

Photo by Friends member Ed DeHaan

This morning’s nature walk in the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge included Joyce and Ed DeHaan, Peg and Russ Hall, Roger McDaniels, Carmelo Echevarria, Donna and John Thalacker. As we gathered at the entrance to Cabin Road, we pondered the wisdom of meeting at the often quite cool, and definitely early, hour of 8am. But soon we were rewarded by our early morning diligence with the sighting of two river otters at “play”. Of course, the presence of eight nearby onlookers interrupted the otters, but rather than disappearing, we were able to hear a considerable amount and variety of otter sounds as the larger of the two otters sat on a log and growled and barked (well, not exactly like a dog bark). The other otter was even more vocal squeaking loudly out of sight behind the same log. After five minutes or so of watching the otter, most of the group walked on and the noise level increased considerably as the larger otter disappeared behind the log. At first the sound level increased in what seemed to me to be urgency, and I became almost convinced that one of them was in trouble, except that very soon thereafter both otters reappeared in the water twisting and turning together. This time it was apparent the “play” was reproductive behavior and they were indeed mating. This went on for at least 20 minutes before we also moved on to continue our nature walk. By that time, the sun was up enough to warm us and the birds became more active. We were able to spot and/or hear Catbirds, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Pileated Woodpeckers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Cardinals and Chickadees. Sighting a River Otter on any walk is a treat, but this was a special morning indeed.

Please join us for our next walk on Monday, March 5 at 8am. This time we will meet at the parking lot at Shell Mound. We will walk out to the boardwalk to look for shore birds, then walk the trail over the mound and into the woods. Wonder what we will find next time! Please note that the next walk will be in March, not February. Hope to see you then!

Cat Island Paddle

The weather finally smiled and we paddled the last trail of the 12 planned for the Paddling guide...Cat Island. It had been too hot, too cold, too windy, too rainy on the previous four attempts. But last Tuesday was perfect to test out this paddle...80 degrees, fun waves, lots of sunshine, just enough adventure, shore birds and even a dolphin family.

The Great Suwannee River Cleanup

On Saturday December 3, the Friends turned out to clean up the last 20 miles of the Great Suwannee River. At Camp Azalea, Fowlers Bluff, and Town of Suwannee, boats and volunteers gathered...104 volunteers in 23 boats collected almost 2 tons of trash. There were chicken coops, floating docks, chairs, lots of waterlogged styrofoam, many 55-gallon drums, many tires, and one 300 pound chunk of old rubber. The good times were abundant; it was a trash-pickup adventure. If you missed out this year, plan to come next year...first Saturday in December.

 

Bandaid Botany

Linda Curtis, retired college botany instructor and author of two books, Aquatic Plants and Woodland Carex of the Upper Midwest, entertained a group interested in learning about Bandaid Botany. Though many of us were not sure what bandaid botany might be, we soon learned all about the majority of spiny, prickly, and poisonous-to-the-touch common plants in our local area. Linda has a great collection of pictures and incredible knowledge of the plants and told us all about them in a most entertaining fashion. By far the most interesting of the plants she described, is the Tread Softly or “finger rot stinging hairs plant”(Cnidoscolus stimulosus). Afterwards, audience members took turns telling personal stories about their experiences with “bandaid botany” plants.

Linda and her husband, Jim, are both interested in the botany of our Lower Suwannee NWR and have offered to return to give more botany talks for us! We hope to see her again soon.

Friend's Board member John Thalacker introduced Linda and Donna Thalacker provided the refreshments.

December Nature Walk

The Lower Suwannee Refuge is always a joy to walk in and this day was no exception. Ed DeHaan and Roger McDaniels joined Donna and John Thalacker for the Friends group monthly nature hike in the woods along Barnett Creek Road. We started the walk at 8am, and though it was a little cool and very quiet, we were soon rewarded with the sighting of a Barred Owl sitting on an overhanging branch. Because of the cool weather, we didn’t see any snakes or alligators but there were plenty of still fresh, muddy otter tracks to keep us occupied. As the weather warmed up, we saw a Titmouse, several Pine warblers, and woodpeckers along the way to the creek. Once we arrived at Barnett Creek, we birders were pretty excited at the chance to spend about 5 minutes looking at and photographing the secretive Sora. By 9:15am, even the butterflies were out. We had plenty of opportunities to photograph Monarchs, Gulf Fritillaries and even a Queen butterfly. Please join us January 9 for our monthly nature walk. We don’t walk far, and we don’t walk fast – otherwise we would miss too much! Meet us at 8am at the entrance to Cabin Road. The easiest way to find it is to enter the refuge at the South Entrance to the Lower Suwannee Nature Drive. Go approximately 1½ to 2 miles to Cabin Road. Cabin Road will be on your left and is well marked. Have a happy, safe holiday and we hope to see you in January!

Bandaid Botany Coming December 10

 

Linda Curtis, Botanist and Author

www.curtistothethird.com

Saturday, December 10

10:30 AM @ Cedar Key Public Library

A presentation about the thorny and spiny plants in Levy County, with a few spiny insects and caterpillars included. Most thorny plants have beautiful flowers, to invite the bee pollinators, but not large grazing animals.

Nature Walk December 5

Donna and John Thalacker will lead the  regularly scheduled first Monday of the month Nature Walk will be at 8:00AM on December 5. 

This month we will take a walk on Barnett Creek Rd.  Those interested in attending, meet us at the entrance to Barnett Creek Road, which is about a mile or so from the south entrance to the Lower Suwannee Nature Drive.   See you then! 

Sandfly Creek Paddle

Following up on the scouting trip last week, after the Board meeting on Monday Nov 7, several Friends members paddled the Sandfly Creek to prepare the maps and biozone information for the Paddling Guide. It is a beautiful creek and wonderful paddle. Ed DeHaan and Mark Gluckman provided the photos.