Event Update: Mosquitos SUCK - literally

Ugh. We knew we weren't going to be able to get in an SOS this week, so we had grand intentions of getting in SOF instead. We had not taken into account mosquitos. Due to the rains we have been getting, the mosquitos are the worst this year that I seen since I moved to Florida in 2000, and that includes trips to the everglades. We walked about 2 miles at Riverview park in Vero, which was about a mile and a half more than I wanted to walk, luckily Heather was there to convince me that I am stronger that 8 billion mosquitos. I mean, I am truly a wimp - I was covered in bug spray, and Heather was not, and I was still the one wimping out. Anyway, despite being eaten alive, we still got 2 miles in, and a few good pictures. If you didn't GOYB, here's what you missed:

A very dramatic little blue heron at dusk.

Lots of giant land crabs out this evening.

A dramatically posed picture of a little blue heron and squirrel. Would have been more dramatic (and surprising) had it been moose and squirrel.

Join us for our next walk on Tuesday at Riverview in Vero. I cannot emphasize enough to BRING BUGSPRAY!!! and probably wear long sleeves, and long pants.

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!

Event Update: Joe Overstreet

We made a last minute change to our SOS walk this week. This turned out to be somewhat of a mistake. I only got about a mile in as there were storms all around us. Still, got a few pictures, and got to spend time with HFC David. If you didn't GOYB, here's what you missed:

 HFC David with scope and binoculars (this was at Vierra in the morning on the way to Joe Overstreet.)

 Joe Overstreet has some awesome burrowing owls. This isn't one of them. But in my defense, I wasn't wearing my glasses.

This was cool, it was a whole family of sandhill cranes, a mom, a dad and a baby.

Unfortunately, we didn't get a ton of pictures as it was dark and raining quite a bit, and too threatening to go far from the truck with the camera even when it wasn't actually raining.

Oh well. It was still way better than sitting on the couch doing nothing. Remember, doing SOMETHING is always better than doing NOTHING! Come on out and join us on a future walk!

Event Update: Walk at Riverview Park

It was a very interesting walk tonight. We saw a tree with some tape around it. Weren't sure why until we heard this deafening noise. Here's what we saw and HEARD!

Trust me when I say, our walks are not usually this scary!

Event Update

So, the last time we did and SOS, I got severely dehydrated and felt awful for days after. So, this week, I took all kinds of precautions. My trainer told me about this electrolyte stuff you can get that doesn't have all the calories of gatorade or even G2, so I tried a packet of that. It tasted like vaguely cherry flavored spit, but  it really seemed to help (I drank 6 oz of that on my way to the water). I also got myself a fancy 70 oz Camel Back. That was awesome. Absolutely worth the $50, it was so nice not to have to carry multiple water bottles, and it also had pockets for my cellphone and keys, and the best part is that it is insulated, which meant that my water was still cold when I finished it at the end of the walk!

Speaking of the walk, if you didn't GOYB today, you missed some wicked cool stuff! Here's what we saw today:

I haven't seen one of these in a while! It was a very pretty golden orb weaver. He was way up on the power line.

Heather decided that she needed her picture taken in a banana jungle. I concur it was quite picturesque.

A banana bloom with lots of bananas.

 I'm not sure what this was. I thought at first maybe a Forester's tern as it had black eyes, but he just wasn't pointy enough. Perhaps a laughing gull in between plumages?

 A smiling bunny!

Some kind of really really really large moth.

I should know, but admit I have no idea what the heck these 2 birds were.

This was a first for us. Apparently one of the crabs got itself a fancy set of wheels! Or maybe it was just a toy car that a kid left on the rock. I prefer to picture a crab cruising around in it.

 This was another oddity today. It was a chunk of bobcat fur. There was no other evidence that the cat had been hit by a car or predated, so maybe something almost, but not quite got him.

I was trying to get a good picture of this willet when something bizarre swam by...

 This was by far one of the oddest things we've ever seen. It's a Snook swimming on top of the water. He didn't just come up once for air, he was swimming like this all the way up the river! Really weird.

Neither Heather nor I know what the heck this is, but the white stuff was on an Australian Pine. I am thinking that maybe the pine tree had a sinus issue and it's tree snot. But that was just my guess.


Now I ask you, while you were sitting on your couch today, did you see a Snook* swimming on top of the water, or did you see pine tree snot? I think not! GOYB and join us Tuesday for our next walk on the river!


* And for those of you who actually watch it, no, Snooki on the Jersey Shore does NOT count!

Event Update

This evening we did 3 miles on the river. It was nice, a tad warm, but we had a nice breeze, which is the good thing about riverwalking. Didn't see a lot that was tremendously exciting, but as always, it's way more fun to be out in nature than sitting home on the couch. If you didn't GOYB tonight, here's what you missed:

A duckie. We generally don't get many ducks along the river, in fact, I think this was the first I've gotten a picture of along this stretch of the water.

A great blue heron looking particularly photogenic.

We also saw lots of crabs and bunnies again. Both species seem to have been getting down a lot this year as there are TONS of them along the river.

Hope you can join us on our next adventure!

Event Update

No SOS walk, today was something totally different, got to see a sea turtle released. Her name was bubbles, and she can be tracked on the Tour d'turtle web site. The grey thing on her back is a transmitter so she can be tracked and studied.

Doing a walk out at Riverside park in Vero tomorrow at 7:00. Hope you can join us!

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!)

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!

Event Update

So, last night, I decided at the last minute to do county park instead of Hardee as I thought the mosquitos might not be as bad (which mercifully there were not.) Unfortunately, I forgot to update the site with the change,  my sincere apologies for those who showed up at Hardee.

The cool thing about GOYB is that even on inland walks in the county park, there are still very cool things to see if you look for them. Cases in point:

 This was weird. This snake (probably a young racer or maybe rat snake) had wedged himself in the crack in the sidewalk. Very weird. I don't know if he was alive or not, but wasn't feeling confident enough to get close to find out.

There were  a ton of millipedes on the side walk, maybe trying to escape of all of the rain.

Don't forget the walk at Riverside in Vero tonight (Thursday at 8:00 p.m.) and the SOS walk this week, meet at the Jungle Trail lot at 8:30 a.m. Sunday.  You can only experience nature if you get out into it!