One of the lesser known nature parks in Venice is the
Venetian Waterway Park. Even though it
can be seen from US 41 and the Circus Bridge, getting to the parking lot next
to the waterway requires going about a mile out of the way, skirting around the
abandoned Venice Circus Arena, and down a “dead end” dirt road.
Side note: It’s worth slowing down
to take a quick look at the Venice Circus Arena. It may be gone soon. The Arena
was a significant show place for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey
Circus from 1962 to 1992. Here they practiced and premiered new shows to
largely home crowds before taking their shows on world tour. The 65,000 square
foot building is now sadly in severe disrepair and the City of Venice has voted
for its demolition. But a small group of avid contributors and entrepreneurs
are trying to remake the building into a modern convention center. See the linked article. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNBZzx9I2TQ The Flying Trapeze Park to the rear of the
arena is still functioning (occasionally) as a school for aspiring high wire
aerialists.
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| Venice Circus Arena |
Built in the 1990’s, the Venetian Waterway Park is a series
of connecting concrete paths along the banks of the Intracoastal Waterway.
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| Venetian Waterway Trail |
The
mile long stretch on the west bank, between the Circus Bridge and Caspersen
Beach is unique for one reason-Gopher Tortoises! Here, today, I counted 32
Gopher Tortoise burrows in a half of a mile and saw 4 adult tortoises catching morning rays
at their burrow entrances.
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| Tortoise Burrow |
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| Good Morning |
The Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus Polyphemus) is a species of land
turtle unique to the southeast US.
Side note: All Turtles are reptiles
of the order Chelonii characterized by a bony shell that acts as a shield. Tortoises
are the land-dwelling family of turtles. But common usage has allowed turtle to refer
to only the aquatic species and tortoise to the land species.
Mainly because of habitat destruction, the Gopher Tortoise
is classified as “Threatened” by the state of Florida. This means their numbers
are declining. But not here. Four years ago, I’d be lucky to see 1 tortoise.
Something is allowing them to thrive here. What is it?
The loose pack dirt on these banks is dredging from the
canal bottom. Digging burrows in this area must be fairly easy. The southeast face of the bank provides early morning sun warming. The plentiful
low shrubs and grasses growing here are ideal food. Predators, mainly raccoons
and foxes, eat the eggs, which are laid outside the burrow in the sand. Perhaps
the loose pack allows the eggs more protection here. But the main reason for
the tortoise’s success here must be the absence of construction and agriculture
in the park.
So, once again we see in a semi-urban environment, along a
concrete walking trail within sight of busy US Highway 41, this threatened
species has been able to thrive. Efforts to set aside protected land are paying
off, and in relatively short time.
