Palencia Salt Marsh

Before Dorian made a swing by off the coast of Florida, Regis and I went to the boardwalk over the Palencia salt marsh to check it out. In our last post, we posted some pictures of the clapper rails from that trip. Today I went back to the salt marsh late in the day while the sun was bathing the marsh grasses in a golden light. I took the following panoramic picture.

I went back to my picture from before Dorian in order to compare the water levels. When we went to the marsh before Dorian came by, the water was very high, probably because of the early storm surge, as well as the king tides. The following picture was taken in the same general area as the panoramic picture above.

I got a picture of a green anole. (Technically a Carolina anole, Anolis carolinensis). They are native to the area but are being replaced by the Cuban brown anole (Anolis sagrei). I don’t see green anoles often so I’m glad this little guy let me take it’s picture. In my Florida Master Naturalist classes I learned that the green anoles are moving higher in the trees as the Cuban brown anoles take over. This is their attempt to survive the invasion and takeover of the brown anoles and it seems to be working right now. They are adapting as best they can.