Vol. 2, No. 5

March 2006

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Photo by Dolphin Research Center

Wisconsin resident Beth Goffard holds a T-shirt for a dolphin to wield a paintbrush.

Dolphins Create
Art Masterpieces
at Keys Facility

BY CAROL SHAUGHNESSY
Florida Keys News Bureau

MARATHON, Florida Keys — The artist tilts her head to one side, seemingly considering where to place the next brushstroke, as watching art lovers wait in anticipation. Suddenly, she stretches her glistening gray body out of the water and swipes at her "canvas" with the paintbrush she holds in her mouth — and another dolphin masterpiece is finished.

Dolphin artistry is just one of the attractions at Dolphin Research Center, mile marker 59 bayside in the Middle Florida Keys. The acclaimed education and research facility's four-year-old Paint With a Dolphin program allows participants to interact with the gentle, intelligent marine mammals living and learning at the center — and help them create one-of-a-kind pieces of wearable art.

Paint With a Dolphin participants first spend individual time with a DRC trainer and one or more dolphin artists — perhaps enthusiastic Santini or lively Merina — inhabiting the property's interconnecting saltwater lagoons.

After observing a behavior session with the engaging bottlenose beauties, program participants are introduced to the "artists" and begin assisting in the creation of the T-shirt — choosing paint colors and holding the shirt stretched on a form for the dolphins to paint. The trainer mixes the paint, puts the brush into each dolphin's mouth and encourages the artistic experience.

Typically, everyone involved reacts with glee as each artist circles, swipes paint on the T-shirt and, upon completing the creative task, screams in excitement. The session ends with the artists posing for a photo with the shirt and its new owner.

Cost for the Paint with a Dolphin program is $55 plus admission to the center, and includes all painting supplies and the completed T-shirt.

The program is open to adults and children ages 3 and up. A participating adult must accompany children younger than age 8. The program is available on a walk-in basis only.

For more information about Dolphin Research Center and its Paint With a Dolphin program, call (305) 289-1121 or visit www.dolphins.org.

BY BOB SERATA
Florida Keys News Bureau

The black-throated blue warbler.

FLORIDA KEYS — Famous for extraordinary underwater beauty, the Florida Keys can now take their place as one of the top destinations in the world for bird watching. Anchoring the southern end of the Great Florida Birding Trail are the Florida Keys, where avian rarities abound.

Sites include the Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park, near mile marker (MM) 106. Breeding populations of black-whiskered vireos, mangrove cuckoos as well as white-crowned pigeons are joined by migrating warblers.

Better known for its underwater splendor, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, at MM 102.5, also offers birders 3,000 acres of natural mangrove swamp, hardwood hammock and rocky coast. Walking trails lead birders to gray kingbirds, short-tailed hawks and Keys locals like the mangrove cuckoo, black-whiskered vireo and white-crowned pigeon.

Traveling down the Overseas Highway brings birders to Long Key State Park, MM 67.5, where mangrove swamp, mudflat, rockland hammock, beach and coastal berm habitats can be explored.

At MM 56.2, is the coastal environment of Curry Hammock State Park, sometimes called "hawk central" by locals. From mid-September through early November, Hawkwatch International leads an annual raptor count.

The indigo blue bunting.

At MM 50, a 63-acre tropical oasis lies in the middle of Marathon. Crane Point Museums and Nature Center offers visitors a walk through thatch palm and tropical hardwood hammock. Birders can pass by freshwater ponds, tidal lagoons and an undisturbed bayfront. Resident and migrating warblers, vireos, tanagers and thrushes share the habitat with white-crowned pigeons, year-round tidal waders and spring-nesting sea birds.

A magnificent setting to combine birding, camping, boating, snorkeling, kayaking and lying on the beach is Bahia Honda State Park at MM 37. White-crowned pigeons and warblers are usually seen feeding on seagrape and poisonwood trees.

Birders can add to their log one of the world's most unusual mammals at the National Key Deer Refuge near MM 30.5. The Jack Watson trail leads birders to woodpeckers and resident warblers, gray kingbirds and white-crowned pigeons, while the Mannillo trail leads to a viewing platform over wetlands.

The scissor-tailed flycatcher.

The Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden is located on College Road off U.S. 1 at MM 4.5. A compact site with tropical hardwood hammock and the only freshwater ponds on Key West and Stock Island, the area provides one of the richest birding experiences in the Lower Keys.

Adjacent to downtown Key West is Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park. Seasonal concentrations of birds include colorful spring warblers, ideal for song identification training. Year-round residents include hundreds of soaring frigate birds, shorebirds and seabirds.

Seagoing birders can view species that appear nowhere else in the U.S. at Dry Tortugas National Park. About a 2.5-hour ferry or 40-minute seaplane ride from Key West, the park is made up of several islands. Bush Key hosts the only significant breeding colony of sooty terns in the U.S. From February through August, tens of thousands of terns gather to claim territory and mates.

Roseate terns and masked boobies can be sighted on Hospital Key. Red-footed boobies are regular visitors. Pelagic species like bridled terns, Audubon's shearwaters and band-rumped storm petrels are sighted in the channels between islands.

Hours of operation and contact details for individual parks can be found via a downloadable brochure at the Great Florida Birding Trail's Web site at www.floridabirdingtrail.com.

BY CAROL SHAUGHNESSY
Florida Keys News Bureau

Photo by Rob O’Neal/FKNB Kim Vanderstappen of Johnsburg, Ill., toots during the 2005 Conch Shell Blowing Contest.

KEY WEST, Florida Keys — Luckily for most entrants, stellar musicianship isn't required to compete in the annual Conch Shell Blowing Contest. Instead, the quirky challenge draws contestants eager to share in a Key West tradition — and unafraid to test their pucker power by attempting to coax tuneful tones from a fluted, pink-lined conch shell.

They'll get their chance to squawk, bleat or possibly even tootle something resembling music Saturday, March 11, when the 44th annual Conch Shell Blowing Contest begins at 1:30 p.m. Nicknamed the Conch Honk, the event is to take place on the Sunset Pier at Ocean Key Resort, Zero Duval St., overlooking the island city's historic harbor.

A highlight of the Old Island Days celebration of Key West's culture and heritage, the competition salutes the historic importance of conch in the Keys. Centuries ago, natives from the Calusa indian tribe blew conch shells to communicate over distance, and early sailors are said to have used them as foghorns.

Contestants are to vie for trophies and ribbons in several judging and age categories.

The contest is free to enter and watch. Contestants are encouraged to bring their own "instruments," but shells are to be available for those who don't have one. Entrants can register at Hospitality House in Mallory Square from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 11, or at the event itself.

For more information about the Conch Shell Blowing Contest, visit www.oirf.org.

For more travel information on the Florida Keys:
www.fla-keys.com