June 2009 Calendar Picture and Story

Wednesday
Mar 10, 2010
9:55:45 PM

Welcome

Calendar Photo and Story For June 2009

Frog Creek is a small river, in north Manatee County, near the place I used to live. It's a good example of our southwest Florida waterways near the coast. The trees hang far out and often drape their Spanish moss low enough that it's in the water at high tide.

These photo maps show the area where I live and, in the detail view, the location of Frog Creek relative to my former home.

As you can see, I now live some seven miles south of the wilder area where I lived from about 1990 to 2000. Here's a close-up of that area.

Bishop Harbor was established by one of the area's leading families around 1900 but abandoned over the decades and allowed to return to more natural state. In 1967, a chemical spill from a nearby phosphate plant nearly destroyed the estuary and these problems continue to the present because no one has determined how to deal with the piles of toxic waste stored there. Now, under the care of the Terra Ceia Preserve, it forms the northern terminus of a 75 mile canoe path along the county waterfront.

For 10 years, Jack, Carolyn, and I, had the interesting experience of living in this "log cabin" duplex. We had a large yard which was rough and unkempt when we moved in. We rototilled and planted the front yard with centipede grass, cleaned up the back, and did most of our landscaping with clumps of bull-grass which the new owners have since removed.

While attractive in controlled single clumps, bull-grass is common in our area where it grows wild as an irritating and often "infesting" weed. It can reach eight to ten feet in height and a single small clump will double in diameter over a growing season. In orange groves it will, at times, grow so thickly that it can damage equipment.

Even though we had lived in the area for years, I didn't find out about the CSX railroad bridge until a couple local kids, Jared and Cole, took me there to show me how their toy boats operated.

In the distance, you can see the overpass where I-275 crosses the railroad. CSX was kind enough to allow public access and even built their bridge in a way that it's safe for people to cross.

It's a place where you'll often see kids playing, and older folks fishing from both banks and bridge. It's the area where this month's calendar photo, and many below, were taken.

One of the kids, Jared, made me a gift that has become one of my prized possessions. I have no idea how he came up with the idea because it's something only a 13-year-old could imagine: shiny Mardi Gras beads in an eight inch angular scalloped bottle with a cork stopper. It's a simple thing, but every time I look at it or handle it, I realize he literally captured a bit of magic in a bottle, and... for a little while, I can see the world as a 13-year-old again!

Looking the other way from the bridge, Frog Creek turns off to the left and enters the trees. At less then three miles from Terra Ceia Bay, the creek here is brackish and experiences tides that run two to four feet.

For a long while we had a large gray tiger cat who loved to fish in the creek. Ticky-Woo would often bring us home "gifts" from his expeditions.

It is possible to canoe along the creek, but in places one has to lift branches and moss to pass beneath. Alligators often lurk up next to the bank in the shadows, well secluded, and waiting for appropriate prey to come within reach.

Here's another view from a bit farther down the creek. I have seen a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron in the area several times and those branches, out over the creek, are just the place he would wait patiently to snag a frog, lizard, or small fish.

The public boat ramp at Bishop Harbor was Less than a mile from our home. Over the course of several years, extensive restoration work was done to remove rubbish, eliminate non-native plants, and re-contour the area. This photo, from the parking area of the ramp, shows the approach, a great blue heron, and in the distance a Snowy Egret fishing in the rapid flow from a new channel installed to allow the tide access to a large restored lagoon on the other side of the road.

This old Great Blue Heron has been fishing near the boat ramp for years. As he aged, I noticed that he exchanged his dark gray-blue plumage for a lighter color.

The Snowy Egret is known as the "Lady with the Golden Slippers" for good reason. I was lucky to catch this one in mid step and you can see the blazing gold foot on the black leg which easily differentiates it from the Cattle Egret and other similar species. These beautiful birds were hunted, nearly to extinction, around 1900, because their exquisite plumage was used to adorn ladies hats.

I'm glad that Sunny accompanied me on my expedition to Bishop Harbor. She helped compose several shots and pointed out these Fiddler Crabs which seem to be having a meeting to discuss the strange people pointing various optical devices at them. These crabs are a most welcome sight because they are one of the species that were wiped out by the acid spills of 1967. Normal pH is 7.0 but the pH in Bishop Harbor after the spill was measured as low as 2 which is approaching that of a Normal solution of sulfuric acid!

Here we are looking across one of the recreated wetlands into the larger harbor and can see that much of the work is recent. The flat area will soon grow native shore grasses and shrubs.

This view of the channel connecting the boat ramp to the more open water of Bishop Harbor shows the extensive and beautiful restoration that has been performed on the area.

Finally, this extreme zoom and enhanced shot shows the vista across Bishop Harbor and beyond to catch a glimpse of the Sunshine Skyway bridge across Tampa Bay. From our location, as the crow flies, it's some six and a half miles distant.

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