Thursday, July 28, 2011

Event Update

I did a solo walk on the river last night. Saw lots and lots and lots of bunnies and giant land crabs. If you didn't GOYB, here's what you missed!

 A bunny...
... and another bunny... altogether,  think I saw around 15 or 20 bunnies. Insanely cute.
 I think this is an immature male giant land crab. I am making that call based on the color and the fact that he has one HUGE claw (I seem to recall on females, both of the claws are the same size.)
This was kind of a weird Cuban Anole, much darker than most.
This was a really pretty adult male giant land crab.


Make sure you GOYB this weekend for the Sea Turtle release! Depending on the weather, we might do a walk from the Barrier Island Center after the release. Be there or be square! (Or actually, be round from sitting on your couch instead of getting out and having fun!)

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Event Update: SSOS - Sweaty Six on Sunday

Today was by FAR the hottest, muggiest walk we have done to date. I really wasn't expecting it to be as bad as it was. We both ran out of water, and for the first time since we've been doing the SOS walks, I actually felt terrible when it was over. I came home and chugged G2, water, tea, and eventually felt better. In the future, I will start bringing more water along, dehydration really is no fun at all. But, aside from the heat, it was a great walk. We saw a few new critters this week. If you didn't GOYB, here is what you missed:

This was some really pretty fruit on a palm tree. With all the rain we've been having, the plants are all just going crazy!
 It was sprinkling when we started, so I had my camera in the back pack. Of course, that is when we saw this beauty. I got a picture with my iPhone, but it really doesn't do him justice, it was one of the most magnificent red rat snakes that I've ever seen. I'm bummed that I didn't get a better picture.
The divine Miss H. with a horse shoe crab molt. This was a  new one for our SOS list.
A tricolor heron. Nothing unusual, but I really like the way the water looks like jelly in the picture.
Our deceased critter of the day. From a distance, I thought it was an anhinga, but Heather pointed out the curved beak, making it a cormorant. The skull was really neat, would have loved to have collected it to draw (which, as we all know is illegal, so I did not.)
 A great blue heron looking particularly great.
A dolphin! This was another new critter to our SOS list. We might have seen them before, but this is the first time I've gotten a decent picture.
This was an empty egg we found. Have no idea what it was, but as you can see, it was pretty big. Maybe something hawk sized?


As always it was a great walk, full of stuff that you can't experience if you are sitting at home in front of the TV.  Be sure to join us for future walks, and get out there an experience life!