Recycling Down Here is for the Birds

All of the parks along the coast down here have boat ramps, fishing piers, and fish cleaning stations.  Here a fisherman is cleaning Red Groupers.  The fish cleaning stations are always right next to the water for the reason you will see below.

The guts and unwanted fish parts are tossed into the water for the Florida wildlife recycling program.   Just look how popular this guy is with the local birds!  They love him.  Anything the birds miss will be eaten by other fish so this natural recycling seems to work.

The big state parks in Florida often engage in "controlled burns" in parts of the pine woods down here.  The signs say it is the only way to protect the native pine forests so that their cones open, and it keeps the hardwoods from taking over.

There is not much swimming going on at the beaches here this time of year, but we have seen some scuba divers.  Nevertheless, the public beaches all have flags flying every day.  Here are the posted beach warning flags for anyone going into the Gulf.  Our smart phones also send us "Rip Current Warnings".   (like we really need them)   ;  < (