Hiking at Canaveral National Seashore

Usually I post about what I'm learning on various wildlife issues, especially things I learn and try to organize in my mind by writing about them. I don't post much anymore about my hikes. I'm going to try to write more trip reports about hikes or just wildlife viewing trips that Cindy and I make.

This is about a hike this week at Canaveral National Seashore on the south end.

Unlike most visitors to the south end of Canaveral National Seashore I didn't make it to the beach at all and that that includes Playalinda Lot 13. Check it out online if you don't understand that reference. BTW, Naturalist and Naturist are not at all the same thing.

But I did have a good time watching nature's spectacle off the beach. Lots of interesting things to look at while going up the road. The plan was to hike Eddy Creek, from the boat ramp to where it empties into Mosquito Lagoon and back, about 1.5 miles total. That's about my limit for water hikes, especially with the bottom as soft as it is in Eddy Creek. And most especially in midday August heat with no shade.

In the end I cut out part of the Eddy Creek hike. The water was very cloudy from the brown tide that's currently there. I couldn't see much wildlife in the creek. Usually I spend lots of time watching fish and crabs along the way. I could still see them, but just barely under the brown water. Boredom is my worst enemy when hiking. If I don't occasionally see something interesting I quit early.

Young Gopher Tortoise

There were several gopher tortoise along the main road before the creek. This one is a young one. The shell still has its brown coloring. They lose that at sexual maturity, at 10-15 years.

The highlight was the manatees in Eddy Creek enthusiastically making sure there will be another generation of manatees in Mosquito Lagoon.

Another interesting animal was the doves. I saw several common ground doves. They're always identifiable because you see just a little bit of red when they fly. That's always surprising when a dove flies and shows red. None of the other Florida doves have that coloration.

Common Ground Dove

My big miss was with a large group of sand fiddler crabs. These things are everywhere on the banks of Mosquito Lagoon. I saw a large group and put my little camera down where they were. Of course they moved away when I walked to the bank, but I thought they would come back when I walked away. I had envisioned a The Walking Dead wave of crabs creeping up on the camera. But they didn't. Only a few stragglers wandered by my camera before I gave up. The huge 'herd' never returned while I was in the vicinity.

But there were other things I saw but didn't get  pictures. Hermit crabs seemed to be everywhere. I saw several puffer fish wander by as well as a good number of horseshoe crabs. But the water was too brown to get pictures of any of them. I also saw a dolphin cruising through the creek.

Overall a very good day's short hike.