A barrier island home to Osprey and Gopher Tortoises
Honeymoon Island is a relatively young barrier Island, about 5-7 thousand years old. The north side of the park where we spent our day has pristine beaches next to mangrove and coastal pine forests. Hold on to your hats – this place was gorgeous and I took a lot of photos.
We started out the day hiking along the north island trails. Heading out on the Pelican Cove trail, I had high hopes of hiking through a mangrove forest. I had wanted to do the mangrove kayaking trail at the nearby Caladesi Island, but that was not in the cards for our trip. So, the Pelican Cove trail was my substitute.
Mangroves are specialized to grow in areas of slow-moving tide water. The tide brings in, and accumulates, fine sediment. Aerial roots allow them to take up oxygen from the air when they are flooded.
If you were not previously aware, by now you have now figured out that a hike through a mangrove forest involves a lot of mud, if not outright water. Note that we could not have fashioned a pair of proper boots between us with what we packed for this trip. So, after encountering a couple of really wet, muddy sections along the trail, we backtracked to a trail spur that headed over to the Osprey Trail farther inland. Our walk over to the Osprey Trail took us through an abrupt habitat change to a coastal pine forest. Good news for us – it was dry!
Ospreys nest in tall, burnt pine trees. Prescribed forest fires in the park help to mimic natural lightening-started fires, maintaining prime habitat for Osprey. The trail name delivered on Osprey sightings. We didn’t see the pair of eagles that nest in the park, though.
It’s hard to estimate nest size from far away, but Osprey nests can get up to several feet in diameter.
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