After a few nights in and around Mobile, Alabama, we began our drive back to Grayton Beach State Park on Florida's Panhandle via heading south along the west side of Mobile Bay toward the southernmost part of the Alabama mainland. Our goal was the barrier Dauphin Island in the Gulf of Mexico which we accessed via the long causeway.
View from my car window of the island's rainbow-colored homes:
We read the hardy Beach Heather plant can surprisingly survive in nutrient-poor soils such as beaches and dunes.
When Steven and I travel to the American South every summer we see Saw Palmetto plants that grow in dense stands in both pine and shrub forests with the stems creeping along the ground. The plants occasionally may grow upright. Its leaves are fan shaped and up to three feet wide. The sharp teeth along the stem give the plant its name.
From the sanctuary we made our way to the island's Indian Shell Mound Park, also a bird refuge, which dated from between 1100 and 1500. Native Americans, who roasted oysters and fished in adjacent Dauphin Island Bay, visited the shell mounds for centuries. From excavations carried out in 1990, archaeologists learned that these shell mounds were occupied according to a seasonal schedule, most often in the late winter and spring.
We were relieved we headed to wait in the ferry line after exploring the mounds as, by the time we arrived 45 minutes before the departure, we were #17 and there was only room for 11 cars behind ours!
Pelicans and seagulls bidding us adieu on the last spit of land!
After going directly to the pier to buy the limited number of ferry tickets available over to Fort Morgan on the eastern side of Mobile Bay in a couple of hours, we headed to one of the island's main attractions, the Audubon Bird Sanctuary established in 1961. Dauphin Island has been named one of the four top locations in North America for bird viewing and the sanctuary has been recognized by the National Audubon Society as being "Globally Important" for bird migrations.
We certainly adhered to the warning to stay well clear from the water and any possible alligator sightings!
We read the hardy Beach Heather plant can surprisingly survive in nutrient-poor soils such as beaches and dunes.
I learned that a bird habitat is the natural environment in which birds live and includes all four necessities four survival: food, water, shelter and nesting areas. Non-migratory birds occupy the same habitat year round while migratory birds change habitats seasonally perhaps changing between two quite different types of habitats. The sanctuary was the primary site of the protected maritime forest habitat.
Although the skies were heavy with forbidding clouds, we had a lovely time walking to and then along the beach.
The majestic Live Oak tree, another common feature in the southern US, only grows to about fifty feet in height but its roots can extend to about one hundred feet or more. Its wood was commonly used for shipbuilding.
On one part of our hike we spotted cattails galore as they primarily grow in wetlands.
We amused ourselves for a while looking at the scads of Softshell Turtles in Gaillard Lake which we identified by their flattened pancake-like shell, covered with a leathery skin. This type of turtle have long necks, are agile swimmers and feast on crayfish, snails, frogs and fish.
Though we heard lots of birds in the sanctuary, we saw but one. I'm sure experienced birders would have spotted many more! Even so, it had been a very enjoyable way to pass some time on the island.
Scientists learned the shell mounds contained many layers, some thick ones made up of oyster shells primarily with intervening layers of charcoal, fish bones, and postherds, i.e. broken pieces of ceramic material. The modern Choctaw and Creek tribes continued to fish and harvest oysters in the area until the 1830s. Artifacts included many pieces of cooking pots broken by prehistoric occupants. Stone tools were scarce, due to the difficulty of finding quality stone in the coastal plains.
I read that shell ring mounds were scattered along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and likely represented gathering sites where people came together at various times of the year to harvest fish, shellfish, and marine birds and animals, to feast together, and exchange goods and ideas. This site was very important to numerous Southeastern indigenous tribes who claim an ancestral connection with those who built and occupied Alabama's ancient mounds.
We weren't surprised when the clouds appeared pretty stormy as we'd had some rain while walking around the mounds, but it got a little worrisome when we were in the open water and the skies darkened considerably.
Non-tornadic waterspouts are pretty common in coastal waters but we were all agog as we'd never seen one before. Other passengers told us we had no need to worry about the waterspout presenting any issues fortunately.
Oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico:
Shortly after taking the photos of the waterspout, the heavens opened and unleashed a torrent of rain so we had to spend most of the hour long ferry crossing in our cars which was a bummer.
Though Steven and I hadn't been terribly enamored with Mobile, we were glad to have taken the back roads south of the city and then explore Dauphin Island before taking the very long way back to the Florida Panhandle.
Next post: Two more weeks on the beach - yeah!
Posted on August 14th, 2019, from the airport in Ottawa, Canada, after attending my friend's funeral.
Birds can be quite in the heat of the middle of the day. Janina
ReplyDeleteJanina, That makes perfect sense as to why we likely only heard the birds and didn't see them.
ReplyDeleteAnnie