State Marine Mammal: West Indian Manatee

"In 1975, Florida chose the West Indian Manatee to be the state's Marine Mammal."
The Young Naturalist's Guide to Florida; page 5

Manatees are mammals whose body structure has adapted to life in the water. Like all mammals, they have lungs and must surface to breathe every four minutes. Manatees spend about 5 hours per day grazing on aquatic plants and can eat up to 150 pounds of food per day. Adults weigh as much as a ton and are 10-12 feet long.

Manatees give birth to one calf at a time and their pregnancy lasts 13 months. The calf will nurse for approximately two years from the milk glands located just under the flippers.

This gentle giant has no natural enemies except people and has no defense except to flee---slowly. Even in the wild sharks do not bother manatees!

Manatees are considered endangered because their numbers have steadily declined due to loss of habitat, water pollution and boating accidents.

Lesson Plan:

• Read pages 5 & 37 in the The Young Naturalist's Guide to Florida
• Using photographs from selected books on Manatees have student identify the following body parts on a manatee: Eyes, Nostrils, Flippers, Finger Nails, Tails, Whiskers, and Mouth
• Using a piece of butcher paper roll out 10 feet of paper and draw a large manatee on it. Have children sit or lay on the paper to illustrate how large a full grown manatee is.
• Download the Manatee Puppet Craft, color and assemble the puppet OR create a 3D Manatee habitat craft
  
• Consider adopting a manatee at the special discounted rate of $20 through the club by identifying yourself as a school group.
• Watch this Manatee video online and the one below.

Discussion Topics:

• Who or what is the manatees only natural enemy?
• What do manatees need to survive?
• What can we do to protect manatees?

Suggested Reading:
Manatees by Kathy Feeney
Florida Manatee by Rod Theodorou
Manatees: Peaceful Plant Eaters by Adele Richardson
Manatees by Jody Sullivan Rake
Sam the Sea Cow by Francine Jacobs (illustrated story)
Saving Manatees by Stephen R. Swinburne (older students)



Online Resources:
Defenders of Wildlife Florida Manatee Page
Save the Manatee Club

Materials to Download:
Manatee Coloring & Activity Book
Manatees an Educators Guide
Manatee Fact Sheet
Enchanted Learning Manatee Notebooking pages
National Geographic Manatee printable
Manatee lapbook from Homeschool Share
Manatee Coloring page

Field Trip Ideas:

1.) Visit a Spring or Rehabilitation Center to view Manatees. When viewing Manatees be sure to follow the federal guidelines for watching manatees. A list of suggested field trip destinations is below.

2.) Volunteer at an event to Save the Manatees.

Places to view Manatees

Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park - From Wildwood, near the convergence of the Florida Turnpike and I-75, take Highway 44 west to 490 (West Homosassa Trail) southwest to Highway 19, then south to the park; call 352-628-5343

Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge-

Blue Spring State Park- Take exit 114 off Interstate 4 and follow the signs. Go south on 17/92 to Orange City, about 2.5 miles. Make a right onto West French Avenue.

Manatee Springs State Park- Manatee Springs State Park is located at the end of S.R. 320, off U.S. 98, six miles west of Chiefland.

Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge - One entrance is south of Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park on Highway 19; call 352-563-2088

Fun 2 Dive - with Captain Joseph Detrick; call 888-588-DIVE

Bird’s Underwater Manatee Tours and Dive Center - As with Homosassa Springs, head west on Highway 44 to Crystal River; call 352-563-2763

Florida's Native Plants: Native and Exotic plants

Lesson Plan
Read page 85 (Some of Florida's native plants) to page87

Read pages 131-133 (stop before the section on birds).

Print the Botany Handbook for Florida and either have it spiral bound or place in a ring binder with page protectors as a reference guide for use during your nature walks or remainder of the study. Look through it with your student to familiarize yourself with the contents. Tag any pages of immediate interest for future study.

Print the Invasive and Noninvasive plant flashcards for your region.
Southeast Region
Southwest Region
Central Region
Northeast Region
Northwest Region
Look at them with your student and pull out any cards that you immediately recognize.

Watch Invasive Exotics video online

Discussion Questions:
What is a habitat?

Can you name two common native plants to Florida?

What does it mean when we say that a plant is a native species?

What is a bromeliad and can you name one?

Field Trip:
Take a nature walk with a botanist or naturalist and talk about the native plants and exotic species you see on your walk.

Additional Activities:
Using the Invasive and noninvasive plant flash cards go on a nature walk and see how many plants you can identify. Create a bar chart or pictograph illustrating how many native and non native plants you found.

Print Florida's Native Bromeliads and see how many you can identify in your neighborhood or nearest nature preserve.

Draw a picture of an invasive and noninvasive plant in your nature journal.

Did you find a plant on your nature walk that you couldn't identify for certain? Submit a plant identification request to find out.

Print out a few of the Florida Native Plant and Animal coloring book pages and using photographs of the plant and animal color them realistically for your notebook.

Online Resources:
Identification & Biology of Non-Native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas

Florida Native plant society

Florida Plants Online

Download:
Plant identification service request form
Glossary of flower parts
Glossary of leaf shapes
Freshwater plant bingo
Botanical line drawings
Florida Native Plant and animal coloring book

Everglades

Surrounded on three sides by the warm tropical seas of the Atlantic Ocean, Florida Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico, south Florida is truly different from Florida's other special places. Within this southern part of the state is a vast aquatic land known as the Everglades, unique in all the world. It has been named a World Heritage Site, an International Biosphere Reserve, and a Wetland of International Importance.
The Young Naturalist's guide to Florida; page 13

Lesson Plans:
Read pages 13-18 in the Young Naturalist's Guide to Florida

Download the K-3 Everglades Activity Guide for ideas on extending this unit.

Download the Estuaries 101 Curriculum

Suggested Field Trips:

Visit the Florida Everglades

Visit Ten Thousand Islands and book an estuary tour

Activities:
1.) Download & print Everglades Bingo Cards to play with your students.

2.) Take a field trip to the Everglades. Try to see at least two different areas of the Everglades.
If possible have your students experience the everglades from both land and water.

3.) Focus on an animal or plant that can be found in the Everglades and learn more about it.

4.) Read book selections (see below) with your students. Include a report in your notebook.

Discussion Questions:
What do you know about the Everglades?

What would you like to learn more about?

Suggested Websites:
Everglades National Park

Video Links:
National Geographic Everglades Restoration video
**please note there is a brief shot of a woman in a thong bathing suit**

FAU Everglades Video
Focuses on wading birds

Additional Reading:
Everglades National Park by Wende Fazio
The Florida Everglades by Connie Toops
The Everglades by Wayne Lynch
Exploring Wild South Florida by Susan D. Jewell

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.