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The BLUE HOLE
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Did you know that the Blue Hole is the
most visited spot on Big Pine? Both locals and tourists flock to the water's
edge to spy a turtle, alligator or green heron.
The Blue Hole is an abandoned limestone quarry.
The rock material removed was used to build many of the original roads
on Big Pine Key. Since there is no inlet or outlet to the Blue Hole,
its existence is dependent on rainfall and from salt water which flows
through the surrounding limestone.
Fish, turtles, alligators and the occasional wading
bird can be found in the Blue Hole. Alligators can often be seen
hugging the shoreline, lazily sunning themselves.
Subject: Birding at the Blue Hole this past Saturday!
From: Carlene Edwards <shetheboss@bellsouth.net>
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:10:28 -0500
I just wanted to tell you the bird sightings at the Blue Hole this past
Saturday...I saw a Swallow-tailed Kite as I was driving up to the parking lot
(around 11am), and then while there, a Black Vulture was flying with a bunch of
Turkey Vultures, and then a Wood Stork flew over! Some of the other sightings
include a Bald Eagle, Kingfisher, White-eyed Vireo, Common Yellowthroat, Green
Herons, Ospreys, etc.
It was a great day for birding...that is my first Wood Stork in the Keys!
Life is good!
Carlene
From: Carlene Edwards [shetheboss@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Sunday, May 17, 2009 10:09 PM
Greetings again from the Blue Hole! It is so hard to believe that, a little over
a year ago, Bacardi, our 9' male alligator, passed away from swallowing a 2"x3"
plastic toy turtle..
The 6' female he was "courting" is still in the Blue Hole, and she has been
bellowing (a mating call) for a couple of months now. We've been hoping that a
male would hear her and move in to mate with her.
This past Saturday, I worked my usual shift of about 6 hours...when I arrived,
the gator was on the far side, half way out of the water, with a turtle in her
mouth. It provided a pretty exciting experience for any visitors who happened to
come during this time, as I set the spotting scope on the action. She stayed in
that one spot for about an hour, and then swam to the right side (east side)
behind the reeds, with the dead turtle still in her mouth. I explained to the
visitors that it was a rather large turtle, and she would have to maneuver it to
the right spot in her mouth, to get the leverage needed to break the shell.
Later, she swam back to the original spot, and after 3 hours had passed, she
finally consumed the entire meal.
The problem was, she wasn't the "she" that we have watched for two years. This
was a slightly larger alligator, maybe 7-8' long. Our little female came
swimming out shortly afterwards, so we now have TWO GATORS back in the Blue
Hole! I walked over in the evening, and watched as they swam together (a
courtship display), so evidently the new "she" is a "he"!
It is also breeding season for our Green Herons. There are a few active nests,
the first of which has chicks that just hatched out this week. I will try to get
pictures if any build their nests closer to the deck; so far the nests can only
be seen with binoculars.
If you look over the edge of the observation deck, you will see beautiful, tiny
fish that have iridescent turquoise tails and red heads. These are male Sailfin
Mollies in their glorious breeding colors, trying to impress the females. Love
is in the air for sure!
Our donation box, on the observation deck, was stolen the first week of April.
Someone had been trying to break into it and couldn't, so they just ripped the
whole thing out of the deck! It has been recovered, with no money of course, so
hopefully we will be reinstalling it soon...this time I hope we can set it in
concrete!
On another note, there was a commentary in Key West The Newspaper this week by a
Kimberley Denney titled, "Finally. Justice For Alligator Killer." If you
remember, Cola, Bacardi's previous 6' mate for several years, was viciously
tortured and killed in March of 2006 by some local young men. Two of those men
pleaded guilty to alligator poaching, and served six months in the county jail,
plus 5 years probation. Well, Tim Goll has violated his probation not once, but
twice, and, well, just read her commentary. This young lady doesn't hold back on
her feelings at all, and I say, "Well done, Kimberley"!
http://www.kwtn-blue.com/2009/05/kimberley-denney-finally-justice-for-alligator-killer.html
Most of our wonderful volunteers have gone back north for the summer, so we are
down to a skeleton crew. If anyone is interested in spending just a few hours a
week, volunteering at the Blue Hole, watching Mother Nature in all her glory,
please contact me at 305-872-1473 or Jim Bell at 305-872-0774. Everyone have a
great summer!
Do not feed or molest the alligators––it is
dangerous and illegal! Access for the disabled is provided.
SEND US YOUR BLUE HOLE PICTURES, AND WE WILL POST THEM --
HERE!!!
Click
John Grubka for some pictures taken by John Grubka, some of which
were published in the Keynoter Sunday magazine.
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From: Carlene Edwards [shetheboss@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 7:28 PM
Greetings from the Blue Hole! Some of our volunteers are back for the
winter, or will be shortly, and we welcome you back! Currently there is
still just one alligator residing in the Blue Hole; she is the 6' female
that was courting Bacardi, right up to the day he passed away;
unfortunately, either they never mated, or the pregnancy didn't take. A
couple of our volunteers saw a second female with Bacardi, but she
hasn't been seen in a while, so hopefully she got pregnant and moved on
to raise her babies somewhere else. Let's hope Bacardi's legacy will
live on through those babies!
We have a couple more signs that have been installed, explaining, in
more detail, why one should never feed an alligator. Kudos to Ann
Moorkill for obtaining these signs from another refuge, and kudos to
Russ Costa and Ben Edwards for installing them! There are other
improvements that will be coming shortly, such as security cameras, a
motion sensor light, and a bulletin board to post happenings, sightings,
etc. Hopefully all of these improvements will deter some of the type
crimes that have been committed there in the past, such as poaching
gators and vandalism of storage box.
Jim Bell recently sent out an email, inviting everyone to participate in
a refuge volunteer meeting on Wed., Jan. 21, either from 9am - 10:30 am
or at 7:30 - 9:00 pm, both at
the refuge's administrative office. I hope all the Blue Hole volunteers
can come to one of these meetings, and maybe in the future, we can start
having periodic meetings for the Blue Hole. If anyone is interested in
volunteering there, please contact me at 305-872-1473. We still have
several times that haven't been filled yet, and it would be wonderful to
have the Blue Hole staffed seven days a week, for most of the daylight
hours!
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Baby Green Herons
Black-necked Stilt
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Bacardi the Blue Hole Aligator
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Black-Crowned Night Herons |
Bacardi Courting a Young Female |
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Here are some other Green Heron nests with eggs.
Many of our wonderful volunteers at the Blue Hole
have headed back to their
summer homes (and THANK YOU Guys for what you do when you're here for
however long), so if anyone would like to volunteer for just a few hours a week,
it is so much fun. Please contact me at shetheboss@bellsouth.net, or call me
at 305-872-1473.
We really need more volunteers, so if you really
want to enjoy Mother Nature in all her glory, this is the place to do
it!
Carlene Edwards
305-872-1473
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Last modified:
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
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