Outdoors

Hontoon and the who

WHO wouldn't like a little peace and quiet on an island that is home to vocal owls?

By TERRY TOMALIN
Published February 11, 2005

HONTOON ISLAND STATE PARK - As the sun set over the cypress trees, a quiet calm settled over the camp. Our fire, started an hour earlier, burned brightly but could not beat the chill of the cool night.

"Want some hot chocolate," I asked my son, Kai, who sat shivering in his Spiderman chair. "It will warm you up."

He nodded "yes," then wiped his runny nose with the sleeve of his pajamas.

Some folks might think it a bit risky taking a 3-year-old camping in winter, but I've always been a firm believer in the old adage that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

"Throw another log on the fire," my friend Richard Hirtreiter said. "He'll be fine."

We had the campground to ourselves. The only others on the 1,650-acre island that cold January night were the rangers who lived and worked at the state park.

We had come for the solitude. Like most Americans, my son watches too much television. I thought a quiet night in the woods would do him some good. Then an eerie voice shattered the silence.

Who cooks for you?

I put my index finger to my mouth and gave the universal "shush" sign. "Listen," I whispered.

Who cooks for you?

"I don't know, Kai," I said. "Maybe it's a witch."

My son furrowed his brow. He knew all about witches, dragons and big, bad wolves.

"Let's go find her," he said, grabbing his flashlight.

But the night was cold and I was comfortable next to the fire.

"I was just kidding," I told him. "That's not a witch."

The barred or "hoot" owl, I explained, is a common fixture in southern swamps. These nocturnal predators feed on small animals, frogs, lizards, even fish - just about everything except the alligators that live in the adjacent St. John's River.

The Indians, who like the owls lived here before the Spanish arrived, found the pickings in this vicinity pretty good. Perhaps that is why the Timucuans carved a large wooden totem in tribute to their feathered friends.

Every night at sunset these crepuscular creatures would land in the treetops and start their caterwauling.

Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you?

It is not uncommon to have two, three, even four barred owls congregate in an area and start conversing.

Over the years Hontoon Island has been a lot of things: cattle ranch, pioneer homestead, boat yard and camp for commercial fishermen. It is said that a federal revenue agent, or "G Man," once used the island as a base from which to hunt moonshiners who operated stills in this wild country during Prohibition.

Today, the state park looks much the way it did a hundred years ago. Accessible only by public passenger ferry or private boat, the park is one of those hidden gems of the state system.

There's a shell midden, 30 feet hight and 200 feet long, bearing testament to ancient feasts. And in 1955 a dredge uncovered a 600-year-old owl totem in the water of the St. Johns.

A replica of the carving, a rarity outside the Pacific Northwest, sits near the ferry landing, the original having been moved to a museum.

But my son doesn't care much for history, unless it involves witches, dragons or big, bad wolves, so I broke out a bag of marshmallows and roasted one over the fire.

We sat back and listened to owls, happy with each other's company, like countless fathers and sons before us.

For information, contact Hontoon Island State Park, 2309 River Ridge Road, Deland, FL 32720 or call (386) 736-5309.

Florida has 158 state parks stretching from the Panhandle to the Keys.

Next time you visit one, pick up a "passport" at the welcome center. Each time you visit a different park, you will get a stamp to show you have been there.

If you'd like a passport right away, send $10.95 (check, money order or credit card) to: Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, 4156 S. Suncoast Blvd., Homosassa Springs, FL 34446, or call (352) 628-5343.

For more information on Florida's state parks, go to http://www.dep.state.fl.us/parks

[Last modified February 11, 2005, 00:52:18]