Sunday, August 21, 2011

Event Update: SOS Walk on A1A from Jungle Trail

Oh my. Today was very hot, and very buggy. But, I was joined by both the divine miss H and HFC David, so it was a wonderful walk as always. It amazes me how many times we can walk the same stretch of road, and yet see completely different things of every walk. If you didn't GOYB today, here are some of the very cool things you missed (click to embiggen):

This was something we hadn't seen before. A slug! We felt really bad for it, the sidewalk was very hot, so Heather picked it up and put it in the cooler grass.
We were not sure what these bones were from. David was guessing maybe a giant land crab?
This was a spider. The whitish stuff was sticks in her web, the spider is the brown and grey thing, but I'm not sure what kind, it was kind of bunched up.
 This was a formerly pretty but currently very dead moth being eaten by life. Circle of life became a recurring theme on todays walk.
It was a beautiful, albeit hot day. On the shore there were a ton of little birds...
...including a Ruddy Turnstone coming into his winter plumage...
... and some Spotted Sandpipers.
 This is most likely the same Reddish Egret we saw last week. Here is taking off.
This was really sad. It happened really quickly so she wasn't sure what happened, but Heather saw this guy do a loop-de-loop on the telephone wires, then crash into the water. It looked like he might have hit the wire, broke his wing and crash landed in the water. There really wasn't anything we could do for him, he was floundering quite badly but still moving when we left him. We didn't see him on the way back.
 This is a Black Vulture. Not sure if the fact that he was hanging out is related to the fact that we didn't see the hurt pelican on the way back. But again, it is the circle of life, something dies and something else feeds on it and survives.

BTW, a free DeeMotivation t-shirt if someone (other than David or Heather) can tell me what color this bird's legs are and why!
 We saw lots of spiders today. There are at least 4 in this picture.
 Here is a close up of a golden orbweaver (one of the same type that is in the photo above.) Pictures don't do them justice, they are beautiful critters.
 Something that cracks me up -- all of the houses on A1A have PRIVATE docks, and there are signs on all of them telling you that. I love seeing the peeps being such little scofflaws!
On our way back, we were just shy of 6 miles, so rather than cut across the grass to our car, I made everyone walk along the road a little further. I was rewarded for my efforts when this little guy came running out to say hi to me!

Overall it was a great walk. Be sure to join us for upcoming walks. We are doing Riverview Park in Vero Tuesday night, and A1A again next Sunday night. Remember you will never experience real life sitting on your couch!

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