Category: Environment

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Coconuts: Growing and Opening Them

Coconut palm

Anna Maria Island is at the northern end of the zone in which coconut palms grow well. In fact, just across the bay, on the mainland, one does not see them because the temperatures can be just a little colder. Every once in awhile a very low temperature knocks back these stately palms on the island, or even kills them. But, considering the height that many of them reach, this does not happen very often.

The coconut palms in our yard are thriving. The only thing we do for them is fertilize two or three times a year with standard palm fertilizer sold at Home Depot and other similar stores. We marvel at all the different parts of the coconut tree, from the patterned trunk to the fabric-like webbing, to the squiggly branches of the seed pods, to the coconuts at all stages of development, to the gigantic fronds. Some people have their coconuts trimmed before they mature, but we enjoy allowing our trees to remain as natural as possible so we can look at this rich environment, all in one tree.

As hurricane season develops, we sometimes feel uncomfortable about the warning that coconuts can become powerful missiles in strong winds. This is perhaps the biggest disadvantage to growing coconuts on the island, and letting the coconuts remain. However, in ten years, we have not had any problem with flying coconuts, despite some major storms.

In more gentle conditions, coconuts eventually fall to the ground, one at a time. It is amusing to realize that the sound of a coconut hitting the ground becomes familiar if one lives among these trees for awhile.

What does one do with all the coconuts that come from a yard full of these trees?

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Shelling on Florida Gulf Coast

Shells on Anna Maria Island beaches

Every evening we walk several blocks across Anna Maria Island to the Gulf Beach, where we walk along the water’s edge as the sun approaches the horizon. It’s always interesting to notice what kinds of shells are on the beach at certain times. There are some “regulars,” which are almost always there. And there are some very unusual ones that show up only every once in awhile. But even the unusual ones tend to come in groups. In other words, if there is one, there are many. This happened one evening several years ago when there were beautiful shark’s eyes suddenly on the beach in large numbers.

The shells that usually wash ashore on the beaches of Anna Maria Island include spiny jewelboxes, which are white with spikes protruding. They look like bivalves, but are, in fact gastropods. Another fairly common gastropod shell is the lettered olive, which usually measures almost 2 inches long. We also come across Florida augers quite often, which are small cone-shaped shells.

A wide variety of bivalve shells is also seen at all times. One of the most interesting and charming is the little coquina, which comes in a wide range of pastels and earth tones. There is nothing more enchanting than seeing the live creatures in tidal pools, where they move with the inflow and outflow of the water. Little cat’s paws or kitten’s paws, range in color from white to black to orange. Jingles are translucent shells that come in these same three colors. About the size of a quarter, these round shells look like they’re made of mica.

There are several bivalves with remarkable patterns on them. Although it’s not unusual to see these shells, it is unusual to find one that is not worn. The sunray Venus may be the most beautiful of these shells, with a pattern that really does give the impression of sunrays. Both calico clams and calico scallops are quite common, too. The buttercup has an appealing smooth round shape, and is the color of butter. Less beautiful but more remarkable is the turkey wing, with one very straight edge and an otherwise roughly shaped surface, striped with brown.

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The Clean Beaches of Anna Maria Island

In recent years, the beaches of Anna Maria Island have become less pristine. Although they still compare well to most beaches, there has been an increase in litter. It doesn’t all come from those who spend time at the beach, but much of it does. In addition, trash from boats washes ashore.

The biggest problem is how this affects our precious wildlife. Sea turtles, who eat jelly fish, can easily mistake a plastic bag for food. We’ve all see birds entangled in fishing line, or caught in plastic, such as that which comes with six-packs of cans. There are many small pieces of colored plastic on the beach, from toys and containers and other objects that have broken up, but are not going to decompose for many more years. Such small, bright items are interesting to birds. It is sad how many pieces of plastic are found in the stomachs of dead sea birds.

July 4 always brings crowds to the beach—and litter. Especially before law enforcement cracked down on private fireworks, the amount of firework remnants all along the island’s beaches on the morning of July 5 was shocking. Fortunately, there are people on the island who walk the beach with garbage bags, picking up a lot of this trash after the July 4 celebration. They are not paid or organized. They are the perfect example of good private citizens just trying to keep the place they love clean and beautiful.

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How to Survive Hurricane Season on Anna Maria Island

There’s more to surviving hurricane season than knowing how and when to evacuate. Even in summers without any significant hurricanes coming near the island, I have noticed that hurricanes still interfere with life, and cause stress.

We usually are very lucky to get plenty of warning about every major storm of the season. The tracking begins very early, when they still are far from Florida. Although this early warning can save lots of lives, it also wears on the nerves, as we pay attention to every single storm for days and days. There’s usually a storm somewhere, so this means we are looking at storms and worrying about the results for most of the summer. If nothing else, it is distracting and tiring.

From June through October, we tend to obsess about watching tropical updates on the local news channel and on the Weather Channel, at ten minutes before the hour. Then there are all the programs about storm disasters. It’s enough to make you nervous even if no storm comes your way.

Then, if it looks like a storm might be coming your way, life is interrupted even more. At our house, we begin to pay attention to how many bottles of water we have, and to how much canned and dried food. If the predicted cone-shaped path of the hurricane continues to include Anna Maria Island, we then start organizing our important possessions. We make sure we have enough plywood for the windows. In the years before we had a mainland evacuation destination, we also would look around for motels on the mainland, and often we’d make a reservation just in case we needed it. The problem is that it’s sometimes difficult to know, ahead of time, exactly which nights you might need that reservation. And you might not need it at all. But if you wait, the motels will be full and there is the risk of having nowhere to go.

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Small Birds of Anna Maria Island

Palm Warbler

This spring we have noticed surprisingly large numbers of small birds in our yard and the nearby neighborhoods of Anna Maria Island. We become so used to the larger great blue herons, pelicans, ospreys, egrets, ibises and wood storks that the small birds have become of particular interest.

Parrokeets have made themselves at home on Anna Maria Island

Several kinds of smaller birds are permanent residents of the island, or visit here often. The loud, gregarious parakeets that fly overhead seem to fluctuate in numbers. We suspect that may have to do with nesting trees being cut, in particular, along the main road in Anna Maria. For whatever the reason, it was not unusual several years ago to see large flocks of these green parakeets overhead, or on a tree or building. Now they appear much less often.

The doves can be heard cooing, and often perch on powerlines along the street. They also perch on deck railings and seem to like our Bahama shutter supports.

Mockingbirds are the state bird of Florida. If you are going to have only a limited number of songbirds in your neighborhood, it’s wonderful if one of them is a mockingbird. This cheerful-sounding bird rattles off a wide variety of songs, giving the impression that there are many kinds of birds in the area.

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