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It’s easy to forget about nature when you live in an urban environment. Nature can seem like something you visit on vacations to national parks. Or something you watch on Animal Planet. But even in the biggest cities, nature is a real presence. You don’t have to go to Central Park to find nature in New York, one of my favorite cities in the world. New York is filled with trees and birds and squirrels. And every now and then, a snowstorm shuts the place down, just to emphasize who's the real boss.
For an urbanized area, South Florida has an unusually active natural world quite apart from the Everglades. I was thinking about that because last night I experienced my first turtle walk. At John U. Lloyd Beach State Park in Dania Beach, we went looking for one of the many sea turtles that come out of the ocean to lay their eggs on our shores. South Florida is a key breeding ground for sea turtles, which arrive here each year at this time by the hundreds. The night before at the same park, seven sea turtles were spotted. And last night? Exactly no sea turtles were spotted. Bummer. But we did learn a lot about these creatures from a video shown to our group on the beach. And we did get to see some turtle nests. And it was a lovely night to stand around the seashore, scouring the waves for huge turtles. I suspected that all the turtles were watching us from the water, waiting for the tourists to leave before trudging on land. Some kind of Far Side cartoon brought to life.
It didn’t really matter. The evening was fun anyway. And it made me think. Those of us who live in a busy metropolis like greater Fort Lauderdale tend to feel as if nature has been tamed somehow. Minimized and shoved into the background. But look around. Our front lawns are filled with ibis pecking for bugs. Our canals are teeming with tarpon. Our coastline remains a refuge for gulls and pelicans and our ocean is still a playground for schools of dolphin. Just this morning, I watched an iguana climb a coconut palm outside my patio. Nature is everywhere in South Florida. Real, untamed nature. To me, that is one of this region’s charms. Even if that means the sea turtles don’t show up on cue to please curious visitors. As one park ranger told me, “This isn’t Disney World.” Thank goodness for that. I’ve never liked Orlando all that much.
For an urbanized area, South Florida has an unusually active natural world quite apart from the Everglades. I was thinking about that because last night I experienced my first turtle walk. At John U. Lloyd Beach State Park in Dania Beach, we went looking for one of the many sea turtles that come out of the ocean to lay their eggs on our shores. South Florida is a key breeding ground for sea turtles, which arrive here each year at this time by the hundreds. The night before at the same park, seven sea turtles were spotted. And last night? Exactly no sea turtles were spotted. Bummer. But we did learn a lot about these creatures from a video shown to our group on the beach. And we did get to see some turtle nests. And it was a lovely night to stand around the seashore, scouring the waves for huge turtles. I suspected that all the turtles were watching us from the water, waiting for the tourists to leave before trudging on land. Some kind of Far Side cartoon brought to life.
It didn’t really matter. The evening was fun anyway. And it made me think. Those of us who live in a busy metropolis like greater Fort Lauderdale tend to feel as if nature has been tamed somehow. Minimized and shoved into the background. But look around. Our front lawns are filled with ibis pecking for bugs. Our canals are teeming with tarpon. Our coastline remains a refuge for gulls and pelicans and our ocean is still a playground for schools of dolphin. Just this morning, I watched an iguana climb a coconut palm outside my patio. Nature is everywhere in South Florida. Real, untamed nature. To me, that is one of this region’s charms. Even if that means the sea turtles don’t show up on cue to please curious visitors. As one park ranger told me, “This isn’t Disney World.” Thank goodness for that. I’ve never liked Orlando all that much.
posted by LauderBLOGGER at 12:29 PM
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