Moccasin lake Park

On Thursday August 17th we went to Moccasin Park located off of 590 in Clearwater Florida. It was 78 degrees and 100% overcast and was 76 degrees. This park was established Moccasin Park in 1982, before it became a park it was a borrow pit. A borrow pit is defined as a place where soil, dirt, ect. has been dug so it can be used at another location. The park is a hammock ecosystem because when you look up all you see is trees. Moccasin lake consists of invasive and native species. All animals were taken out of the wild due to injury or the inability to survive on its own in the wild. Some of the animals we came across were a diamondback terrapin. This is a type of turtle that is 5-7 inches long, eats fish, snails and clams, and is a native species. We also encountered a marine toad; which is a non-native species from South America. It eats insects, cat food and dog food.

Along with animals we saw a lot of plants as well. One being a very common one moss. Moss is a non-vascular fungus due to its lack of roots.

We also saw wild coffee plants.

And a very large alligator, which is a native animal and is very common. This is the best picture I could get as it started to move into the water when we all arrived.

All in all it was a very fun day at Moccasin lake Nature park! It was fun to see all the different types of animals and plants, even though it was hot and I was all sweaty in the end!