Blackpoint Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Blackpoint Wildlife Drive is a 7-mile auto tour through one of the best wildlife viewing areas within Merritt Island National Widlife Refuge.

It was created in 1963 when NASA created Kennedy Space Center. The refuge provides a buffer for space operations while also protecting key habitat such as wetland, hardwood hammock, and scrub ecosystems. Black Point Wildlife Drive and Cruikshank trail (named after wildlife photographer Allan D. Ruikshank) provide excellent viewing opportunities for migratory birds. Some of which are federally listed. There are twelve stops along the self guided tour (don't forget to pick up your tour brochure before beginning). The park is open year round from sunup to sundown, but is subject to closure during NASA shuttle launches.

Blackpoint Wildlife Drive is a major destination for birders from throughout the world and is part of the Great Florida Birding Trail. Over 320 species have been documented so no matter what season you visit, you are likely to see a variety of birds. The peak season for birding is the cooler months between October and April with optimum conditions occurring from December to February. During these periods, hundreds of thousands of migratory birds use the refuge as a temporary rest stop or spend the entire winter season loafing in refuge impoundments which creates excellent birding opportunities. During warmer months, after the migratory birds have returned to their northern breeding grounds, resident wading birds, shore birds, songbirds and raptors forage in refuge marshes, open waters, and forested uplands to feed their young.

Environmental Educational opportunties are available at the center for grades K-9 making it a wonderful field trip destination.

Tips:
Bring field guides and binoculars to help you identify what you are seeing. If you do not have these items you may borrow them through the loaner optics program that is available at the visitor's center.

The park is most active in the early morning or late afternoon, plan your visit around these times for optimal viewing.

Be on the look out for volunteers or guides who frequent the drive to assist visitors. You will benefit from talking to these knowledgeable and friendly guides.

There are many other wildlife recreation opportunities available at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in addition to Blackpoint Drive including: manatee observation deck, fishing and hunting and canoeing and kyaking. Don't forget to stop off at the Visitor information center which includes interpretive exhibits, a educational video on the refuge , bookstore and 1/4 mile boardwalk.

Considerations:
Buses or Vehicles over 29 feet are not permitted on the drive.
There is no fishing, crabbing or boat launching permitted off the drive.

Related Resources:
Merritt Island Wildlife Association
Nature Photography from within the Refuge
Canaveral National Seashore
Great Florida Birding Trail Guides
Florida Wildlife Commission Publication request form.
Birdwatching Basics

The Visitors Center, located 5 miles east of US1 in Titusville on SR402, is open from 8am to 4:30P Monday-Friday and 9A-5P on the weekends. The center is closed Sundays from April-October. Please call 321.861.0667 for more information.

Birds: The fun of watching birds

You may have thought that you have to be an expert to identify birds, but birding can be enjoyed by anyone, year-round in Florida, wherever you are.
The Young Naturalist's Guide to Florida, page 95

Birdwatchers are generally more observant than the average person. How else to explain the fact that a birder can identify a bird after, in some cases, only a brief look? In order for a birdwatcher to do so, they must be able to observe color patterns, call notes, overall shape, how it moves or flies, the shape of its wings and even the shape of the bird's bills.



Introducing young children to birdwatching not only exposes them to nature but encourages them to develop their observation skills as well as patience and concentration. Did you know that Florida has the third greatest number of different bird species of any state in the nation? As a Florida resident or educator you have a unique opportunity to expose your students to a variety of local and migratory birds using only basic equipment and bird identification skills .



Suggested Activities:

1. Go on a nature walk and see how many types of birds you can identify.
2. Learn more about the local birds you've seen and create pages on them in your notebook.
3. Participate in the Great Backyard Bird count (see below)
4. Can you name all of the birds pictured in chapter 19 of your book?
5. Create a "life list" with a checklist of all the birds you have seen in your lifetime. It can be detailed to include date, time, and weather or simple, only listing the birds you have seen. If you want to keep it simple, consider adding gold stars in your field guide to identify the birds you have seen.
6. Build a bird feeder and check on it regularly for visitors. Consider joining Project Feederwatch.
   
7. Become a member of the National Audobon Society
8. Practice using your field guide. Do you know how it is arranged and grouped? Field Guides are grouped and arranged similarly to a dictionary or encyclopedia. Once you've determined how your guide is arranged or grouped use sticky notes to divide the sections.
   

Suggested Reading:
The Burgess Bird Book for children by Thornton W. Burgess
Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock

Additional online resources:
Whatbird? online field guide
Cornell lab of ornithology
Great backyard bird count
Project Feeder watch
Florida Birding Trail
National Audubon Society Kids' Page
Birdwatching Basics from the Florida Wildlife Commission

Jonathan Dickinson State Park

This 11,500-acre park is named for Jonathan Dickinson, a Quaker merchant whose vessel shipwrecked nearby in 1696. Jonathan Dickinson State Park is located just south of Stuart, Florida. The park teems with wildlife from 13 natural communities, including sand pine scrub, pine flatwoods, mangroves, and river swamps. The Loxahatchee River, Florida's first federally designated Wild and Scenic River, runs through the park. Ranger-guided tours of the 1930s pioneer homestead of Trapper Nelson are available year-round. Visitors to the park can enjoy paved and off-road biking, equestrian, and hiking trails, Boating, canoeing, kayaking, and fishing.

A variety of wildlife can be found in the park including: deer, raccoons, bobcats, foxes, opossums, alligators, otters and over 140 species of birds.

The nature and history of the park comes to life through exhibits and displays in the Elsa Kimbell Environmental Education and Research Center. Programs for the kids, or for the whole family, are also offered here. The park also offers two full-facility campgrounds and a youth/group primitive campground. Visitors can arrange boat tours of the river and rent canoes, kayaks, and motorboats by calling (561) 746-1466. Located 12 miles south of Stuart on U.S. 1.

Online Resources:
Download park brochure or learn about available Ranger Programs.

Field Trip Tips:
Plan on spending the day at the park. Arrive in the morning and take the river tour, stopping off at Trapper Nelson's, take a picnic lunch break in the pavilions near the playground before going to the nature center where you can schedule labs in advance. The water is higher in the summer but it makes for a cooler trip if you go in the winter or spring. There is really no bad time to visit this incredible park.

Have you visited Jonathan Dickinson State Park? Share your field trip experiences in the comments section or by linking your blog post below.

Loxahatchee River

Loxahatchee means "river of the turtle," which is a fitting name for the Loxahatchee River which is one of the few rivers in the United States that can boast such a diversity of plant and animal life due to its various fresh and saltwater ecosystems. This river winds slowly through the Jonathan Dickinson State Park and was designated as Florida's first, "National Wild and Scenic River" in 1985.

This scenic river winds through subtropical cypress and mangrove swamps. Orchids, leather ferns, Pond-apple trees, red mangroves, sabal palms, century old cypress trees, and a variety of bromeliads (air plants) can be found along the river's edge. Otters, raccoons, bobcats, ospreys, wading birds, alligators and a variety of turtles including: Peninsula cooters, softshells and Florida snapping turtles, live along the river---hence the name.

Painting By Jackie Brice

Discussion Questions:

What are bromeliads? Can you name a few? (answer page 174; YNGF)

What does brackish water mean? (answer)

When a river takes on a dark color like tea because of the tannic acide from vegetation, what is it called? (answer page 24, YNGF)

Online Resources:
Loxahatchee River Historical Society

Field Trip Suggestions:
Take a trip down the Loxahatchee River by visiting Jonathan Dickinson State Park or Loxhatchee River Center

Video:
Of course no video could do a trip down the Loxahatchee River justice, but here is a preview.

Trapper Nelson Interpretive Site

The Loxahatchee River is one of the few wild and natural rivers remaining in southeast Florida. This beautiful river winds its way through both freshwater and saltwater ecosystems making it one of the few rivers in the United States that can boast such a diversity of plant and animal life.

It is here on the Loxahatchee River that you will find Trapper Nelson's campground. As a child Trapper told his parents that when he grew up he was going to find a place out in the woods where he could live off the land, away from everyone else...and he did in 1936. Although he was a loaner for the most part, for 38 years he became a local legend known as the "Wildman of the Loxahatchee" because he marketed himself to tourists as a modern day Tarzan who wrestled alligators (including a 3-legged one- named Stumpy that he kept as a pet), and trapped Florida wildlife that he sold in town or by mail order.

When you arrive at the Trapper Nelson Interpretive Site you will be greeted by a Ranger who will give your group a personal tour of Trapper Nelson's "zoo", guest cabin, woodpiles, Personal cabin, Chickee Shelter, and water tower. Everything is an original with a few things being restored as needed using authentic materials and tools.

Plants you will see:
Wild almond
Bamboo
Citrus
Mangoes
Sausage Tree
Surinam Cherry
Guava
Pineapple
Screwpine
Java Plum

Online Resources:
Trapper Nelson from Jupiter Kids History website.

If you are still curious about this local legend, you can read more about Trapper Nelson in, Life and Death on the Loxahatchee by James Snyder.

The site is open Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday from 9AM-5PM. River tours are offered five days a week aboard the 25-passenger Loxahatchee Queen II. Please call 561.746.1466 for tour times and information.

Have you visited the Trapper Nelson Interpretive Site? If so, share your experiences with us in the comments or by linking your blog post using Mr. Linky below.

The Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park

Devil’s Millhopper gets its unique name from its funnel-like shape. During
the 1880’s, farmers used to grind grain in gristmills. On the top of the mill
was a funnel-shaped container called a "hopper" that held the grain as it was
fed into the grinder. Because fossilized bones and teeth from early life forms
have been found at the bottom of the sink, legend has it that the millhopper was
used to feed bodies to the devil. Hence, Devil’s Millhopper.

The Devil's Millhopper is a 120-foot sinkhole that formed when the roof of an underground cave collapsed. It is now a National Natural Landmark and it's evil sounding name comes from the reported finding of fossilized bones and teeth at the bottom of the hole. Visitors can walk around the 1.5 mile rim nature trail or descend the 236 boardwalk steps into the Millhopper. Students should observe how the change in elevation affects the type of plants that grow there. There is an outdoor open-air Visitor's Center with a few exhibits and an audio/visual presentation.

Sinkholes and caves are similar to springs in some ways, for they are all "holes in the ground." A sinkhole can be shallow--less than a meter (a few feet) deep---or it can be very deep. More sinkholes occur in Florid than any other state.

The Young Naturalist's Guide to Florida; page 35

Three basic communities exist in this 63 acre park: The sand hill, the hammock, and the swamp. Pine trees grow in the highest area with the most sunlight and where the soil is dry and sandy. Because the widely spaced trees allow sunlight to reach the forest floor, there is a thick cover of grasses and flowering plants here. Broad leafed trees are found in the moist area of the hammock while gum and willow trees grow in the small swamp area of the park.

Besides the Millhopper itself, you will find many animals within the park including: a variety of frogs, lizards, snakes, birds and small mammals. The Gopher tortoise can also be found here and is listed as a species of concern.

The park is open 9AM-5PM Wednesday through Sunday and admission is $2 per vehicle.
We toured just as the park opened and had the entire Millhopper boardwalk to ourselves!

4732 Millhopper Road

Gainesville, Florida 32653

Phone: 352-955-2008

Have you toured the Devil's Millhopper? Please share your experiences in the comments or by linking your blog post below.