Manatee(free) Watch

Joined by HFC David and Heather this morning, we had an eventful manatee watch although it was completely manatee free. We started by interrupting some guys who thought that the observation deck was a just dandy place to camp (despite all the actual camping areas in the park. Science comes first, we just walked by them and started the observation as if they weren't there. Eventually they woke up and left, but we were glad we had big strong David.

Due to much, MUCH warmer temperatures, we did not see a single manatee today. We did, however, get to see some cormorants fighting over a massive cat fish. If you didn't GOYB to join us, here's what you missed today!

 Om-nom-nom! I gots me a fishy!

Um... this things pretty big... not sure I can swallow it...

 Hey! That fish is too big for you! Share it!

No way, buddy! Get your own fish (slap, slap, slap, slap, slap - this went on for a while)

MY FISH!

Eventually, he turned it around and swallowed it whole. We didn't actually see him eat it, but we did see a cormorant with a HUGELY fat neck a few minutes later. How he didn't suffocate himself was beyond me.

Anyway, as always, it was great to get out in nature.  We only have 4 more manatee watches this year, make sure you GOYB and join us. I can't guarantee manatees, but I can guarantee fun and great company!

Another Awesome Manatee Watch!

Had another great time doing manatee watch today. There were only about 5, but they were very active and I got some decent video. Check it out here, and come out for a manatee watch with us soon!

Manatee Watch

Had a solo outing today, did the weekly manatee survey by myself this week. Too bad you didn't GOYB, cause I saw some wicked neat stuff.  Here's what you missed:

A really pretty dew-covered spiderweb on the fence going down to the shore.

There were a total of about 9 manatees today. We have had a lot of rain, and there was a ton of water coming over the dam which is what was producing all the foam. Didn't seem to bother the manatees any.

 A manatee tail.

A manatee back. The temperature was in the low 70s and rapidly rising while I was out there. Unless it gets cold again, I doubt we will see as many manatees going forward.

This Kestrel was sitting on a pole right behind my car. There have been a ton of them out at the preserve this year, even more than last year. If you want super good looks at Kestrels, just drive down Buffer Preserve Drive (the main entrance off of Babcock.)

Another cool web, this one on the barbed wire by the dam.

The water was all latte like.

This is the water coming over the dam. We do the survey from near the top of the dam.

When I got in my car to leave, I looked up, and there was a HUGE herd of wild turkeys on the berm across from where I was doing the survey. Of course I had to grab my camera and head back.

There are 9 in this picture, but thee were way more, I would have needed a wide-angle lens for that.

 A particularly pretty little egret.

This little guy was also near my car, a palm warbler. I got better shots of him for ID purposes, but this was my favorite shot, there was just something I liked about the framing of it.

It was an awesome morning out there, hope to see you out there on an outing with me.  Remember, you can see stuff like this on TV or the internet, but you can only really experience it if you come out and play with us!

Manatee Watch

We had our first real cold snap of the year, which means manatees, manatees, and more manatees! I shot a video of the manatee watch today. If you didn't GOYB and go with us, here's what you missed!

Remember, you can see stuff like this on the internet, but it's nothing like being there in person where you can hear the spray when they come up! Make sure you come out and join us for an event soon.

Goals and Resolutions 2014

I just realized that I forgot to post goals and resolutions last year. Here are some for this year:

• Traverse 1000 miles in a self-powered manner. Would like to do more walking this year than biking, but however I get there, at least I'll get there. 
• Spend (at LEAST) the first 1000 hours of 2014 junk-food free. This will be hard, but is doable.
• Delete Twitter/Facebook from my phone. I realized I was spending far too much time being out, but not in the moment, it was making me sad. No more. (This is already DONE!)
• My big one is to do something creative every day, and no wasting time on the internet till this is done. Blogging is creative - reading Fark.com is not. 

What about you? Other than DeeMotivation 2014, do you have goals for this year? Please share, we can all work together to make our lives the best they can be!

Jacksonville - 1 day, 3 lifers

We (HFC David and I) took a trip up to Jacksonville to see the Snowy owl. If you didn't GOYB to join us, here's what you missed:

 First up: The star of the day, a magnificent snowy owl, sitting right out on the beach. I also got some nice video of her. Although this wasn't my life snowy owl, it was my first really good look at one.

The little one-legged guy on the far left is my life purple sandpiper.

 This is my life Harlequin duck.

My life Black Scoter.

This made me really sad. It was the second one-legged bird of the day, a ruddy turnstone who got caught up in string or fishing line. You can see his dessicated foot still tangled in the line. Poor little guy :-(

But other than the hurt bird, it was a great day birding. We got a lot of walking in on the beach especially as we were looking for a Snow Bunting which we never did find. But, we had an awesome time trying anyway.

Remember, you can see lot of cool stuff on the internet, but you can only experience it if you GOYB and join us on an outing!

Announcing the DeeMotivation 2014 Challenge!

I have decided to get next year's challenge out early so we can all get prepped (and by prepped, I mean clean out your cupboards.) Here is the official DeeMotivation 2014 Challenge for next year. Your mission, should you choose to accept it:

• Traverse 1000 miles self-propelled (this can include bike, stationary bike, treadmill, rower, kayak, snowshoe, however you want as long as it's self propelled.)
• Complete 1000 consecutive junk-free hours starting midnight January 1.
• Many people have mentioned that "junk" is subjective. So, it's up to you, this is the honor system. Some people are using a tracker such as MyFitnessPal or Tap and Track, for them, taking in more calories than they expend is the bench mark. I found myself obsessing about food more than usual when I used a program like that so I will be journalling on paper. 
• That said, I think we can all declare the following as "junk"
• Any food that has any HFCS at all
• Any food that has sugar as the first ingredient
• Anything from a fast food restaurant (burgers, fries, pizza, fried chicken)
• Candy, cookies, pie, cake, chips, soda, alcohol, donuts etc.
• (Optional) I am afraid that at 6:01 a.m. on February 10 (that is, 1000 hours), people will go nuts and eat everything in site. So, to help prevent that, if you want, send me $14.00 before the first of the year. The money will be split 70/20/10% among the top 3 who make it the longest AFTER the first 1000 hours. In the unlikely event that no one makes it to 1000 hours, all of the money will be donated to next year's Kidney Foundation walk fundraiser.  And, since we are all human, if you have a slip up, it is not the end of the world, BUT you do have to pitch in another $7.00 each time you slip up if you want to stay in the competition. Oh, and to show I'm not s total killjoy:
• You get 50 calories a day to do what you want. If you are doing an online tracker you still have to add them, but they won't count as a cheat. For example, I'll use this for my morning coffee.
• You get your birthday off. Nothing you do on your birthday counts.

If you are in, please let me know either here, by email or on Facebook, and if you are in for the wager, please either bring the money the next time I see you or snail-mail it to be before the first of the year.

Please note that this is all on the honor system, and you are responsible for tracking your own mileage.

We gonna do this thing? YES! GO US!