Today my mom and I went to the Deering Estate for my Environmental Conservation class but when we got there we found out it is not being held until April 15th. So we decided to walk around the grounds. It was not too hot, which was nice.

 

We heard some birds in the trees above us. There were two red cardinals calling to each other. Then I walked over to another tree and saw a Red Bellied Woodpecker.

We went walking around the boat turnaround basin to see the manatees that are always there. There were flying fish or really Mullet, I couldn’t get a picture of them, they were too fast. My brother, Finn, loves the flying fish and I wanted to get a picture to show him. He says they fly but I say they glide. They actually just jump out of the water all the time. If they jump alone they are trying to get a parasite off of them when they hit the water going back in or if they jump all together they are maybe trying to get away from something.

We also saw sergeant majors, yellow butterfly fish, two puffers – one spiny puffer and one spotted puffer. I couldn’t get a picture of the spiny puffer either.

 

 

As we were walking around something caught my eye. I looked over and thought it was fish. But guess what, it was a baby nurse shark! Right at the shore line. It was about four or five feet long. So I guess it was not a baby but a teenager.

When we left we walked past a tree that I thought I should show you because most people don’t get to see trees like this normally. We have them here in South Florida everywhere, even in my backyard. They are called Banyan trees but they are Lofty Fig trees or Ficus. Their roots grow down from the branches and look like strands of hard dark red hair and then they become like tree trunks. They are fun to climb and hide in with your friends.