Wild Hogs, Panthers & Bears Once Roamed Palm Harbor

Reading historical accounts by people who lived in Palm Harbor long ago tends to teach others about not only a time long forgotten, but also about the animals that lived in the area before it was built out.  When people think of Florida, people associate manatees, bears, panthers, deer and the dreaded prehistoric alligator with the state. But those are not the only wildlife that lived in or around Palm Harbor. 

In 1950, a Mr. W. P. Sutton of Palm Harbor wrote of his experiences as a child beginning in 1868 when his parents moved to the area. Back then they called their homes “homesteads” and that term included the house and the land upon which it sat. Mr. Sutton used to go to Yellow Bluff (for those who follow this column, it is now Ozona but since Ozona is part of Palm Harbor, it is also used to refer to Palm Harbor) to obtain his school books and slate.  Think of a blackboard on a much smaller scale. Mr. Sutton knew the area very well and lived here.

Mr. Sutton and his family had run-ins with many types of animals such as wild hogs, panthers and bears!  He remembered traveling to Spring Hill where he heard wolves for the first time in his life. He wrote about many animal encounters but one in particular was neither drama-filled nor unusual. It simply was a short statement about a type of bird that lived by the thousands in Palm Harbor that later almost became extinct. This diary entry intrigued me so I decided to find out what this bird was.

The bird was called a Pink Curlew. Not being an ornithologist, it was a little difficult to find what a Pink Curlew looked like. What was known as a Pink Curlew is really a Roseate Spoonbill.  After some research, I found an article about Roseate Spoonbills that returned to our area.  The article was written by one of the North Pinellas Historical Museum’s past directors, Mr. Harlan Weikle!  Thinking the Pink Curlew was a “hot” bird in the press, more research revealed a sad story for this colorful bird.

At the turn of the 20^th century, the Pink Curlew’s feathers were on the Most Wanted List for fashion!  There are several accounts of when these birds began their decline in numbers, some say around 1880, others slightly later.  There were accounts where the Pink Curlew became extinct in the area and nature loving women held teas where environmentalism and protection of this bird (among others) were conversation pieces.  It has been documented that these teas may have saved many species because the women spread the word about saving native species and they “boycotted” hats and fashions that were made of certain plumes.

At about the same time I was researching this bird, I received an email through The Patch from a Mr. Kenny Witt who does not live in the area but his mother is Dixie Sutton Witt who is a direct descendent of John Sutton. He was reading my articles and we started an email history lesson!  John Sutton is Kenny Witt’s great, great, great, great grandfather and according to Mr. Witt and legend, Mr. John Sutton is the man who gave a small sub-community the name of Curlew.  This eventually became Curlew Road.

The next time you are on Honeymoon Island, try to find the Pink Curlew that has recently began nesting there again.  Once you see its beautiful colors, it is hard to imagine a world without them.