A walk on the wild side

Walking down the beach is a calming experience with the waves crashing against the shore and the shells crackling underneath your feet.

There are birds flying overhead and some even fishing in the ocean but it’s not often that beachgoers look closely at the abundance of wildlife around them.

Pamela Jones-Morton is a certified Florida master naturalist at Lover’s Key State Park who volunteers her time to inform visitors about the ecosystem in Southwest Florida.

“I love Florida, the environment and I try to educate people so that they appreciate it,” said Jones-Morton who received her naturalist certification from the University of Florida in November.

Every other Tuesday, year-round, Jones-Morton takes nature lovers on hourlong tours through the estuary, which includes a boardwalk and a two-mile-long beach.

The area is covered in black, white and red mangroves that Jones-Morton uses as the backdrop for her informative discussions about the animals, trees and affect of humans on that wildlife.

“It’s incredible to learn about everything,” said Jessica Halley, 28, of Ohio. Her and a friend came down for a ‘mom break’ and joined the tour group. “I really enjoyed learning about the trees and the interconnectiveness of it all.”

During the slow-paced walk, Jones-Morton talks about birds, fish, crabs and even stingrays that frequent the estuary.

“It’s a living thing,” Jones-Morton said. “People need to protect it. You can come and take all the mangroves out but it’s only a matter of time before the land disappears.”

She spends countless hours helping count birds at the park and building up the vast collection of shells she keeps in plastic tubs for visitors to get a closer look at nature without disturbing the park.

Throughout the tour, guests are encouraged to ask questions about anything they see. Jones-Morton gives candy rewards for those that answer her tougher questions.

During a recent tour, visitors asked about red-bellied sap suckers, a bird that drills holes in a complete and symmetrical circle around tree trunks.

“It suffers from OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder,” she joked. “But really it’s quite clever, it makes those rings and waits for the trees’ sap to come ... then it eats.”

Guests were amused at the guides’ ability to answer all sorts of questions including the mating habits of the fiddler crab.

“I loved it. She was very informative and we didn’t know so much about the environment,” said Geraldine Walters, of Tampa. She came down with her husband, Mike, to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.

Questions about shells abound in the tour but Jones-Morton cautions visitors about taking every shell they see.

As an anecdote, she tells visitors a story about a couple who took a bucket of shells home and found an octopus crawling up the kitchen cabinet.

The octopus and the shells were returned to the beach.

“I always say that it’s not good to take buckets of shells home. The shells animals leave behind are used by other animals,” said Jones-Morton.”