Guided beach walk. Lovers Key State Park, Florida.

believe it or not I am lucky enough when I go to the beach I could absolutely find sand dollar after sand dollar after sand dollar and that is exactly why I film my beach adventures and share them with people who can't get out to places like Lovers Key State Park so this is where we are going to enjoy some time here and I specifically came at low tide because I want to hunt for a certain kind of Critter and I will tell you all about that now this place does have a trolley however I'm rather impatient so I wanted to get to the beach as quickly as I could so I took in the lovely surroundings and kept marching my way down to the beach until I finally got there now I have been taking Florida master naturalist classes and it makes me a little more aware of things like these tracks there's likely some raccoons here on the island as well as some Shorebirds but we already knew about the birds so I'm here and I'm just like I said marching down to that water cuz I want to see what kind of day we're going to have today or at least try to get an indication more of the park has opened the last time I was here we were not able to go to the north so we will be able to do that if we do feel so inclined and it looks like there's some seashells here so let's see what our first shell is this is a Calico scallop it's quite lovely it's very pink it's pretty awesome and if you're ready to see what else is out there for us today let's go to the [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] beach so I've made it here to Fort Meers Beach and I can tell you I'm walking pretty quickly so that means there's probably not all that much on the beach right here and I'm making a beine to the south end until I stumbled upon this fun Critter which I do believe is a tube dwelling anemone that's what I think this thing is it actually was super pretty when the water was actually completely over it it's very delicately kind of dancing in the water there so I do think that's an Anem that was only going to be exposed at low tide because ordinarily the tide would be over that Critter now I did notice a couple who were really racing to the end of the island and I feel like they had they knew something I didn't know so I'm trying to get down there but I did have to at least pause to say hi to the snowy egret The Blue Heron I don't know what that other like mediumsized shore bird is so I still do want to make it to the south end but I was stopped by this sand dollar now normally the green would not bother me at all and I do I know we all kind of collect differently we all have things that you know are going to make something collectible and not collectible for me I do have the opportunity to collect a lot of sand dollars so unless it's really kind of in that round shape I'm probably not going to hold on to it I know I said I would hold on to some for the Doves on the inside but I already have enough of those so I'm going to save that sand dollar for somebody else and I spied another one yep there's a sand dollar there see that petal yep that's the center of a sand dollar so that's kind of fun let's see how this one looks and then I can kind of kind of demonstrate why yeah see that one's perfect so I'm going to hold on to that one and leave that other one for someone else and I did bring my container my appropriately sized container so come on big sand dollars I got the right container for you what do we have here oh yeah one well we don't have much of anything that appears to be merely a piece of a lightning wel w w and another sand dollar fantastic and to my memory like there's no really kind of time of year I see a lot of the live ones in the summer but it's really sand dollar season all year long here all right so I've made it almost to the south end of um Lovers Key another sand dollar really great day for sand dollar so far oh yeah speaking of sand dollar yep and so that's why I put that first one down cuz I you know they have them that are almost perfect right on the beach so yeah I'm lucky enough to just pick the perfect ones oh dear and a lot of people do go barefoot down here so I don't mess around if I see glass I'm going to take it off the beach sometimes it's cooked enough where it could be seag glass but most of the time it's not most of the time it's just garbage so I'm going to go ahead and take that garbage off the beach excellent a beach Bowl let's see what that interior first thing I do is look at that interior oh it's pretty nice nice cranberry color so that is a giant Atlantic cockle they had quite large and I call them Beach bowls there's a snowy egret looking for its breakfast good luck my fine feathered friend and this okay this is a live Crown conch it's probably the biggest one I have ever seen that's my hand there so I'm just trying to demonstrate how absolutely massive this thing is it is enormous now they say it can get up to about 5 in long and I want to say that this is close I mean it is a really substantial specimen I'm just a full of respect and awe over this huge Crown con you can you can see all the cool algae and things that are kind of growing on it shell and we're going to look I am here specifically to look for more of these shells we're going to see a lot more Critters and shells but not to worry we will see a couple of shells but this one was just unbelievable and so again with the respect I didn't want to pick it up and mess around with it but wow just wow I hope one day we can meet again Crown conch that was very very cool encounter oh gross all right let's get that off the beach and let's get this off the beach too but this is far from gross that is a rose pedal Talon and I know you're probably thinking what you get those on Fort Meers Beach don't you yep because we're technically still on Fort my or it's not the same island but we are still in the fort Meers Beach area so those rose petal Talons may make an appearance along with the Calico scallops quite lovely if you like scallops we got some pretty good ones down here well frankly we we have all sorts of good seashells down here I'm specifically looking for conks today those Crown conks so the tide is going out you can see the water literally going from the bay out into the Gulf I'm here for that negative low at 938 right now it is 8:48 so timing is perfect see a couple more of my Feathered Friends here that's probably a blue Haron and a snowy egret looking for their breakfast and this end of the island just to look um well there actually should be trees here and that hurricane Ian just kind of like wiped it all out so now you can kind of get around to the back you didn't used to really be able to get here so now I'm kind of along the back end of the island now and we're going to go hunting in that mud because the crown conks like the mud so if that's where the shells are going to be that's where you're going to find me and it seems like I didn't have very much luck on the Gulf side so let's see what's back here for us so that is a Sunray Venus clam and we call that hinged when it still has it both pieces there's a little connective tissue that is keeping those two pieces together it's a pogo pick one get one okay so I'm in the right spot see all those little Trails those are Critters so that's what made all those little trails in the water there so we do see there was a king crown on the very bottom this Critter here well that's a horseshoe crab now I'm going to get a little bit closer of a look see if I can show you boop kind of Boop it on the nose and you can see little tail there so that's just a little itty bitty horses shoe crab and there's some other Critters here there are king crown con or crown con here there's one and it's alive look how furry it shell is so that little black siphon coming out of the front that's kind of what I look for when I want when I see a shell and I'm trying to determine if it's a critter if there's an animal I can see that little black siphon coming out the front oh that is another horseshoe crab you can kind of really see the front of that one a little bit better than that other one so we're in the right area definitely in the right spot now it's just a matter of looking through this mud and furry things to find one of those lovely shells now as I'm back here there's more rosette spoon bills so those pink birds you see those are Rosie at spoon builds looking for shrimps and crab and things of that nature we'll stay out of their way while we're looking for seashells now that I see one so that is a crown conch Is it alive yes okay sorry so it is alive see the critters there so that's the front of the shell oh that probably would have been real pretty too so so sorry to disturb you my friend I will put you back there we'll keep looking for a shell that is empty okay it's the right shape oh it's a critter yeah that is was attached to that like the leaf all right let me put you back there sorry once again so sorry what about you and again I'm not seeing the siphon so that's why I'm like AR otherwise I could look I could see that little black thing so there's kind of like the mud flat at the bottom of Lovers Key what about this no this is is a broken moon snail and that doesn't it look like the water's like boiling those are fish that are stuck with the tide going out so that's all little fish kind of flopping around and that's exactly why those birds are here oh the Ros had spoon pills okay empty finally all right that's what I was looking for it took me long enough so is a crown Brown conch it's definitely got some color on it so that I will take home and we are going to we are going to clean that all the way at the very end of the video I'm going to bleach it I'm going to put it in acid I will show you how that shell comes out all right see I see the siphon so I don't need to disturb that Critter I know that that is alive and not a shell is a little snail in there where there's one there could be more and it's almost it's like a very specific shape sometimes you see the crowns you can kind of see the spikes on it I see the spikes on that shell I also see yeah I see the black siphon so I know that that's alive as well the shells they're kind of like a triangle shape and I guess I've just seen enough lumpy fuzzy shells that I I kind of know what they look like oh alive oh look at the color oh all right I'll tuck you back in the mud all right we see a siphon so I had mentioned that earlier that I found a lot of creatures not as many shells but you know what that kind of happens at low tide anyway you tend to kind of run into Critters there's a shell there's a lightning Welk now I already know that I'm going to be bleaching and putting things in acid anyway from today so might as well see how that shell cleans up too so that's a lightning wel that hopefully will clean up quite nice oh no but buy yeah I actually thought it was a shell and then I pick it all right so that is a live hopefully a live Crown conch that was way up the tide left that Critter all the way up there now would it have been okay I really don't know but I was not willing to find out I wanted to get that into water ASAP so now I'm like okay phew you're alive so and I'm just concentrate on the animal so sorry about that shot uh I wanted to make sure that it was alive and then so once I got it into into the water and I determined that it was indeed alive yeah we're we're not going to leave you in this tiny little puddle let's kind of give you some real there you go real hydration oh that's better much better and well it happened to another one of its friends so this one also got stranded way up in the rack line and I did the same thing got that Critter into some of that water ASAP and I sped yet another live Crown conch there is the siphon oh deer all right well let's get this Modello beer can off the beach I'll take that home cesa eseal and Crown con oh seashell all right empty okay it's got some spikes does it have any color let's see hard to say right oh so that's the kind of show I'm going to bring it home clean it up and we'll just have to see what happens so the very end of the video we'll check that out again it's alive yeah hi pretty friend so that's the front of the shell all this get you into water it's a little bit deeper there you go and then this you know it's funny cuz I saw one of these the last time I was at the south end of Lovers Key and I do believe it's a Cuban stone crab don't necessarily quote me I I couldn't find it again but it's so purple and then I was like you live so I kind of gave it a little like hey buddy and check it you know check out those front claws they wow look like a ninja W so yeah he was very much alive very much ready to uh take me on if it wanted to all right nope I do I am a friend not a foe and just carry on I just wanted to know if you were alive so low tide can bring some fun Critters that was a really purple crab that was kind of cool let's see what else oh another hinged Sunray Venus clam that look at the way that the Rays kind they radiate from that like spot oh that's such a pretty shell so the Sunray Venus clam anything else in this mud and muuk we found two I got two of those conx saw tons of Critters that's always fun let's see what else a rose petal telon now to be fair I am not finding them left and right like I was over at Fort Meers Beach but they are still here the rose petal telling oh and this slipper shell now I do have to admit I do not pay a lot of attention to these slipper shells but today's a little little slow so I want to let you know that these shells are known as slipper shells and quarter decks and canoes and boat shells because they float look at that they float so if you haven't be at the beach and there's a little tide pool or something you got some kids just find yourself a little slipper snail and you can like float that shell around on the water all right that is a very beat up tinted caneris there's a little worm shell we got a gulf oyster drill what else oh you're probably thinking that other one is a w trap it's not it's a flypc sarth watch yeah that's the one and flypc sarth impostor I actually should have held on to that but it is what it is we have a right that's a little Fighting Conch believe it or not that's a little Florida Fighting Conch and a little NASA those little bruised NASA shells little tiny ones here right that is a dark serth and piece of a crown conch little bits and pieces here and a little colorful moon snail and what's a little unusual is there's a drill hole in that they're not as tasty as the shark eyes I almost never find the colorful moon snails with drill holes in them strange oh look at that little lace mirx a little bit of algae on it no a little bleach won't clear up so yeah there's all right there's better little tinies here let's see what else is here okay another worms snail I do like those a little bubble all right we were talking about bubbles last week so they're here as well and just a piece of worm snail oh it's this is like perfect wle trap can well I mean there's no W traps here but if there was if there was actually wle traps Bubbles and some of those coffee grinds this would be awesome that H may I don't know I don't know if it's a little bit worn down not really sure tell me what you think that if you have any guess throw throw a comment below so some fun little tinies here all right a little top shell from a top snail it's actually a JuJu be top shell oh see there's those coffee grinds and we already found a couple of bubbles come on wle drop perfect conditions except there's no wle drops here here if you see one tell me cuz I was looking what do we got oh that is a southern flat coil and that is not a sea snail that is a land or a freshwater snail actually in the book it says it's a land snail what are you doing here how that happens sometimes you got these trees and stuff close together now this shell what are you little moon snail so it's I pick up enough of them so it's not a little colorful moon snail and it's not a little shark eye is it one of those little milk Moon snails oh I don't know so that little that was a little shell that was inside of it what are you so I I mean I obviously it's a moon snail of some sort I don't know so my best guess is that it's one of those milk Moon snails oh that's that's neat that is really neat okay so moving right along looks like we have a sharp ribbed drill and the drills get their name because that's what they do they drill into other shells and slurp out the delicious content so that is another drill likely the same exact one we picked up previously I know it looks a little weird I think it's just a little misshaping and an Eastern flat slipper snail so that's also a slipper snail it it's just obviously it's different it's not going to float like that other shell will I usually find those really on the interior of like horse con or lightning welks the eastern white slipper snail oh well that's desirable it is an alphabet cone although it has been here quite a while so it's definitely bleached out a little discolored I'll leave that for somebody else what else did I spy oh a little Jewel of the beach a little lettered Olive probably hold on to that awesome all right okay I do see that flypc serth yeah that's what I was going for and they actually are kind of pretty if they're um not beachor it's kind of a pretty shell the sply the sply fly Speck serth and the little kitten paw now that one is hinged and there had been people that told me oh it's fine well if it doesn't open I don't take it from the beach so that I did just see try to give it a little if it will open for me I know the there's no Critter inside if it won't open I leave it at the beach that's another one of those jujuy top snails lots of seashells so these are mostly your common stuff your ponderous AR the stuff that's always here at the beach so I don't really pay all that much attention to it just because it's always here I will though in the future I will do that that is a coina so a little coina seashell a lightning wel we found one that was a little slimy in the mud that will clean up and then we have this very fresh and clean lightning wel very nice oh a shark eye there we have it so this is also a member of the moon snail family we just call these guys shark eyes awesome another little moon snail there's more partying going on here at at L key all right so that is a little Florida Fighting Conch it's not really that little kind of juvenile kind of round like it's been here for a minute but it's a little slim today today the shells are not jumping out at me lovely shark eye unfortunately he doesn't really the top of the shell but I'm going to hold on to that anyway as well as that Fighting Conch on the slow days I'm a little bit more lenient with the shells that I keep that is not an albino I do see a little bit of color on that so that's another very lovely lettered Olive but still looking for that albino I think two people this week sent me pictures of their albino good for you here's a unicorn shell all right we know that that is really a spiny Jewel box but kind of cool it's got a couple of those big spikes on it and another one and this one I really like because the spikes were actually kind of well the whole shell is spiky got a little bit of Spike going on the whole shell so I am going to bleach that and end up with a lovely white spiky shell now that silver stuff is naker mother of Pearl but that is garbage and that's going to come off the beach so it was low tide so I was able to kind of wander around in the water so yeah you can go up pretty far and it's still not all that deep I am not going to go I thought about it I'm not going to go all the way out to that um sandar out there but I did spy something pretty exciting so this is a Live Lightning Welk and that black that you see that that's the animal's body and then we see the shell so I get all excited now I'm going to get my underwater camera see what we can see now I can connect my underwater camera to my phone so that I can see but that connection is immediately broken when I put the camera underwater so apparently Wi-Fi and Bluetooth it doesn't work underwater so I found that out so I don't see when I put my camera underneath the water I can't really see so I kind of point and hope for the best kind of neat though you see the side into this animal it's checking things out and it's it's extended quite a bit from the shell you do see a tentacle under its shell but it's interesting to see how much that shell really protects the animal now I think the animal might have detected me you see it siphon is not quite as far out so that's it that's all that's really the best shots I was able to get it was kind of cool to see that amazing animal and at this point I would love for you to enjoy some beach time okay another lightning walk yeah that's a keeper am I just making sure I didn't miss anything good plan just in case where there's one shell there may be others and like I said today was a little bit slim not quite as chunky and as many shells but it happens I mean this is the end of October so was some low tides I was catching Ing and I was also catching some lettered olives so that's very kind of a yellowy one a medium color one a very dark lettered they're all lettered olives kind of fun the different flavors and colors that they will come in and another sand dollar yep oh it's so pretty yep that'll go in my little container so I had that big container I didn't find any big monster sand dollars that is quite all right and there's another one can do to see those petals and the little Keyhole so they're also known as Keyhole urchins because sand dollars are urchins it's a five hole key hole sand dollar so I do love Lovers Key it is a very it's a very beautiful park it doesn't have any of your hotels and condos and all that other good stuff still you know it's a little beat up after the H after the hurricane but there are facilities open so you'll be able to come and rent your chairs and your umbrellas and things of that nature and if you're patient the trolley will get you pretty much right to the beach I I'm not patient I I like to walk so if you had found any garbage or anything that you didn't want to uh you wanted to remove from the beach they do have receptacles I actually end up bringing mine home because I want to weigh it I like to see the impact I'm making so today was very small 2.15 ounces of garbage off the beach however in total I have removed a little over 40 two8 2 PBS of garbage so it all adds up didn't remove all that much as far as Treasures I got a couple of sand dollars a couple of rose petal Talons a jingle a coina some of those spiny jewel boxes a couple Atlant giant Atlantic cockos a kitten paw some of those drills some hinged Sunray Venus clams I got some Moon snails some bubbles two Juju be top snails some tiny a NASA little fighting some mystery shells lettered olives that we'll call that a slipper snail some of those Calico scallops and the flypc serth the dark sth bunch of those worm snails and that coil snail some lightning wels then the crown con which is what I really came for and those some of those other mystery shells that little moon snail that was really kind of neat now I did promise you I was going to clean these shells and I am going to show you that so the first thing I do is put everything in Bleach I took that one spiny jewelbox that's been in bleach and it is awesome the two Crown con also have been B bleached as well as that lightning wel but you know what I want to go one step further I really want to make these shells shine so I dip them in acid so that one there was a little bit of color not a lot that one came out really nice so that one's been in bleached in acid dried it looks great you could oil it you could put a little something something on there I'm probably just going to leave it and then that lightning wel actually came out really great so pretty cool and honestly for me I just need one or two shells to make my day perfect so I had myself a great time over at Lovers Key now one little piece of housekeeping in addition to the Subscribe and the like thing I do have another YouTube channel called swf Beach life stuff and I just been kind of playing around with different things so I just want to direct you over there because I have some ideas on different content but I'm going to try it over there first patreons and everybody who comes with me thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart first supporting me and helping me pay for things like my Florida master naturalist class I have one more class left and then I will be a full-fledged Florida master naturalist next week is going to be pretty fun it I got blown out of the water within the first 5 minutes I was at the beach so we'll see that next Sunday until then I hope you had a great holiday and I'll see you again next Sunday