For some the forest is a scary place; for some it is a magical one; and for others it is spiritual. For wildlife it is a popular place. There are many places to shelter and plenty of food. Though the forest of our barrier islands is not as dense and dark as those of the west coast of the United States or the mountains of Appalachia, it is very wooded provides the same needs. Much of the wildlife on our islands call this part home. Even if they forge in the dunes, or on the beach, it is the forest where they reside.
Forest do exist on barrier islands and provide excellent habitat for a variety of wildlife.
Photo: Rick O’Connor
I have hiked through many of these maritime forests. The northern terminus of the Florida Trail ends at the edge of a maritime forest on Santa Rosa Island. They are populated by many of the same species of trees you would find in inland forest. Pine, Oak, and Magnolia are all common. In some locations they short and twist their branches in all sorts of patterns to avoid direct exposure to the salt spray from the Gulf. Those more protected from the spray by large dune fields grow quite tall. Small rolling dunes of quartz sand can still be found on the forest floor, as can palms and palmettos, holly trees, and species of shrubs found in the dune fields themselves. All of these provide good shelter, and some provide food. And, as with the American southwest, these xeric conditions support cactus – there are plenty of cactus in the tertiary dunes and maritime forest of our islands. Covered toed shows are recommended when hiking here.
Due to wind and salt spray many of the trees on barrier islands grow in interesting twists and bends.
Photo: Rick O’Connor
Though not common, within these forest there are small ponds of freshwater. Back in the 1950s there was an attempt to build a pompano hatchery within the forest of Santa Rosa Island. It failed because the water they chose to use (groundwater) was fresher than they thought it would be. Visiting the site today you will find the grow out ponds the farmers dug, full of freshwater. Near Ft. Pickens, on the west end of Santa Rosa Island, there are moats the soldiers dug to protect the fort from attack. These too are filled with freshwater. Between these and the naturally occurring ones, there is habitat for fish. The few samples I have collected over the years have yielded live bearers, like mosquitofish and mollies, and as well members of the killifish family. There could be others, but I have not explored this enough.
This holding pond was dug to grow pompano in an attempt to farm them at the beach. They provide habitat for both fish and wildlife on the islands.
Photo: Rick O’Connor
It is also good habitat to support frogs. I have seen southern leopard frogs and southern toads, and have heard spring peepers on the islands, but I have not conducted formal surveys to determine what other species might exist. There are inland species that do well in dry sandy soils, and you would think would do well on barrier islands if they could reach them. Maybe some have, again – we need to conduct a good survey. I am not aware of any salamanders on these islands, but again I have not looked for them.
The leopard frog are found on barrier islands.
This is the realm of the reptile. As with the deserts of the American southwest, reptiles do very well in dry xeric conditions. Snakes and lizards seem to be the most abundant. Six lined racerunners are quite common, as are other species of skinks (if you look for them in hiding places). The horned toad was once common in all sandy environments in Pensacola, but then were only found on the barrier islands, and now are hard to find there. They are reported to still be found on Santa Rosa Island though I have not seen one in years. One of my colleagues recently saw one on Perdido Key – so, they are still around.
Six lined skinks are island lizards well adapted for the hot conditions out there.
Photo: Rick O’Connor
With snakes, the southern black racers and their close cousins the eastern coachwhip are very common here. I have found garter and ribbon snakes. I have seen the rough green snake in the maritime forest, usually in the branches. I have found both the cottonmouth and the banded water snake near the freshwater ponds. The denser forested areas have a lot of leaf litter on the floor that could support the eastern coral snake. Though I have never seen one on the islands, they could be – they are very secretive. One of the more common snakes – found in all habitats of the barrier island – is the eastern rattlesnake. Encounters with impressive creature is rare. Most of mine have been near the campgrounds and after hurricanes when the National Seashore was closed. When FIRST opened to the public, you see them, then they just disappear.
The eastern diamondback rattlesnake is a classic serpent found in xeric habitats like barrier islands and deserts. They can be found in all habitats on barrier islands.
Photo: Bob Pitts
Alligators are known to haunt the freshwater ponds; I have seen them near the old pompano hatchery. I have seen photographs of them crossing the island, swimming across the intracoastal waterway, and even swimming in the Gulf! But sightings and encounters on our end of the panhandle are rare.
Though not in the maritime forest, these tracks show that the American alligator is a resident of many of our barrier islands.
Photo: Caroline Harper
Birds have no problem reaching barrier islands and they love forested areas. There are numerous species of songbirds (passerines). I have seen cardinals, blue jays, mockingbirds, and more. Many of the ones you find just across the intracoastal can be found here. Mourning doves are quite common in all habitats. The forested areas are where you encounter the raptors. I have seen osprey, bald eagles, and great horned owls all nesting here. Within the pines of the forest, you often see the great blue herons nesting. There are other occasional aquatic birds visiting the ponds, including ducks. Duck hunting still happens in the winter on some islands. These barrier islands are popular places to conduct the Audubon Christmas Bird Counts.
If look closely, there are blue herons in the tops of these maritime pine trees.
Photo: Rick O’Connor
And there are plenty of mammals. Though more crepuscular or nocturnal, you often find their tracks in the sand in the morning, and occasional see them. Raccoons and armadillos are abundant, not only in the forested areas, but all island habitats. Skunks were once very common in the maritime forest. I remember days camping at Ft. Pickens when they would approach you eating lunch knowing you were going to leave you food and move away! We encountered them frequently while hiking and saw them inside some of the fortifications. Then… in 2004… Hurricane Ivan rolled over Santa Rosa Island. A study conducted by LSU suggested the entire west end of the island may have rolled over 300 feet north that night. Since then, I have not seen a skunk. They may still be out there, but I have not seen one.
The round entrance of this burrow indicates that is the home of a mammal. most likely an armadillo, but there are others who burrow.
Photo: Rick O’Connor
In recent years there have been more encounters with river otters. They may have always been there but recently more tracks, and more encounters with live animals have occurred. There are squirrels and mice, out there. I have seen deer, fox, and coyotes on the islands. I have heard there are black bears. I have never seen one, nor their tracks, but know they have been encountered a lot recently in coastal Santa Rosa County and also know they are good swimmers. So, these reports could be true. I have looked for bats at dusk and have not seen them, but I am sure they are around. Especially near the forts and old live oak trees.
This is a ‘slide” made by otters using one of the old fish hatchery ponds. Otters are being seen more often by folks visiting the islands.
Time in these maritime forest will yield a lot of wildlife encounters. This is most likely the most diverse location on these islands. I would encourage you to dawn some good hiking boots (waterproof if you can), long pants (the green briar and cactus can be bad), a pair of binoculars, sun protection and water, and explore these amazing forests. Many of them within our state and national parks provide trails for easier access.
We have once last habitat to explore – and that would be the salt marsh. This will be Part 7.
The author exploring the maritime forest of Santa Rosa Island.
The dune fields of the panhandle barrier islands closely mimic those in the deserts of the American southwest. With rolling hills of sand (less the rock), small, spaced shrubs, and high temperatures, hiking through the dunes reminds me a lot of hiking the deserts and canyonlands out west. Oh… and you rarely see wildlife in both habitats.
There are many forms of wildlife that are very hard to find in our area. But we continue to look.
Photo: Rick O’Connor
It’s not that wildlife is not present, its just not visible – and this would be true for both habitats. These systems are more open, easier to spot predator and prey, and the temperatures can be extreme. Because of this the animals who reside here are more active at other times of the day and we are made aware of their presence by tracks or scat.
The deserts of the American southwest are ecologically very similar to the dunes of barrier islands.
Photo: Rick O’Connor
In winter the temperatures in the dunes can get quite cold. Being in the eastern United States, and closer to the warm Gulf Stream, the atmosphere is more humid and cold temperatures can feel even colder – the “wet chill” everyone talks about. Add to this the winds from the north and it can be an unpleasant place to be out and about. Many plants have gone dormant not producing flowers or seed, and the leaves falling or shriveled and brown, and you have very little for the herbivores to feed on. When conditions get like this animals have basically two options. One, hunker down, hibernate, wait for conditions and food sources to improve. Two, leave – head south where conditions are more favorable. Either way, you do not see them.
A hike in winter finds little wildlife moving about. Birds are common. Many have flown south from harsher conditions further north and seem to enjoy being out. Unless it is unseasonably cold and windy, you can find a variety of passerines (songbirds) in the shrubs and bushes of the dunes. Mockingbirds, cardinals, and mourning doves are often seen. There are also unique species more common up north. Christmas time is a popular time for the Audubon Society to conduct their annual bird counts. Many volunteers often log species rarely seen during other times of the year.
Mockingbirds are a common passerine bird found on barrier islands. Photo: Rick O’Connor
Mammals and reptiles are not often seen during the daylight hours. Some reptiles may come out of hiding on days when the sun is bright, and the winds are low. They will find a windbreak near a dune and bask in this sunlight for a few hours. But to see them it is one of those “being in the right place and the right time”. Daytime is short this time of year and they are not out very long.
Mammals being endothermic can move around. They are still not frequently seen during the daylight hours because the habitat is too open and hunting not as successful. There are also a lot of humans on our islands now and many mammals are not fond of this and tend to avoid us. So, they change their pattern of activity to other times. Animals who are active during the daytime are called diurnal. Those more active at night are nocturnal. And those more active at dawn and dusk are called crepuscular. During the winter many mammals tend to be more crepuscular because the evenings can get quite cold no matter what the wind is doing. If they are not hibernating, they will hunt for a few hours at dawn or dusk and then hide during the colder parts of the evenings.
During my winter hikes I have seen primarily passerine birds, and occasionally an armadillo. But most sign of wildlife are the tracks of raccoons, coyote, and deer.
Raccoons are common all over the island.
In the spring things change. The earth is tilting more towards the sun, the days become longer, and the cold air masses are met by the more tropical warmer ones. Temperatures and rainfall increases. These warmer temperatures are more inviting to daytime foraging for prey. Ephemeral ponds form due to the increase rainfall. Island amphibians take advantage of this mating and laying their non-cledoic eggs in these ponds while they are still there. The warmer evenings are filled the calls of male frogs seeking females. Mammals are still more crepuscular and nocturnal, but it is a time when your chances of spotting one during the daylight hours increases. Not only is the weather better but the food sources are as well, and some have been hibernating for a couple of months and are quite hungry. Hunger will push them to be more active during daylight than they would otherwise be. The same can be said for reptiles. Snakes moving during daylight is more common this time of year.
Freshwater ephemeral pond.
This is also the time for mating. It will be warm for several more months and this is the best time to raise a small offspring. The temperatures are warmer (conducive to growth), food more abundant (needed for growth), and you avoid the colder temperatures that can kill small animals. Males of these species are out and about seeking females and defending territories. Nesting birds of several varieties can be found building such nests. Turtles and snakes are breeding and seeking good locations to lay their eggs. With all of this comes more activity and more encounters by human hikers.
Let’s not forget the insects. Actually, you can find these creatures at all times of the day in all seasons. Insects are one of the most resilient groups of animals on the planet, and their high diversity – even on barrier islands – supports this. In the spring when the rains come and the ephemeral ponds are available, insects begin to breed and fill the skies. Spring is a very active time in the dunes.
This tick was a hitchhiker on our trip through the dunes.
Photo: Molly O’Connor
Summer brings the heat – particularly late summer. Like the deserts of the southwest, temperatures can rise above 100°F and it is not the best time to be out and about. Much of the wildlife becomes more crepuscular or nocturnal. I have noticed when doing snake surveys, that the snakes may be moving at dawn but by 8:00-9:00am, when you begin to feel the heat of the day, you find no more. They have moved to the shade or a burrow somewhere. BUT the lizards begin to move. Lizards are a popular food for snakes, and it makes sense they would be more active when snakes are not. However, the sand is hot, and birds are also predators. So, lizards, like the six lined skink (Aspidoscelis), move VERY fast across the hot sand from one bush to another. I even notice the passerine birds becoming less common as the heat increases – it is hot out there. Interestingly human activity seems to increase when the temperatures are at their highest. We tend to sleep later than most animals this time of year.
This straight line the sign of a tail drag by a lizard, most likely the six-lined skink.
The fall brings some relief from the heat. As the earth begins to tilt away from the sun and the days become shorter, the temperatures begin to drop, and it is more comfortable coming out during daylight hours. Humans are still around so many will still avoid daylight but it also a time to prepare for winter. Seeking food resources and eating as much as possible is the rule for many. For some it is also a time for breeding. Carrying for offspring in a den or burrow over winter is an option for some species. Because of this they are out seeking mates and may be seen during daylight hours when doing so. This would include some of the snakes like the eastern diamondback rattle snake (Crotalus) and the cottonmouth (Agkistrodon).
Coyote seen on Pensacola Beach.
Photo: Kristen Marks
Though dunes seem void of wildlife there are actually many species that reside here and even more than transient there from other parts of the island. Hikes through the dunes can bring magnificent sunrises and sunsets, just as you see in the deserts out west, and – if you are there at the right time and not moving too much – some really neat wildlife encounters can occur. But further back on the island exist the maritime forest. Here there are more creatures and more encounters. This will be the focus of Part 6.
The open sandy beach is one of the hardest habitats to live in on a barrier island. There is no where to hide and almost nothing to eat. Add to this the direct wind and waves from the Gulf of Mexico and you have a barren landscape with continuous climate and ocean energy. But creatures do live here.
The beach is void of plant life and takes a well adapted animal to reside here.
Phot: Rick O’Connor
Before we go further let’s define a few terms. The beach is actually the dry sandy portion of this environment. The area where the sand squeaks as you walk through it, the place where you set your chairs, umbrellas, and lunch for your day at the beach. The berm is the harder packed sand near the waters edge. The place where you like walk when you walk the beach (it’s easier) and the waves wash over every few seconds. Living in these two would be very different. Second, we will define resident and transient. A resident is a creature who actually resides there. A transient is just passing through but lives somewhere else.
As you look across the beach you will notice there is NO WHERE to hide from the elements… except beneath the sand. One of the more common creatures who lives beneath the is the ghost crab (Ocypode quadrata). This crustacean digs burrows down to the water table where they can keep their gills wet and this can be as deep as four feet. On these flat beaches they are easy target for predators. They have several ways to deal with the problem. (1) Their compound eyes are on stalks above their head to give them a wider, and longer, range of view. (2) They are white in color and blend in with the quartz sand well. (3) They are more active at night, nocturnal. (4) They are very fast.
The trick to speed is to break contact with the ground. If you were to ask someone “what is the fastest way to get to Los Angeles?” They would answer “flying”, and this would be correct. Birds are some of the fastest creatures around. They fly. They lift off the ground and do not touch again until they reach their destination. It does not get any better than that. Cheetahs are very fast as well. But if you watch them in slow motion, you will see they are basically leaping from one point to the next. They touch the ground very few times over a certain distance. They are trying to fly but cannot. If look at video of a human, or centipede, or slug. Not sot good. Crabs are crustaceans and by definition they have 10 legs. When they move across the surface, they usually use eight of those (two being their claws). The same is true for the ghost crabs. But when they decide to run, they only run on three of them. They raise the other five above their heads. This means fewer legs touching the sand which means they are faster.
The common ghost crab. Photo: Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences
Food is another issue. Due to direct high wind (filled with salt), plants do not grow on the beach. Hence the classic food chain (plant – herbivore – carnivore) cannot exist. So, what do ghost crabs eat? They are scavengers. They emerge from their burrows, usually at night, to seek what dead creatures the tide may have washed in. Post storms are particularly good feeding times. Surf fishermen along the Gulf beach often catch hardhead catfish and, not liking them, often toss them on the beach to die. In the evening the ghost crabs will drag these to the entrance of their burrows where they feast for quite a while. They eventually clean to fish to the bone leaving their “hard head” (the skull). When you look at the skull from underneath it appears to be Jesus on the crucifix. These skulls are often collected and sold in novelty stores as “crucifix fish”.
The bones in the skull of the hardhead catfish resemble the crucifixion of Christ and are sold as “crucifix fish”.
Photo: Rick O’Connor
Another prize for ghost crabs are sea turtle eggs. Sea turtles are obvious transients to the beach environment, coming here only during nesting season. The females usually approach the beach close to where they were born at night. She will labor her way across the beach to the first dune line, though some will lay theirs in the open beach area. She could spend several hours digging a hole three to five feet deep. Loggerhead Sea Turtles (the most common on our beaches) simply dig a hole. The Green Sea Turtle will use her flippers to dig a form for her body before digging the nest. She will deposit about 100 eggs before burying them and returning to the Gulf. Ghost crabs, and other beach transients like coyotes, fox, and raccoons, will find and raid these nests.
Tracks left by a nesting Green Sea Turtle. Courtesy of Gulf Islands National Seashore.
The wrack (a line of debris that includes seaweed, shells, and other flotsam from the Gulf) offers a variety of food for ghost crabs. Another who is often found scavenging the wrack are shore birds. There are numerous species of terns, gulls, pipers, and plovers that will pick through the wrack for food.
The berm is a tougher place to make home. You are in the surf zone and must deal with breaking waves every few seconds. As you might expect, there are no plants here, and very few animals. Those that do reside here bury in the sand knowing that the surf will most likely expose them and could carry them to another location. The two most common animals in this zone are the mole crab and the coquina.
The mole crab is often called a “sand flea”.
Photo: Rick O’Connor
The mole crab (Emerita talpoida) is also known by surf fishermen as the “sand flea”. It is a small oval shaped crab that has a hard paddle like telson to dig into the wet sand tail first. With its head exposed it will extend antenna that are covered with small hair-like structures designed to collect plankton from the water that covers it when the waves come in. The surf often exposes them, but they flip over and dig back in very quickly.
The coquina (Donax variabilis) is a small clam that comes in a variety of colors (hence it’s species name). Like all clams, it has a fleshy foot which it uses to quickly dig into the wet sand covering most of its body. Like the mole crab, it exposes its head into the surf extending two fleshy tubes called siphons that draw water into the clam where it can collect planktonic food.
Coquina are a common burrowing clam found along our beaches.
Photo: Flickr
Predators do exist here, but they are not residents. They would include transient fish that come close to shore waiting for the surf to wash these small animals into the Gulf. One of the more common is the Florida Pompano. Surf fishermen like to use “sand flea” baskets, dragging them through the sand near the waters edge to capture the mole crabs for bait seeking these tasty fish. Others would include an assortment of shorebirds like sand pipers and plovers who run to the wet sand when the surf recedes back into the Gulf probing for the mole crabs and coquina, then quickly running back towards the beach when the surf returns.
A variety of shorebirds utilize the wrack. Photo: Rick O’Connor
The diversity of life in the beach-berm zone is not high, but this is a tough place to make a living. Ghost crabs, mole crabs, and coquina clams have all adapted to living here and have done quite well. But more wildlife prefers the dunes. It is a little easier there and the next stop in Part 5 of this series.
There are a lot of cool and interesting creatures that live on the barrier islands of Northwest Florida. The conditions out there require they make changes and adaptations different from what they would do in a more upland or wetland environment. Some creatures are unique to these beach and dune systems and found nowhere else. But to begin this series lets first look at the islands themselves.
The white beaches of the Florida panhandle are primarily quartz. Photo: Rick O’Connor.
The name barrier island comes from the fact that they do serve as a barrier between the open Gulf of Mexico and the mainland of the Florida panhandle, protecting coastal communities from storm surge and waves of the all too frequent hurricanes and tropical storms. They are basically sandbars formed with sands from the Appalachian Mountains. There the wind, rain, and temperature erode the granite rock into its mineral components and wash them downstream. First in the fast-moving mountain streams, then into creeks, into rivers which eventually discharge into the Gulf. The different minerals settle out based on their size, type, and densities. Quartz is one of the less dense and is the dominant mineral forming the coastal barrier islands, making them some of the whitest beaches on the planet.
When these quartz sands reach the Gulf, they encounter longshore currents that are formed from the winds blowing across the open water. In this part of the Gulf of Mexico these currents tend to move from the east to the west in most cases. As the rivers reach the passes that connect the estuaries to the open Gulf and the longshore currents move the sand into long thin spits at the mouth of the bays running parallel to the coastline. In some cases, the sand bars form perpendicular to the coastline, and we call them capes. Initially still connecting to land, many creatures can venture out on these sand spits searching for food. Some of the sand spits are very small and seem to come and go as the winds and waves move them. At times these smaller spits may actually close off the opening into the bay as they once did on Perdido Bay and still do with the Walton County dune lakes. In other cases, the spits accumulate more sand, become long and can eventually break contact with the mainland forming an island.
From the Pensacola Lighthouse you get a great view of the open Gulf and the eastern end of Perdido Key. Here the pass separates Perdido Key (on the left) and Santa Rosa Island. Photo: Molly O’Connor.
At first these islands can be nothing more than sand bars. Barely above sea level, moving and changing very quickly, sometimes disappearing and reappearing in slightly different locations after storms, such as Sand Island off Dauphin Island Alabama. In others they are larger, harder to move quickly and may be vegetated so that movement is slower and the island more established, such as Santa Rosa Island near Pensacola. The creatures on any of these islands will need to be able to adapt to the new conditions. Some will be able to leave and return the mainland when they need or want to. Birds are very common on all forms of barrier islands due to the fact they can fly. In some cases, the distance from the mainland is not a far swim for those who can, such at Indian Pass near St. Vincent Island. In some cases, the distance may not be as close and the currents between very swift during tide changes making crossing more difficult. In these cases, the creatures who find themselves on these islands must adapt to the new conditions or risk losing their populations entirely.
Island conditions can be tough. There is a lot of wind, and this wind carries salt spray. There is little cover from the intense sun during the summer months. Needed freshwater can be hard to find. Some islands will develop freshwater systems, but others will not. And then there is the fact that it is an island. Thus, a finite amount of resources and space for each species, and, at times, fierce competition for those.
In Part 2 we will explore the different habitats that developed on these islands that available for the different wildlife that exploit them.
The wind sculpted plants of the tertiary dunes. Photo: Rick O’Connor.
Since 2005 we have been tracking and monitoring diamondback terrapins in the Florida panhandle. For those of you who are not familiar with the animal, it is a turtle in the family Emydidae. Emydid turtles include what we call “pond turtles” and also include the box turtles. Terrapins differ from the others in that (a) their skin is much lighter, almost white, and (b) they like salt water – more accurately, they like brackish water.
Diamondback terrapin (photo: Molly O’Connor)
The animals range from Massachusetts to Texas and within this there are seven subspecies. Five of these live in Florida, and three only live in Florida. In the Florida panhandle we have two subspecies: the Ornate terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin macrospilota) and the Mississippi terrapin (M.t. pileata). It is believed the that the Mississippi terrapin only exist in Florida within Pensacola Bay – more on that in a moment.
Image provided by FWC
There are literally no peer reviewed publications on terrapins from the Florida panhandle… none. And this was how the Panhandle Terrapin Project began. The first objective for the project was to determine if terrapins even existed here. We began surveying for evidence of terrapins in 2005 using students from Washington High School in Pensacola. The project quickly fell to myself and my wife due to the best time to do terrapin surveys was May and June. And the worst time to work with high school students was May and June. Between 2005 and 2012 we were able to verify at least one terrapin record in each of the panhandle counties. Yes… terrapins exist in the Florida panhandle.
The second objective was to assess their population status. To do this we used what I call the Mann-Method. Tom Mann, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, had developed a method of using nesting surveys to estimate relative abundance of terrapins within a population. Terrapins tend to have strong site fidelity – they are “home bodies” – and do not move from marsh to marsh. If you can find their marsh, you can find their nesting beaches. If you can find their nesting beaches you can use the Mann-Method to assess their relative abundance.
Tracks of a diamondback terrapin.
Photo: Terry Taylor
There are a couple of assumptions with the Mann-Method. (1) You are assuming every female in the population nest every year – we are not sure that is true. (2) You are assuming that each female will lay more than one clutch of eggs each season – we do believe this is true. (3) You are assuming that each female will not lay more than one clutch in a 16-day period – we are not sure this is true. (4) You know where all of the nesting beaches are – we are not sure we do. (5) The sex ratio of male to female is 1:1 – we are sure that is not the case. One study suggested that in the panhandle the ratio may be 1:3 in favor of males, another suggested 1:5 in favor of males.
Based off this model, and its assumptions, during a 16-day period of the nesting season, each track/nest would be an individual female. Using 1:1, 1:3, and 1:5 as your sex ratio you can get an estimate of relative abundance.
Another method for estimating relative abundance is counting the number of heads in a 30-minute period. It is understood that if I see different heads during periods of the survey, I may be seeing the same head, but the argument is that if I typically see 10-15 heads during a 30-minute and over time that becomes 15-20, or 20-25, the relative abundance of terrapins is increasing – and visa versa.
A terrapin swimming near but not entering a modified crab trap.
Photo: Molly O’Connor
And we now have a third and fourth objective. A third objective is to capture animals to place tags on them. Doing this can give us a better idea of how these terrapins are using the habitats in the panhandle, how far they may travel and how they are getting there. The fourth objective is to obtain tissue samples for genetic analysis. The purpose of this is to determine whether the populations in Pensacola Bay are Mississippi terrapins, Ornate terrapins, or hybrids of the two.
Since 2015 this work is now being conducted by trained volunteer citizen scientists – people like you – and we do the trainings in March if interested.
So… how did things go in 2022?
In 2022 we trained 47 volunteers to be survey beaches. 25 (53%) participated in at least one survey.
173 surveys were conducted between April 2 and July 31 at 14 nesting beaches between Escambia and Bay counties. Encounters with terrapins, or terrapin sign, occurred during 43 of the 173 surveys (25%) and three terrapins were captured for tissue and tagging.
Escambia County
Number of Surveys
Dates
Number of Surveys / Day
29
Apr 3 – Jul 31
0.2
Number of Encounters
Frequency of Encounters
Heads / 30-minutes
Estimated Relative Abundance
4
.18
No surveys conducted
4-12
Santa Rosa County
Number of Surveys
Dates
Number of Surveys / Day
58
Apr 4 – Jul 5
0.6
Number of Encounters
Frequency of Encounters
Heads / 30-minutes
Estimated Relative Abundance
15
.26
N=2, 0-49, X = 24
30-90
Okaloosa County
Number of Surveys
Dates
Number of Surveys / Day
43
Apr 18 – Jul 15
0.5
Number of Encounters
Frequency of Encounters
Heads / 30-minutes
Estimated Relative Abundance
25
.58
N=17, 0-32, X = 11
30-90
No surveys were conducted in Walton County
Bay County
Number of Surveys
Dates
Number of Surveys / Day
43
Apr 2 – Jun 30
0.5
Number of Encounters
Frequency of Encounters
Heads / 30-minutes
Estimated Relative Abundance
0
.00
No surveys conducted
0
Summary of 2022 Terrapin Season
Surveys of nesting beaches occurred in four of the five counties in the western panhandle.
Terrapins were encountered in each of these cand captured in two of them.
The relative abundance ranged between 0 (Bay County) to between 30-90 individuals (Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties) and was about 64-192 animals for the entire western panhandle (depending on the sex ratio you use).
We are sure that we have not found all of the nesting beaches in this region and will continue to look for more.
We are awaiting results from the tissue sampling to determine whether we have a distinct population of Mississippi terrapins in Pensacola Bay, but more samples will be needed.
We need to place satellite tags on some females to get a better idea of how they travel through the system.
And our relative abundance numbers suggest that populations in the Florida panhandle are relatively small compared to others within the terrapin range.
More needs to be done and we will continue to survey each spring. If you are interested in becoming a member of the Panhandle Terrapin Project, contact me (Rick O’Connor) at roc1@ufl.edu.
October is the premier wildflower month in the Panhandle. Nighttime temperatures drop, days shorten, pollinators emerge, and many native plants explode into flower. Of all the native fall-flowering Panhandle wildflowers, maybe the most striking is currently in full bloom, the Mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum)!
Blue Mistflower. Photo courtesy of Bill Booth / Natural Encounters.
Mistflower is a low growing, spreading native (1-2’ in height) found in sunny, moist areas of meadows and near rivers, ponds, and creeks throughout much of the United States from New York to Florida and even west as far as Texas and Nebraska. This common native wildflower is conspicuously one of the few native plants in our area that has blue flowers, making Mistflower easy to spot in a sea of yellow, orange, purple, pink, and white wildflowers. The flowers appear as little puffs of purply-blue due to the lack of ray florets (think of the outer yellow “petals” of sunflowers), possessing only disk florets (think of the inner part of sunflower heads) with long blue, fuzzy-appearing stamens. Mistflower is attractive to more than just wildflower watchers as well, it’s a magnet for nectar-seeking butterflies such as the Eastern Swallowtails, Great Purple and Juniper Hairstreaks, and others.
Great Purple Hairstreak butterfly on Mistflower. Photo credit Bill Boothe / Natural Encounters.
As lovely as Mistflower is in the wild, it’s probably best left for folks enjoy there, especially those who prefer an orderly yard. Mistflower will indeed grow great in moist areas of pollinator gardens and landscapes, requiring only ample sunlight and rainfall, but it is very aggressive. Its spreading nature via its rhizomatous root system and prolific seed production often lead to it becoming a weedy nuisance in more manicured landscapes. But, if chaos and fall bursts of blue erupting at random throughout your garden don’t bother you, by all means, seek out Mistflower for purchase through seed catalogs and local native nurseries. For more information on Mistflower and other fall-blooming native wildflowers, contact us at the UF/IFAS Calhoun County Extension office! Happy Gardening.
