We
drove back over to Honeymoon Island State Park for a guided nature walk on the
Osprey Trail in the north end of the park.
The trail is a 2 mile loop through slash pines, cedars and mangrove
underbrush with palmetto pines, various native plants and lots of poison ivy
(east coast cousin of poison oak). The
area is prime habitat for ospreys, bald eagles, and great horned owls that make
their nests in or near the tops of barren pine snags. There is lots of food for them as the area is
also home to a wide variety of animals including gopher tortoises, raccoons,
and eastern diamondback rattlesnakes.
There is also an abundance of fish in the surrounding shallow waters.
Our
walking group was made up of other tourists, Canadian residents who live here
for the winter and a class of biology students from St. Petersburg College on a
field trip. Our group leader was a park naturalist
who works in the administrative offices of the Florida State Park system. He prefers to work in the field, instead of
the office, and his enthusiasm for his subject was very entertaining for the
walkers. Pat got lots of pictures of the
various birds and their nests as well as the pine/palmetto habitat we were
walking through. We visited Pelican Cove on the way back to the trailhead, which gave us a glimpse of the beautiful warm
Gulf water, some fishermen, several egrets, jumping fish, a sand-spit on the
other side of the bay and one actual pelican.
Honeymoon Island itself is a barrier island a short distance off the
Florida coast that was formed by mangrove trees. The trees, a mixture of red, black and white
mangroves, live on or near the water’s edge and hold the sand and mud together
so that the other greenery, including the large pine and cedar trees, can take
hold and grow.
After
the late morning walk we ate lunch at Lenny’s, a Philadelphia-style restaurant
filled with Phillies baseball memorabilia.
The food was excellent, hoagies and a great relish tray, as well as a
sampler from the “Danish basket” for dessert.
Lenny’s is located about a mile or so from Bright House Field, but there
was no home game today.
Dinner
will be in the RV, steak fajitas and refried beans.
Day 43 Pictures
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