Blad Point State Park

The best way to travel, I get to wave at everyone passing!

Occasionally, my friends are invited to go to other parks.  Every now and then I manage to stowaway and get to go too!

My friend Rebekah recently went to Bald Point State Park to help them find plants for a program they were putting together.  I had never been to Bald Point before and so tagged along, hiding in a very sneaky spot!

Bald Point is a lovely park that has many different types of ecosystems including forests, marshes, lakes and a beach.  While we were there I got to see so many different plants and animals.  

Sarah and I riding in the gator!

I didn't want to have to sneak around once we got there, so I popped out and jumped right in helping them find things.  They were quite grateful for another set of eyes looking things.  We were quite lucky in having a vehicle to drive around looking for some of the plants, Bald Point is a big park!  We were given a map, shown a few areas that previously held several species they were looking for, and off we went exploring the park!  I tried driving the gator a couple times, but they thought I was a better spotter.  I hung out with Sarah a lot and helped find several plants and animals!

This is a beautiful flower is called Orange Milkwort and is common to many of the parks I have been to.  It's flowering head is shaped like a cylinder and has bright orange petals!  We saw this plant mainly around the scrub forest and flatwoods areas.  Parks that have lots of different ecosystems have lots of plants and animals that live in them!

 This was such a find!  This is an Osprey that just caught some lunch!  We were standing on a boardwalk that looked over the marshes when he came flying overhead and landed in a tree next to us.  He sat there for a long time drying his wings before he began to chow-down.  Ospreys are also common to many parks by the water, their diet is fish from salt and fresh waters.  We see these often at Henderson Beach!


At the beach side of the park, we came across several "creatures" while looking for plants.  They were very strange looking, we weren't even sure what they were!  After much discussion, poking, and prodding (and later some research) we figured out this was Sea Pork.  It is an animal that is related to certain types of primitive fish, like hagfish and lampreys.  It has a thick outer skin and is actually made up of hundreds of individuals living in a colony together!

I really enjoyed visiting Bald Point and was excited to see all the different environments, plants, and animals.  I had so much fun with Sarah and Rebekah and can't wait to share more adventures with all my friends!

Bye bye salt flats!