to give you a gest of what we enjoyed - titusville, florida` 04, a naturalist joy..

                                                           
Florida lat/long fill in.

2004
january…

blue springs, herds of manatee winter over in St Johns river. Can snorkel part of creek with lots of fish, but not with manatee. Not worth driving to other springs.

MINWR; shiloh 3 road (closed annually 11-1 to 2-15) building in progress by fish + wildlife, birds feeding on disrupted dirt from bulldozer, nice in trees + marsh. Now use patillo creek rd off 3, titusville, fl. bike trail, nice rust color marsh.

white pelicans, shorebirds, waterfowl, wading birds, raptors in peak concentration in cool sunny days of winter.

february… owls mating song…  titusville, fl.

warmer days thru spring months offer opportunity to see alligators basking in sun or breeding in the waters of refuge. Colonial nesting birds, such as egrets + herons are busy in rookeries + neotropical migrants begin moving thru the refuge + manatee population peaks.
 
june…

leatherback, green, hawksbill, female turtles come back to birth area every year after living in the ocean to lay their eggs… make sure check list for  800 member call in 2 days to reserve…

september…

fall cooler temperatures bring the first major influx of migratory birds: shorebirds, waterfowl, fall warblers, bald eagles (nice to see the same nests build year after year) 1 viewed from black point dr + 1 on Indian river road on way to marina, both in lg pine tree…

we moved into condo because of surrounding wildlife area + being next to a big beautiful oak tree outside our porch, experimented with composting successfully, into the soil around our house + enjoyed the variety of wildlife that lived with us…+ the many herps, insects, etc...that gave us joy as we would watch from windows as we worked inside putting this project together… we would ride bike + sail in the wildlife reserves at Canaveral National Seashores, observing many birds, manatee, alligators, snakes, Maurice the lucky one always got to see bobcat…


great windows, porch, lg oak + pine trees nice with moss, space to dump food scraps + build soil to recycle plants + build coverage for soil + critters.. throughout year share grounds with: peacocks occasionally that would hang out high in pine trees + on porches, frogs, gechoes, large pine snake crawling up lg oak, thru leaves, mice, large woodpecker. beautiful black leg spider shiny in closet, squirrels galore although sad to see fly sideways in hurricane as well grounds fill with tree debree as they break along with huge old oaks that many lost.

down side was the red necks that never saw these critters  as they would mow manicure the naturalism + rebellied against any gardening.. a few didn't want their children's play ground from trash containers to grasses to be interrupted, as they had no respect for life + a few parents where worse then the children.


Marina nice to walk but sad to see so many manatees seeking drippings of fresh water from harbor. Falcons fish, eat + nest on poles in park. Indian river kayacking nice with dolphins fishing, or weather picking up with waves or go out to view occasional nice boats anchored as they traveling thru.

Merritt island national wildlife refuge (MINWR) is an overlay of nasa’s john f. kennedy space center + the ‘ atlantic flyway’, a major bird migration corridor + resting stop for many migrating birds, 35 mile barrier island with 1000 plant + 500 animal species from subtropical + temperate climate zones. 24 miles of undeveloped beach nice, especially when bad weather when we dress appropriately + have it to ourselves. once panther now only bobcat, alligator which is a joy.


they tried relocating panther in Occali forest but it didn’t work. Larry Richardson f + w, panther program in naples says collaring with dogs pretty radical, I agree, 2-04 biologist had attack + severly hurt leg. Other biologist in Occali said fl program good + collaring helps more then hurts… nice to bike on roads not accessible to cars, but with new construction many will open to cars like black point wildlife drive is now. Timing important.

www.floridapanther, www.panther.state.fl.us-n, www.panthersociety.org-n

enjoy winter + summer with very high humidity - plan to work in air conditioning or plan to sweat, both where good for us.