Marsh

The hammock is the raised area in the marsh. Trees, shrubs, and sloughs are located there.	Salt pan is the "river of light gray soil" that won't support plants. Notice the dark line scraped into the soil. That thick layer of black soil under the salt pan is detritus, the dead plant/animal matter that has been decomposed by bacteria and fungi. It is eaten by fiddler crabs. They eat the black "yucky" matter and later spit out lumps of clean sand.
Deep inside the hammock we found owl pellets. The owl eats whole mice and later regurgitates the bones that didn't digest. many of the bones were still whole when we found them. Tiny mouse jaws with tiny teeth...cool!	Fiddler crabs come in all sizes. The one on the right is a baby fiddler crab.
The trees of the hammock are to the left of the vast flat marsh land.	Students learn the difference between low marsh and high marsh. The taller grasses are low marsh and the shorter grasses are high marsh.
The low marsh occupies the area just behind the levee. The tide floods this area of the marsh for several hours each day. The water moves slowly through the marsh across the dark anaerobic (without oxygen) mud. Due to the harsh conditions, few animals successfully live in the low marsh. This drawing was found on the internet.	The soil of the high marsh is sandier and it is covered by water for only an hour or less each day. Due to high concentrations of salt in the soil the plants that live here are stunted. Smooth cordgrass grows only 3 to 12 inches tall.
The Marsh Periwinkle Littorina irrorata is a small gray colored snail that lives on the cordgrass stalks. They are herbivorous and feed on algae and other plant material deposited on the mud flats. The snails move down the stalks as the tide goes out, and climb back up when the tide returns.
A marsh pond that serves as a "nursery" for baby plants and animals in the marsh.	Three Wood Storks, an endangered species. They are about 3 1/2 feet tall with a wingspan of 50 inches.
Cactus Pear is actually edible. Our teacher, Grant, prepared some for us to taste.	This close-up of a Wood Stork shows the bill that gives it its name. This picture was found on the internet.
The egret lives in the marsh and eats crabs. This picture came from the internet.