Desert Botanical Gardens: Chihuly

 

Today I was lucky enough to explore the botanical gardens in Phoenix Arizona. The Desert Botanical Gardens are full of interesting cacti and desert plants. Some of the thoughts which are conjured up when one thinks of the desert are sand, maybe a cactus, or a scorpion, but this is not the case. The desert is alive and there are a lot of things to see. It is as much alive as any tropical forest, swamp, or lake. It's ecosystem never ceases to amaze me. Each time I look a the desert I see something new or learn new forms of life I learn they not just live in these harsh conditions, but they thrive.



The plants were not the only spectacular thing I got to see on this trip. The event that is currently running in the botanical gardens is "Chihuly in the Gardens". This is a lot of blown glass sculptures throughout the gardens. These glass pieces are mixed in with the plants and they look amazing.  Some look like science fiction and remind me of shows like Dr. Who where alien creatures blend in completely unnoticed. These are defiantly noticed, but they look like they belong and were placed by someone with an incredible sense of design and good taste. The forms are mostly very obvious and some use color that is not found naturally in the desert.

Several pieces of the glass match with the gardens that are surrounding them. Some of them were just by themselves, like the wooden boat full of glass. It was tucked away in a pond with the reeds. It was a beautiful piece of art, with bright red, yellow, and green glass sticking out like octopus arms. I was relaxing to watch it in the water while the blue cubes behind it drifted aimlessly, bumping the reeds gently. It was a little bit windy than normal today as well, so the art moved with it.




There are many different types of cactus, I will not bore you by naming a bunch of them. I will just tell you that there are too many to name and they have families just like any other plant. They survive on very little water and a lot of heat. Surprisingly cactus are pretty sensitive despite their harsh conditions they live in and their tough exterior. The prickly pear are my favorite. Small and mighty. They have a lot of needles and they are small. It would be very easy to just step into them if you were not paying attention. They also have a couple of different colors and sizes.




A lot of the cactus have fruit that grow off of them and they can be used for various things. This is where Ethnobotany comes in. Ethnobotany is the study of how people interact with plants. The way people interact with desert plants have a very long history.  Some has been used as medicine, some as food, some as fuel for fire. Cactus with all it's prickly dangers has been very useful to people that live in the desert. They supply a lot of resources in a harsh environment.

Fairy Duster

There are other plants in the desert that attract bees, butterflies, and birds throughout the desert. There are even plants that bloom specially at night to attract bats and this is the way the plant is pollinated to reproduce. Most of the night blooming plants are white and pale yellow. One desert flower which was my favorite to see was the Fairy Duster. It was such a cool looking flower on a bush.






The desert plants already look like beautiful sculptures made by nature. The glass with them is the perfect contrast of color and light. They blend almost seamlessly in some places and don't

Where I went: www.dbg.org 

Here is some more pictures. If you live in the area this tour is well worth it. The place is bigger than it looks. 

Glass sculptures in the Garden

Agave

Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve- Fort Myers, Florida

Today we went for a walk in a nature preserve. It was a lot of fun. There were birds, gators, and wild pigs. This particular place has elevated walkways and they go into the preserve for a mile or so. The walk was extremely pleasant. We got there too late for the guided tour, they end at 1:30 during this season, but we did have a paper guide that matched up with numbers through out the trail. The numbers gave explanations to the things we saw through out the persevere. The park is open from dawn until dusk.

The one thing I really wish is I would have brought some binoculars, but I did use my phone to zoom in and see interesting things. The path is great for walking, but there are several spots to just stop and listen to the forest and several benches throughout.

It's a very unusual kind of forest, especially for people that are used to seeing northern forests full of pine trees and maples. I found it strange to see palm trees mixed in with the cypress, but that's probably because I'm not used to seeing them. There were also bright pink spots on some of the trees. It looked unnatural, but it's not, it's actually part of the bark, it's a lichen that lives off the tree.


There was a lot of wild life to see. We saw wild pigs, a gator, and tons of birds. In fact because we got there before dusk we saw the birds fly into the island to roost. There were a ton of white birds that hang out in the trees.  On any given day you can see all sorts of animals in their native place, sometimes there are river otters, bob cats, deer, or even bear.  Due to the fact that it is a nature preserve, and a little like taking a walk in the woods, you get what you get. The animals don't just show up like a zoo.

                                                                                                                                 It's kind of nice viewing wild life like this, because you never really know what you get to see. We heard the pigs before we saw them. We could hear them breaking sticks, snorting, and the splash of their hooves in the puddles. The gator was getting some last minute sun in by the edge of the lake, he or she was sitting peacefully half way in the water.  The animals enjoy this preserve and so did I.

This is where we went:

http://www.leeparks.org/sixmile/

Manatee Park: Kayaking with Sea Cows

Manatees are extremely peaceful beautiful creatures. They are sea mammals and they are a relative of the elephant. Looking at them closely you can see the resemblance. At my Mother-In-Laws home in Florida Manatees are regular visitors to the dock and in the river. Her place is on the Orange River in Lee County Florida. Near her is a place called Manatee Park. At this park you can rent a Kayak and take it out on the Orange River and get up close and personal with the Manatee.



Manatee are a protected species. They love the brackish water, it is where they spawn and it is considerably warmer than the sea. Manatees do spend a lot of time in the sea as well. They are very calm animals and spend a lot of their time eating and resting. Their diets consist mainly of algae and seaweed, basically the ones here in Florida are vegans.  When the weather is cold they like to "hang out" in the river even more, because it's warmer. The State of Florida is a Manatee safe haven.  The state has many laws protecting wild life, in fact Dwight explained to us yesterday on our Dolphin tour that Florida has more laws protecting wild life than any other state.







Never feed wild life. They get to comfortable with people and they have a tendency to get a false sense of security from people. Manatees are already running into issues with motor boats and people feeding and watering them creates more issues. They are mammals and they do like to drink fresh water, so running a hose or other source of fresh water does attract them. This is also against the law in Florida and can incur a large fine if you are caught.  I think our kayaks must have had algae built up on them because they attracted some of the manatees and several of them appeared to be licking the boat. I was afraid for a minute that they would tip us, they probably could have because they weigh about 1000 pounds at least, but then they were so calm and friendly. They seemed to like it when we talked to them. Also, I got to see one of them turn and dive and I could see it's belly button.

When they die they have to be towed out of the river by the DNR or police. They are extremely large and their bodies become a source for predators in the river. They also ship their bodies off for autopsies to determine the cause of death. The only reason I know this is because we saw one being towed. It's a huge research opportunity for marine life. In fact some of them have transmitters placed on them and you can see them on the manatee when they swim.  

The Manatee Park also has many lovely little walking trails and a river walk where you can see the manatees by land. We walked the paths after our Kayaking and discovered uses of indigenous plants and saw many small animals wandering around.  It was a great adventure taking the kayak out and the only complaint we had was too much sun shine. (I think back home in Michigan, where it is currently negative 10 degrees Fahrenheit,  I hear people saying, "Boo-Hoo" sarcastically. Seriously though, I did get sunburned. lol)

Here's where we went:

http://www.leeparks.org/facility-info/facility-details.cfm?Project_Num=0088

And of course a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJVC5HN2BGM

Chubby's Tropical Adventure: Dolphin Tours in South Florida

Nervous Nellie's

Today I was lucky enough to go on a dolphin tour. It was pretty exciting. Our faithful tour guide, Dwight, once again took us on an exciting tour, this time on a boat through part of the Gulf of Mexico, to see Dolphins.  We started the day with shopping on Fort Myers beach and a delicious lunch at Nervous Nellie's.  There are so many things to see on Ft. Myers beach and it was such a beautiful day to walk around. The performance artists were out and they were painted gold and silver, and the fisherman on the pier were feeding the pelicans. After walking and shopping it was time to go see dolphins!

Dwight 

Dwight's tours are always informational and he understands more about Florida's natural history than any person I've ever met. Dwight was our tour guide in the Everglades a year ago and he was just as wonderful as our Captain on our Dolphin Tour.  He told us about the many laws in Florida that prohibit people from touching or swimming with dolphins. He also explained that they travel in really large pods and they are serious carnivores. In fact they bite people more than sharks do, so these happy laughing dolphin image isn't 100% accurate, but they are still delightful to watch them jump out of the water and play in the boat's wake.

Mangroves

Dolphin next to the boat 

As we took the boat out Dwight showed us the Mangroves. He explained to us the importance of Mangroves and how they protect the land against hurricanes. Mangroves look like islands but they are not, all they are is a lot of little trees and root systems. Many animals are housed by these ecosystems, especially birds.  There was a lot of birds on our tour. We saw Cormorants, gulls, pelicans, and Sandpipers. They were everywhere.  Diving for fish and landing like bombs on the water near our boat. How they can see those little tiny fish from so high up in the air is truly amazing.

We not only saw Mangroves but he explained the importance of the estuary and the brackish water. Estuaries are a mixture of saltwater and fresh water and they are breeding grounds for many types of animals. Brackish water is what is called when saltwater and fresh water mix.  Dolphins, sharks, and all sorts of baby sea animals are born in the estuaries each year. The salt concentration in the water is less and it's warmer because it's more shallow, this make ideal conditions for breeding.

Pelicans on the sand bar

On our way back the tide had gone out and there were many exposed sand bars. This is what happens in the evening and many birds, like pelicans like to stand on them.

Dwight mentioned on many of his tours he has seen tortoises and sharks. There are a lot of things to see on the sea I suppose, I truly enjoyed my time watching those dolphins. I hope you can enjoy some pictures of them as well.

This is where we went: 

They look menacing like sharks, but these are dolphins... 

http://www.chubbystropicaladventures.com/

http://nervousnellies.net/

They love to jump in the waves 

And the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CHbeAsgkaY&feature=youtu.be

They jump very high out of the water 

The nest of a Cormorant