Florida's east coast wetlands are historically low (or dry) due to the summer-long dry period we've been experiencing. That means there's a lot more open area to explore and plenty of interesting things to see if you can stand the heat. Along with the lack of cloud cover it has been brutally hot (near 100° F, 38° C) daily. One should be advised with Zika virus raging across the Florida peninsula to wear long sleeves, long pants, and a long hat covering all skin to avoid mosquito bites.
Above, a tiny, but deadly Death Cap Mushroom (Amanita phalloides) with a Florida Leatherleaf Slug (Leidyula floridana) chomping away at the mushroom, seemingly oblivious to the mushroom's toxicity In humans this mushroom might only result in an initial stomach ache but even eating half of one could cause liver failure and death within a couple of days.
For tight spaces, like this, I'm getting better at using my iPhone where the big cameras will not fit. See the same image below with my finger for scale and you'll see I had little wiggle room to get the lens under the mushroom's cap.
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While most east coast swamps are currently devoid of humans due to the extreme heat, this one was particularly empty. There was not another human seen the entire afternoon.
This hike starts at the Lake Ashby Park in Osteen, Florida and goes deep into the now-dry swamps toward the coast. The swamp above should be at least 6' deep as you can see from the rings on the cypress trees, but it is completely dry.
There are a few homes around Lake Ashby but further into the swamp there is nothing.
Named for Major James A. Ashby, who helped lead American military forces during the Second Seminole War, the 1,030 acre lake is sparsely developed and has very dark waters from tannins. There are swamps to the east and south with a tributary in the southwestern corner of the lake. All of these areas were dry or virtually dry.
There is a 64 acre park on the north side of the lake that is rarely visited.
Someone decided it was a good idea to throw lotus in this lake. Not. The lotus is taking over much of the north and east sides of the lake during this extremely hot and dry low water period. Should we ever have a cold winter it might kill off the non-native lotus, but cold winters may be a thing of the past at this latitude (28°55' latitude, 81°04' longitude or about 5 miles east of Deltona, Florida).
This gorgeous Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea) was doing some solitary fishing in the heat. Because of its dark plumage and lack of long plumes, this species was not a major target for the plume hunters that decimated the populations of most of the white egrets and herons in the late 1800s. During the 20th century, Little Blue Heron has extended its range northward and increased in population in some areas.
Florida Mussels
The heron would extract these Florida Shiny Spikes (mussels; Elliptio buckleyi) from the lake bottom, through all of that pond-scum-looking Lyngbya cyanobacteria bubbling up in the lake. He would leave them on the lotus leaves to cook and open, then go back and eat them. Clever bird. The bird obviously does not care about the daily bag limit on this species.
As a general rule mussels in Florida are protected and as such it is illegal to harvest them. Even with a license, the bag limit is so low that it is hardly worth the effort. This is because mussels found in Florida waters are in rapid decline due to human population explosion (see charts below).
Both the lotus and the Lyngbya were introduced to Lake Ashby as its only input source (besides rain) flows out of a creek from Deltona which also only has inland lakes.
This image shows how very low Lake Ashby is. No need for the very elevated boardwalk these days.
The boardwalk snakes through the currently-dry swamp
Virginia Creeper somehow managing to continue its climb to the top of the canopy
A lone boat stuck in a thicket of lotus
The promise of clouds and afternoon rains never materialized
A bridge over Gator Creek
There are alligators in these woods and lakes. The most infamous attack in this area occurred on March 21, 1997 when Adam Binford was killed by an 11-foot (3.4 m) alligator after wading into Lake Ashby.
It was very hot, as these images imply.
How hot was it? At 6:00 pm the National Weather Service reported the temperature in this area to be 98° F (37° C).
The country road leading to Lake Ashby from SR 415. Under the tree canopy it was probably 7-8° cooler than in the sun.
Below: A close up of the many seeds in just one lotus seed pod. If current trends continue the entire 1,000 acres of Lake Ashby will be nothing but lotus and lyngbya in a few years.
Below: A White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) fishing in the muck while standing in a field of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) another non-native, invasive species.
Below, a welcome sight. . .only a mile to go back to where the truck is parked. . . and about 10 pounds (4½ kg) lost to sweat.
We've Read:
Horrible Hurricane Hermine?
Or Will we Hardly Notice?
As of Wednesday morning, August 24, 2016, Hurricane forecast computer models predict a South Florida landfall of "Horrible Hermine" with wind speeds of about 109 mph (175 km/h or 94.6 kts). Of course these forecasts are subject to a lot of change over the next 4 days.
As of Wednesday morning, August 24, 2016, computer forecast models take then-Hurricane Hermine across south Florida or the Florida Keys and into the Gulf of Mexico for a second landfall somewhere along the US Gulf Coast.
As of Wednesday morning, August 24, 2016 most hurricane computer forecast models predict a strengthening Hurricane Hermine approaching Florida's Southeast coast Sunday-Monday, Aug 28-29, 2016.
Summer
by Cassadee Pope
Rolled in as wild and free
As a Clearwater Beach at 17 memory
Eyes blue as the July sky sent shivers down my spine
Every time that he'd smile at me
The way he took off that white t shirt
The way he looked walkin outta that water
And it just got hotter and hotter
Florida's Freshwater Mussels and Clams
The Emmy nominee sheds light on the "goliath event of my life" now that the series' end is in sight.