Beautiful Weekend

Yes, yes, I know I still haven't shown you any pictures from the Everglades yet. My experience thus far has been absolutely amazing and I get excited about each new morning. But in the meantime, let me show you some photos from this past weekend (mostly from Sunday) during my explorations of Delray Beach area. The weather was perfect, approximately 80 degrees, overcast with big puffy clouds, a gusty wind blowing through, and the windows wide open. I decided to ride my bike to the beach (which is only about a quarter mile away!!) and see what there was to see. Well, I chained my bike at the beginning of the public beach and started walking south. The wave sets were crumbly and quick, but there were still a good number of people on the beach, boys trying to surf the gnarly waves, and some really fantastic kite boarders. I hiked about a mile down the beach to check out the kite boarders. Check out my pictures:

Portuguese Man-o-war (click this link to learn more about these potentially deadly, yet infinitely beautiful creatures. They were washed up all over the shores. I had fun trying to dodge them on my run back)

Beach catamarans (aka. beach cats...meow!)

Check out this guy jumping!! Click on the picture to see a larger version of it to get a good idea of how awesome this looks! My camera lens was starting to get a little blurry at this point from all the sea spray coming off the ocean.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend too! Do anything fun? Feel free to share some of your photos with me too.

My new home for 6 months...

...is in the Everglades! On January 11, 2010 I start a six month field technician research position with Florida Atlantic University in the avian laboratory under the direction of Dr. Dale Gawlik. This is a big change for me and a very exciting opportunity. Not only will I be flying into different, interesting parts of the Everglades on a daily basis, but I will be supporting a study that is part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, a major (and probably the most significant) ecosystem conservation plan by the State of Florida. Although I am sad to leave my current position at Malcolm Pirnie, as an Environmental Scientist, I know that this is an opportunity that I cannot pass up. I hope that it will allow me to refocus my environmental passion on scientific research and ultimately, the pursuit of higher education. I will keep you all updated on what's going on and there should be lots of pictures to show! Thanks again for all of your support as I move to the east coast of Florida to pursue my dreams and passions.

New Directions

Hello all,

I want to thank all of those who have supported me throughout the years. As most of you know, I'm a free-spirit, a dreamer, and a drifter. I strive to love everyday and live my life full of passion. Now, don't take this the wrong way. I'm not a it's-always-greener-on-the-other-side kind of person. I know when I'm happy somewhere and I'm more than willing to put down some roots when the time is right. But the time is not right for me at the moment, so I've decided to take a new opportunity. I've been so fortunate to be blessed with it and I will not laugh in the face of an open door. Want to know where I'm going, what I'm doing and how you can visit me at the new and exciting place I'll be?

Come back tomorrow for the big news! And don't worry, I'll still be very close to a computer, so the blogs will keep coming (hopefully with more frequency).

Love,
K

Caladesi Island Necklace Pod

I recently took a trip to one of Florida's most beautiful and last remaining natural barrier islands with the Suncoast Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society. The island, called Caladesi Island, was voted the nation's best beach in 2008. It was originally settled by a Swiss man named Henry Sharrer in 1883. It is now part of Florida's State Park system and is preserved without development. How lucky! The island is accessible via a short ferry ride from another barrier island to the north called Honeymoon Island.


View Larger Map

While on Caladesi, we observed a large population of a native Florida shrub known as Necklace-Pod (Sophora tomentosa). It is a dense, multi-trunked shrub with beautiful rounded leaves, yellow pea-like flowers, and the neatest seedpods. The day we were on the island, a storm was threatening in the Gulf of Mexico and thankfully stole all the moisture from the air, leaving us with a perfectly sunny and extraordinarily calm day on the island. The plants in the understory of a pine and oak canopy were easily viewed in the sunlight. Although I've seen Necklace-Pod before, I've never noticed the brightly colored, symmetrically aligned orange petioles of the leaves. As you can see below, a petiole is the part that connects the leaf to the stem of the tree. This tiny nuance of the shrub was so beautiful!

The pods look like the picture below. Seeing these pods, I excitedly cracked one open, expecting to see large beanlike fruits. This was not the case. Instead, a flurry of extremely small brown seeds poured out into my hand. Although I have a tendency to try to eat things in the wild, these didn't look so appetizing, so I dropped them to the ground. Good thing! Turns out the seeds are dangerous to eat. They contain an alkaloid called cytisine which causes nausea, vomiting, and acts as a laxative. None of those things sound good on a hike!

The bright yellow flowers bloom in a bright clump toward the end of the branches throughout the year. Apparently, they are well liked by many insects including this Monarch butterfly we saw feeding madly on these sweet flowers. The Monarch butterfly populations are on their fall migration pattern to Mexico where they will spend the winter. This individual wanted one last succulent taste of Florida before moving on.


I hope you too are enjoying all the wonderful plant and wildlife happenings of this fall!

Oyster Domes

I just realized that I never went about explaining to you what my previous pictures at MacDill Air Force Base showed. Well, these are what we call Oyster Domes. They are concrete structures with holes and porous areas to which oysters can readily adhere and grow. They are used heavily in the Tampa Bay area, especially by a group called Tampa Bay Watch, that uses them along seawalls and shorelines to restore hard bottom habitat, improve water quality and reduce shoreline erosion. These are being used in new and innovative ways to help restore oyster habitat in Tampa Bay. The hope is that once oysteer habitat is restored, other species that depend on similar habitat types (such as seagrass and larger fish species) will also recieve habitat benefits. This is a positive solution to habitat degredation in bay that will ultimately help the local fishing community, commercial fisheries (by providing a nursery habitat), the shipping industry (by reducing erosion to the navigational channels), and to all tourists and residents (by improving water quality). Big props to MacDill Air Force Base that is working on finding ways to integrate Oyster Domes into their shoreline features!

Oh the beauty in Beautyberry!

One of my favorite native plants to see the field is the Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana). Not only does this shrub flower like this in spring summer, but in autumn each of these flowers along it's stem will explode into a shimmering feast of bright red berries. This simple and wide spread plant is a tasty treat for all kinds of wildlife including over forty species of songbirds, deer, raccoons, opossums, armadillos, and rodents. And I just discovered something new and exciting about it!

According to research done at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Products Utilization Research Unit in Oxford, Mississippi in 2006, beautyberry leaves contain compounds which rival DEET as insect repellants. This study and subsequent studies found that oils distilled from beautyberry leaves repelled fire ants, mosquitos and black-legged ticks for up to 3 hours!! Crushing the leaves and rubbing them on yourself or your pets works almost as well as the scientifically distilled oils. Although there is still reserach needed to test toxicity and potential dangers of using the plant this way, no side effects are expected. Beautyberry has been used in traditional medicine and for folk remedies for much longer than we even know with no ill effects.

So what does this mean for me? Since I don't use DEET due to the chemical carcinogens, you might see me in the woods rubbing myself down with beautyberry leaves. And you may think I'm crazy, but at least the bugs won't find me as appetizing!

What is that?

What is that? To find out come check out my guest blog at 2b4theworld.com

How was your day?

How was your day? Here's how mine was...

I'll explain those last three soon!

Earth Hour Power Shower

Well, I tried. On the night of Earth Hour I had just finished a long day of cleaning, organizing and bringing things to the Salvation Army. I was still organizing things, while my roommate, Karen, was watching the end of the basketball game. It was 9:00pm and all of our lights were still on. Woops! Right about then, we remembered it was Earth Hour and it was already half over!! Oh no. So we quickly switched off all the lights and electronics. We wanted to be part of this, even if we had already messed it up. So we lit some candles and went about things as always, just a little dimmer. Well, that proved to be harder than I had thought.

I was ready for a night out after working so hard on the apartment, so I grabbed my margarita (I had bought some limes at the Oldsmar flea market and needed to put them to good use) and headed to the shower. As I got to the bathroom, I realized that I needed at least a little bit of light to bathe. So I grabbed a couple candles and went back for another attempt. Let me just say, that showering by candlelight is very very romantic. Sure, I was alone, but it was very relaxing and sexy. Who doesn't look great by candlelight? Then the trouble started. Three things I learned:

1. for some unknown reason, I cannot get the water temperature right in the dark...I'm either scalding or freezing
   
2. the candlelight was enjoyable, but maybe a little too nice...the shower got a bit longer than normal and considering the major drought we're having in Florida, I feel bad about using so much water
3. shaving in the dark is crazy hard...and somewhat dangerous!

Ok, next step...shower done, time to get dressed. I almost burned down my closet by holding a candle really close to my clothes to try to pick what I wanted to wear. To avoid a fire, I settled on the first t-shirt and jeans combo I felt with my hands. Ok, I was pretty much ready. By this point it was already about 10:00pm, but since we missed the first half of Earth Hour we felt that we needed to redeem ourselves by extending our lights-out time.

My next challenge was to give Karen enough light on her face to put on makeup. The small tealights I have weren't giving off much light, so I had to hold them pretty close to her face. I was a bit worried that the hairspray in her hair would burst into flames, but we did ok and she looked good (not just in the candlelight!). After blowing out all the candles, we headed out into the well lit night.

So I tried. I'm not sure how successful my Earth Hour was considering that even though I saved some power by turning off the lights and supported the movement, I wasted some precious water and almost started a few small fires. Is there a candle training course?

Did you participate? Check out these great pictures of landmarks that did.

Earth Hour

Did you hear about Earth Hour last year? It's a great idea that was initiated by the World Wildlife Fund in Sydney, Australia in 2007 to raise awareness for the need to take action against climate change. On the last Saturday in March, the World Wildlife Fund asks people to turn off their lights for one hour. In 2008 the movement grew from 2.2 million people to 50 million people participating. Everyone from individual citizens to businesses and even to global landmarks such as the Colloseum in Rome, the billboard in Times Square and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Franscisco participated last year. Oh, yeah, and my mom participated last year too! I think she told me about it, but I forgot when the time came to switch the light switch. But this year I'm doing it too! And this year it's going to be bigger than ever! Already, 1,189 cities and towns across 80 countries are committed to turning off their lights for Earth Hour. Who else is participating this year?

1. Great Pyramids of Giza (Egypt)
   
2. Archbishop Desmond Tutu
3. the Eiffel Tower
4. Cathedral of Notre Dame
5. the President of France
6. Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro
7. Table Mountain in Cape Town
8. Sydney Opera House
9. CN Tower in Toronto
   

Will you do this with me and the rest of the world? Tomorrow, Saturday, March 28 at 8:30pm local time, switch off your lights and enjoy living for an hour without electric lights!

Are you going to do it?