Nature You'll see in April (4.16.10)

April is a month filled with life—baby dolphins will be seen with mom and dad in the bays and gulf, birds are making nests and protecting their young, fish are coming out in schools of small babies and everywhere you look, flowers, trees and bushes will be blooming.

Hang out at Merry Pier, the Point of Pass-a-Grille, in front of the Sloppy Pelican and Woody’s on 75th Avenue on the West side, near the Blue Parrot under the Corey Avenue Bridge or anywhere that wildlife gathers. Remember too to watch the skies. We have lots of visiting snow birds (literally) and seeing a flock of Ibis or White Pelicans fly over is a real thrill. As the following will demonstrate, babies are everywhere testing their wings, flippers or tails so watch often, particularly in the morning and evening. In fact, go to On the Water on stpetebeachtoday.com and see all the places where you can hang out and enjoy your time.

Weather for the month
Historically, April is a mild month. Waters are warmer, storms haven’t started yet and the temperature is lovely. The maximum temperature is usually around 80 degrees F with a high of 89 degrees in 1962. The low temperature is generally around 61 degrees F with a real low in 1916 of 45 degrees F. Precipitation is generally around .06 inches for the month but in 1948 we had 1.61 inches. This is the month when going to the beach, fishing and enjoying our area generally are at their best. For a real treat, take the Shell Island Shuttle from Merry Pier and visit a bird sanctuary, walk the quiet beaches and enjoy all the teaming life just across the channel from Pass-a-Grille.

Fish, birds and you might see
Dolphin: Since dolphins are all around at this time of year, it’s interesting to know a little about their birthing process. Calves are born in the water with the mother jumping in the air to dislodge her new calf. Deliveries can be either tail-first or head-first and the umbilical cord snaps during or soon after delivery. Sometimes an assisting dolphin may stay close to the new mother and calf. Although this assisting dolphin is often referred to as an “auntie” dolphin, it may in fact be male or female. This “auntie” is often the only other dolphin a mother allows near her calf.

The other fun thing to know is that dolphins teach their young to jump, fish and play. I was riding in a high-speed boat one day when a mother and her calf came along for some lessons. First Mom jumped a little out of the water as she sped along with the boat. The calf soon followed. Then Mom jumped even higher and the calf jumped again, a little higher this time. Finally, Mom jumped straight up and out of the water with great form and her little one jumped as high as it possibly could—Mom was obviously pleased because she nudged the little one and they turned around and headed home …jumping class was over for the day.

Fish you'll see in April
One day in April I walked up to Merry Pier and watched a man clean six really good size Sheepshead. I envied him. The first time I ate this fish was about 1995 and from that moment on I knew I wanted to taste more. The Sheepshead is a lovely looking fish with 12 or 13 black and white alternating vertical stripes along its sides from top to bottom. It’s teeth resemble those of a sheep, thus receiving the name. In fact their teeth and mouth are solid bone so they can be catchy to hook. The thing that fascinated me was the bait used—you can use shrimp, small fiddler crab or oysters but what they seem to like most is barnacles or sea worms. Two men came on the dock and while one kept a shovel at the bottom of a piling, the other man scraped the piling with a flat-headed garden tool. I thenwatched as they just snagged the barnacle on the hook and away they went to catch some more fish! I’ve also seen tube worms used which are buried along the seawall in the mud and can easily be dug up.

Now here’s another thing that fascinated me about catching Sheepshead. There is an art to catching these delicious fish. First you put your bait down by a piling or under a bridge or dock and then you wait for their initial bump. You do not jerk the line at this point. The fish has just checked out the barnacle, but if you count one, two, three, and then jerk even though you haven’t felt a thing, you’re very likely to get the fish through the mouth. So, go grab a fishing pole and sit out on a dock or seawall somewhere and test your skill against a fish that knows how to get away. The excitement of a catch is unmatched for the size of the fish, which runs from an average of 2 pounds to up to a 15-pounder caught in South Carolina years ago. Remember, you’re catching a great dinner!

The only note I want to add is that throwing the whole bony carcass of a fish to the pelicans is a potential disaster. All the animal sanctuaries say that the bones, which are no longer covered by meat, get caught in the pelican’s throat and have to be removed. This is quite difficult to do so next time, mulch the fish bones in a garden, throw it in a bag and dispose of it in a garbage can or throw it under a dock at night so crabs can feast. Whatever you do, please do not risk hurting our wonderful pelicans by feeding them bones when what they live on naturally is primarily bait fish.

Shells you might find on the beach or in the water
Angel Wing: When I was a kid shelling on the beach, the most prized shell I could find was the Angel Wing. The delicacy of this shell was part of its attraction and the fact that we found them so seldom was the other. When I returned home 38 years after leaving, I bought a house on Vina del Mar. One day as I was standing and looking down into the pit that the street drain causes along my seawall, I was shocked when a perfect set of Angel Wings burped up out of the mud! I could hardly contain myself, I was so excited, but even so I was most careful as I lowered myself down into the water and mud where many bay oysters live to retrieve my prize. I still have this treasure. These shells are so delicate that they are seldom found whole but every now and then you get lucky.

Coquinas: When I was growing up in Pass-a-Grille in the ‘40’s I remember times when Mom would feed us coquina soup. I loved it so I always thought she was giving us a treat when she’d take us to the beach and we would sift coquinas from the shoreline. It was 38 years later that Barbara Smith, another Pass-a-Grille resident, told me that my Mom, her Mom and many other moms served coquina soup when there was no money. Oh. Thank goodness I didn’t know that then. To this day I still love to make coquina soup. Here are a few facts about coquinas from Seashells, Crabs and Sea Stars by Christiane Kump Tibbitts (I bought this great little book at the Gulf Beaches Historical Museum on 10th Avenue in Pass-a-Grille for $8):

“Coquinas (pronounced Ko-Ke-Na) live jam-packed just beneath the sand. There could be 1,000 of them under your feet as you walk the shoreline! Coquinas are ½ to 1” long and are in the clam family. They come in a rainbow of colors. The outside is white with bands or sunrays of pink, purple, blue, orange or yellow. The inside is white with yellow, purple or pink. Each coquina digs by stretching its pointed foot down in the sand. Then the clam pulls in its smooth shell. The triangle shape helps the shell side in easily.

Coquinas move with the tides. From time to time, all the clams pop out of the sand at once. They ride a wave to a new place on the beach and dig in (note: if the tide is coming in, they pop out just before the wave; if the tide is going out, they pop out as the water recedes). Coquina clams live where the waves pound sandy beaches from New York to Florida and Texas. You may find bunches of open coquina shells still joined together. Some people call these butterfly shells.”

If you want to make broth, just skim up the coquinas with a net when they are above or below the shell line of the shore. Put them in a pot with as few other shells as possible. Cover with clean water just to the top of the shells. Boil for 5 minutes. Strain through a cheesecloth or clean nylon stocking. To the broth add real butter, parsley, garlic pieces if you like as well as lemon and plenty of pepper. Drink to your good health because this is good for you and a great treat on a cold, windy day. A final note on these wonderful clams…they are the very beginning of the food chain for many things so they have an important role to play here on our beach.

Sand Dollars: Although a sand dollar is not exactly a shell, it is an interesting animal that graces our sandbars. This time I quote from Florida’s Fabulous Seashells by Winston Williams and published by World Publications of Tampa (if you don’t have this book it is a must for shell searchers and visitors—you can buy it at the Shell Store on Corey Avenue in SPB):

“The sand dollar consists mostly of hard shell (called a test) with very little live tissue. Yet, this creature manages to capture more than its share of attention from beach-goers. The five small holes around the center on the top side of the sand dollar are “gonophores” through which the live animal emits eggs or sperm into the water. Notice the flower pattern on the top side of the sand dollar. This pattern is created by a series of very small slits, clearly visible on a dried specimen. When the animal is alive, tiny appendages are extended through the small openings to exchange gases with the water. This is how the animal breathes. The five large slots are called lunules. One function of these openings is to speed burrowing by allowing sand to be passed up through the sand dollar as the creature digs its way downward. They also allow food particles that settle on top of the sand dollar to be passed downward to the mouth. The teeth are arranged in a star shape just inside the mouth opening on the bottom. This arrangement of chewing equipment is called Aristotle’s lantern."

When looking for sand dollars, please remember to never take a live one. A live one is dark green and if you gently rub your finger over the bottom, you’ll get a yellow tint on your skin. A dead one is usually white, although if they have been caught in a pile of rubble they might have barnacles all over them. These dead ones you can take home, soak them in a little Clorox and water, then remove the barnacles and then put in the sun to dry. Some beaches in Florida have had so many live sand dollars taken that they no longer have them at all!

Trees, plants and fruit…what to watch for
Watch your milkweed plants this month. This is the only plant that the Monarch butterfly will lay its’ eggs on so they can grow into big, fat caterpillars. These caterpillars are about 2” long and are black and yellow and hard to miss on the plant. Be sure to look under the leaves. If you don’t have any milkweed, you might want to buy some and plant it in sunny places, away from the road and away from too much wind. They come in wonderful yellow and red and other mixed colors. Because we northerners have removed so many as weeds, it is our responsibility to replace them. (To see the lifecycle of a Monarch butterfly, click here).

Summary of April
Hope you’re spending time walking around the docks and piers of St. Pete Beach. We have so many good places with people talking and having fun, that it would be a shame for you to miss it. Even though I don’t know a lot about fishing, I always ask what they’re catching and pretty soon you’ve met a new person from somewhere else and that person is a potential friend. That’s what’s so wonderful here in Paradise—there are so many good people to get to know and the beach and water brings them all together. Have a great month.
Enjoy the weather and remember to start shuffling your feet right at the edge of the shoreline where you enter—that’s the most common place to get stung by a stingray. Otherwise, swim, walk and enjoy our paradise.

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