I’m attracted to wetlands like a dragonfly. It’s the promise of wildlife sightings and the diversity of the ecosystems that pull me to them. While we had been to Rocky Bayou previously this was a new trail to us.
It was a pleasant sunny day with a gentle breeze. Within a hundred yards of the parking area the trail crosses a culvert with a wetland to the left and a shallow lake to the right. We were looking down the length of the narrow, water lily filled Puddin Head Lake, that was teaming with wildlife. The water’s surface rippled as minnows darted and turtles glided by.
Puddin Head Stream was originally dammed in the 1960s to create a lake in this watershed. That dam was removed in 2005 to allow the stream to redevelop its natural flow. Apparently beavers in the park preferred the presence of the lake and reconstructed a dam of somewhat loose debris and mud. The fact that there were pine trees arising from the water suggests that these trees germinated on dry land after removal of the man-made dam, but were flooded when the beavers built theirs. Not surprisingly, the trees in the water did not look healthy as pines typically prefer well draining soil.
What struck us from the start was the noise level at the shore of the lake. While we did not initially see them, multiple species of frogs were vocalizing, both from the edge of the pond and from trees, trying to attract mates. But patient eyes found some of them. For most species of frogs, only the males are members of the chorus.
The trail was compacted sand and crushed shells,
and wove through a mixed woodland along the eastern shore of the pond, offering repeated great views onto the wetland.
For half its distance the trail did this dance, weaving through the edge of the forest and then back to the shore of the lake, with frequent changes in the plant community. At the lake margin we enjoyed seeing Virginia Willow, or Sweetspire, in full bloom. It occurs in floodplain swamps, seepage slopes, and on stream and lake edges.
As we came to the end of the lake we noted some yellow flowers being held just above the water – Spadderdock. Its flower opens to a cup-like shape, as compared to the fully opened White Water Lily. Arising from the lake bottom, the flower stem may be up to 6 feet long.
This was our last view onto the lake, before the trail climbed up a slight grade,
and fully entered into the Sand Pine Scrub, a unique and threatened ecosystem. Scrub ecosystems are elevated and dry, making them ideal terrain for residential and commercial development. It is estimated that only 10-15% of original Florida scrub habitat remains.
Sand Pine Scrub is a specific ecosystem where the Sand Pine plays a major ecological role. Sand Pine is a somewhat rare tree, occurring primarily in two areas of Florida. The Ocala subspecies is seen in the middle of the Florida mainland, near the city of Ocala. It occurs in pure stands of only Sand Pine, and releases seeds only when the cones are exposed to fire. The Choctawhatchee subspecies is very limited and only occurs on the old sand dunes that border the Choctawhatchee Bay in the western Florida Panhandle, where we were hiking. They grow in mixed forests as we were seeing here, along with Slash Pine, Turkey Oak, Bluejack Oak, Live Oak, Southern Red Oak, Yaupon Holly, and others. In general terms, the mix of trees in the scrub were relatively low growing, often featured contorted trunks due to prevailing winds, and provided a tunnel effect to the trail.
The Sand Pine is a relatively small tree, reaching 30 to 70 feet in height. The needles are short at 2 to 3 inches, occur in fascicles of two, and typically have a slight twist to them.
While not particularly common in this scrub wood, Live Oaks are always notable. They are unique trees. They are called “Live” Oak because, compared to other deciduous trees, they are never fully bare of leaves. It only loses the previous year’s leaves after the new years’ leaves have emerged. In fact, the Live Oaks in this wood were losing last years leaves at the time of our visit. Because the leaves are dry, thick, and more rigid than most leaves, they make a consistent clatter as they fall to the floor, and crunch underfoot.
The other atypical thing about Live Oaks is their structure, for even in the forest setting their trunks do not grow straight up like most trees, but divide into large branches that arise close to the ground and extend in a relatively horizontal manner, reaching for patches of sun that filter through the taller pines. The somewhat horizontal positioning allows the bark to capture moisture and therefore they host a lot of mosses and lichens.
One of the more interesting plant parings in the world is that of the Live Oak and Resurrection Fern. Resurrection Fern is an epiphyte, meaning that it lives on another plant. It is not parasitic and does not steal any nutrition or water from the host tree. It routinely loses 75% of its water during dry periods and has been documented to lose 97% of its water during extreme droughts. By comparison, most plants die if they lose 10% of their water. When desiccated, the leaves of the fern curl up and turn brown. That is how they presented themselves on a mature Live Oak in this forest.
But when re-exposed to water they come back to life and turn a vivid green – “resurrected” from the dead. Museum specimens have been resurrected after being dry for a hundred years. The relationship causes me to ponder, “What’s in it for the Live Oak”? In my readings I did not see anyone specifically say. But perhaps the organic debris trapped amongst the ferns on the bark acts as a sponge, holding moisture, adding to the humid environment that the Live Oaks thrive in.
Another interesting tree identification on this hike was Bluejack Oak. The tree had untoothed, simple leaves – no lobes. We identified it as an oak by noting clustered terminal buds, a feature unique to the oak family. Given those characteristics, and the size of the leaves, we were left with Bluejack Oak. I do not believe that we have ever identified it in the field before – perhaps due to its rather modest stature of 20 feet in height and frequent shrub appearance, it did not garner our attention.
Amongst the scrub plants of the dune, we would occasionally find wildflowers.
Eastern Bluestar – it seems to occur as isolated specimens in the filtered sun of the pine woods in the Panhandle.
Oakleaf Fleabane – the petals can range from white, to blue, to pink. The flat, disc shaped central eye helps differentiate it from the asters which have a raised eye. Leaves from this, as well as other fleabanes, where placed in bedding to deter fleas. This flower was about 1/2 inch in width so you can assess how small the grasshopper was.
Another interesting plant that we saw along the lake shore was Swamp Titi (pronounced tye-tye). It was just getting ready to bloom.
The developing flower raceme was fascinating on close inspection. The green buds will open with white flowers in May, June, and July.
Its been awhile since we have done a Seek and Find. To be honest, this is a tough one. The little guy was about the size of a nickel.
It is a Southern Cricket Frog. There is a lot of variability in their coloration and markings. Identifying features are the pointed snout, a warty skin, and the somewhat triangular marking between their eyes. They range in size from 0.75 to 1.5 inches.
New Plant of the Day – we saw this flowering specimen basking in the sun along the shore of the lake in many locations. It is Buckwheat Tree. The literature says that it can get up to eighteen feet tall but it was generally growing as a multi-stemmed shrub here, five to six feet in height. It was the gelatinous appearing seed capsules that caught our attention. They are common in acidic wetlands across the south.
In summary, I enjoyed the views of the wetland and the wildlife it offered, as well as the walk in the Sand Pine Scrub. But I have to say that I underappreciated the ecosystem that we were in. At the time I did not have an understanding of the uniqueness and threatened status of the habitat – which I only came to appreciate with research after our visit. Rocky Bayou is home to 15 threatened or endangered plant species, including the Yellow Fringed Orchid, and 14 threatened or endangered animal species, including the Gopher Tortoise and the Florida Manatee. I can not wait to get back to Rocky Bayou and stroll through the woodland, looking for the many threatened species that call it home.
For those that are science minded I have included a link to fascinating ecological survey that was completed at Rocky Bayou in 2017.
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Photo credits to Peggy Juengling Burns.
Overview:
Location – 4281 E. Highway 20, Niceville, FL 32578
Parking – gravel area for about 6 cars that is on the eastern aspect of the park’s campground.
Facilities – restrooms in the campground and picnic areas.
Trail Conditions – 1.0 mile loop, packed sand.
Benches – several
Picnic Tables – in the picnic area which is nearby.
Kids – kids four and over should do well
Dogs – Dogs welcomed on a leash
Paired Hikes – There are two other short hikes in the park, the Rocky Bayou Trail and the Redcedar Trail. They are each 0.5 miles long and of easy grade.
Links:
https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/fred-gannon-rocky-bayou-state-park
https://floridadep.gov/sites/default/files/FGRBSP_AGDraft_TM_20171017_0.pdf