Big Bend Observations?

[birddog]

I'll tell you in a few years.

[big bend gyrene]

Will share two sightings this past week that brightened my spirits, though one I don't believe to be early as much as an enjoyable sign of spring arriving.

Saw a scattering of these along the roadside on a recent drive from my home near Lloyd while headed to Medart... think these are showing up pretty much right on time.


Bigger surprise was seeing two of these hunting a young pine thicket during a recent run from my house down Whitehouse road to Capitola to see the tornado damage... (it's my regular long run I use to keep in shape for marathon runs, but this last run gave an eye opening reminder of the power of tornadoes, even a relatively "light" one...)


Seems I usually see the kites showing up around my home once it really gets warm, around the beginning of May, but some internet research says they are expected "safe" sightings in North Florida by April 1. Accordingly my sighting is probably not any giant statistical anomaly... either way, I greatly enjoyed the natural beauty of both sightings

[Littoral]

The Kites showed up March 5 at the refuge. Seems early to me but, like you said, not statistically significant. I saw 15 Saturday and Purple Martins (3/15) that is a bit early.
The lillies are right on schedule. If I remember right they're Aeramasters or something like that.
By the way, NO Cobia as of last weekend out of Destin!!!

[birddog]

The purple martin scouts always show up at the farm by Jan. 20th. They've been like clockwork the last 11 years.

[Littoral]

The purple martin scouts always show up at the farm by Jan. 20th. They've been like clockwork the last 11 years.

That's right. As many houses as I've cleaned right after Christmas I might have remembered.

[birddog]

[BAD BEHAVIOR]

Ive always thought of wild animals as just that, wild animals. We as humans, try to predict the where ,how, and why of what the lords creatures will do at a certain time or a certain date. I believe that different species can be predicted to a certain degree and others are either straglers or adventurists. Kind of like us humans. I am a christian but I will say to all you Darwinians out there, that part kind of makes sense. I caught a cobia two years ago in the ecofina river about 24" long. I caught a grouper about ten inches long in three foot of water in July. I believe it was odd on both occasions, however, I would like to think that its not a fact of something changing, rather I caught a really lazy grouper that liked warmer water and a cobia that had just burnt a blunt and was out wandering about........Who knows??? I kind of tend to believe that they do what they want a lot more than we know, we are just fortunate to catch em and get a picture every once in a while. Just my.02.

[ak man]

I believe juvenile grouper use the flats and bays before reaching maturity and heading offshore. I used to catch a bunch of tiny gags in SJB while trout fishing . What's wrong with a stoner cobia, sounds like my kinda guy

[Littoral]

I believe juvenile grouper use the flats and bays before reaching maturity and heading offshore.

From trawling year around I know they're abundant in seagrass across the Big Bend throughout the summer.
Don't know why but I've also caught them a lot more by hook & line at SJB.

Ive always thought of wild animals as just that, wild animals. We as humans, try to predict the where ,how, and why of what the lords creatures will do at a certain time or a certain date. I believe that different species can be predicted to a certain degree and others are either straglers or adventurists. Kind of like us humans. I am a christian but I will say to all you Darwinians out there, that part kind of makes sense. I caught a cobia two years ago in the ecofina river about 24" long. I caught a grouper about ten inches long in three foot of water in July. I believe it was odd on both occasions, however, I would like to think that its not a fact of something changing, rather I caught a really lazy grouper that liked warmer water and a cobia that had just burnt a blunt and was out wandering about........Who knows??? I kind of tend to believe that they do what they want a lot more than we know, we are just fortunate to catch em and get a picture every once in a while. Just my.02.

Somehow I would venture that Darwin, of all people, would agree that indivduals
can be either straglers or adventurists. Species are another matter.
Plenty of mysteries out there to have fun wondering about and there always will be.
Science doesn't intend to prove anything(absolutely).
Gravity is actually a theory.

[gonefishing]

almost,water temp holds 70 4 days in a row you will see cobia.follow the rays

[Littoral]

Frozen Florida windows on the first full day of Spring.

[SHOWBOAT]

I believe juvenile grouper use the flats and bays before reaching maturity and heading offshore.

From trawling year around I know they're abundant in seagrass across the Big Bend throughout the summer.
Don't know why but I've also caught them a lot more by hook & line at SJB.

Interesting...I also have caught an abundance of baby gags in the Bay and never known why. Specifically there is a hole on the shallow flats if you turn right out of the Presnell's channel where they tend to hold in large numbers. Always figured it was gag grouper orgy of sorts...

[ak man]

Grouper have a really interesting life cycle. They spawn offshore, their larva swim inshore and mature on grass flats, some spend more time there than others, and then head back offshore. They also have some weird sex stuff going on, I believe it's called "protogyny," they can change their sex. I found this on a FSU website, it may be getting a bit deep, but it's interesting.

Sex change in groupers is a one-way street, from female to male. It occurs in a social context when fish form spawning groups offshore. For gag (Mycteroperca microlepis)-- one of the more important species fished in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. This only occurs for a relatively brief period of time during the late winter or early spring. At other times of the year, males and females occur in separate locations, with males staying offshore on spawning sites while females move to shallower water. Virtually all of the reproduction in the population takes place in the brief time the sexes are together. So do all the cues for sex change. Social interactions among individuals in the group allow some sort of assessment to occur of the relative numbers of males and females. If there are two few males, then dominant females will change sex so that by the following spawning season, more males are available.