Awesome Weekend Outside

Had an awesome weekend outside, joined by HFC David. I was trying out a new video camera, so we hit Goodwin, Joe Overstreet, and Vierra. Click here to see the video of the roseate spoonbills. Keep scrolling down to see what you missed if you didn't GOYB and join us. Click on the photos to enlarge:

Roseates dancing. It's amazing seeing the shape of the
dinosaur in this picure.

If I was this color I would show off like this
all the time.

This is a young one, he was so fluffy. 

Maybe they aren't descended from
dinosaurs, maybe they come from a
long line of cotton candy.

This guy in front looked like a ring leader.

There was something weird about this
guy's face.

This picture made me laugh, the one in
front looks like he is leading an
aerobics class.

Mmmm cotton candy....

Posing.

Another poser.

This is one of my favorite pictures I've taken ever. I
love his eye, I love that he's standing on a
spider web.

Despite their nick-name, "The Butcher Bird"
I still love these guys and think they are
soooo pretty.

This picture makes me laugh. There is some strange story
waiting to be told here. For some reason I was
imagining the movie the Body Guard with the cow in the
Whitney Houston role and the cattle egret as Kevin
Costner.

A long shot of the Vierra Wetlands.

An anhinga looking pretty.

Red-wing black birds are common
and I'm sure most people think they
aren't anything special, but I love
their little army stripes and think
they are beautiful.

Two baby great blue herons. 

A whole herd of young anhingas hanging out.

An adult anhinga who really really really wanted his
picture taken.

He was a total poser!

This was a second anhinga, trying to out-pose the
other one. Maybe they were working the runway
together.

Another baby anhinga at the Click ponds.

A final shot of the poser anhinga.

Make sure you keep checking back here, we have a few road trips coming up including Orlando, Paynes Prairie, St. Augustine, and more. I am thinking of adding a Brevard Zoo trip too, drop me an email or reply here if you would like to join that, or any trip! Hope to see you out there. Remember, you can look at pictures, but you can only really experience this stuff if you GOYB!

New exercise...

So, I was at the gym today, when for no discernable reason, the thought popped into my head that ball slams would be way more fun with a yoga ball. They TOTALLY are!!

Awesome Day Out at Devil's Millhopper State Park

I was SO excited to be able to get up to Gainesville for a trip to Devil's Millhopper with Alison, Chad, David and very special guest Peanut! It was an awesome trip. If you didn't GOYB this weekend, here's what you missed!

David, at the park entrance, waiting for it to open.

We were so happy to be joined by the
beautiful Peanut!

Alison, Chad and Peanut at the bottom
of the millhopper.

Alison, Chad, Me, and Peanut

Me and Alison. We've know each other for years, but
I don't remember ever having a picture of us before!

Me, David and Peanut

Climbing back up, looking down into Devil's Millhopper

Chad, Peanut and David talking about birds. 

Why Are You Doing The 1000 Mile Challenge?

We have had a few new people join the 1000 mile challenge since New Years Day, and I am really excited about that. I was thinking the other day that I know my reasons for doing this, but really don't know anyone else's. So let's share here. Why are you doing the 1000 mile challenge? Answer here by replying to this post.

I'll start: I've always admired that David sets goals and challenges for himself. So two years ago, I decided I was going set a goal for myself to walk 500 miles in a year. I was so proud of myself when I completed my goal by mid-December. Last year, I decided to up it to 1000 miles walking. I made it to about 700, but had a lot of foot issues and had to switch to bike riding and rowing, which I never counted because I had specifically said I was going to walk it. Regardless, I was pretty proud of myself that I had hit 500 miles in the early autumn, and might have made it the full 1000 if I had counted all the rowing and bike riding. I realized that the problem with limiting to walking was that it's a repetitive exercise that puts a LOT of pressure on the feet. So this year, I decided to go for 1000 self powered miles, so I could count rowing and bike riding.

So, why did I choose traversing 1000 miles instead of, seeing a certain number of birds like David does? A few reasons. One is that I wanted this goal to be my own. I think in a marriage it is so easy to lose your identity. While it is nice to have shared goals (which we do) I wanted to have something that all mine. The other reason is that I've always wanted to do something physical. In high school I skipped gym most of my senior year and almost didn't graduate. Despite the fact that I cut gym for an entire year, I have always admired the people who could do physical stuff. Growing up in the Boston area I saw the Boston Marathon every year, and it was incomprehensible how someone could run 26 miles, but deep down inside I really admired people who could and wanted (and still want) to try it some day. I started with a 1/2, and I know I will do a full one of these days. Maybe for my 60th birthday I will even try to qualify and get a real number for the Boston Marathon! 

But in the mean time, I'm doing my 1000 miles self propelled.

What's your story?

Manatee Watch and Walk Along C-54 Canal

Had an awesome walk today with HFC David and, fresh off her stage run in Beauty and the Beast, the divine Ms. H. We began with the last manatee watch of the season. We only saw 2. Not sure if due to weather or to the die off. I'm hoping it can be attributed to the weather. After the manatee watch, we took a walk along the C-54 canal. It was a nice walk, weather was great. If you didn't GOYB, here is what you missed today (as always, click to enlarge):

I thought this stick looked like a lizard or alligator head or something. 

Heather found a piece of cardboard and decided to do a little red-neck sledding.
Here she is at the top of the berm.

Here she is 1/2 way down the berm.

And click here to see a video of her in live action!

In addition to manatees dying this year, we have lost may brown pelicans as well.
This is the first dead pelican we found today. 

This is the last sand hill scrub in Brevard county. A beautiful area.

This was a eagle who watched us from the other side of the canal.

This was bones from something.

Apparently some kind of fish. The bone on the far right was serrated. 

This was the second dead brown pelican we found.

In happier news, we found tons of gopher tortoise burrows. This is a
prickly pear, one of the tortoise's favorite noms.

Me and Heather looking diligently over our manatee watch paperwork.

An awesome end to an awesome day.

Be sure to watch our schedule and see what else we have coming up. It's a big world out there that you can't experience from your couch! Join us for the Treasure Coast Birding Festival next weekend where I'll be speaking Friday night and leading a trip with David on Saturday morning. Visit the festival web site for details.

Unofficial Event - Blue Cypress

While we were at the festival today, David mentioned to Dr. Baker from Pelican Island Audubon that he needed to survey Blue Cypress for the breeding bird atlas. It just so happens that Dr. Baker was doing a boat trip out there tonight and very kindly let David and I tag along. It was amazing! We went out of Middleton Fish Camp, rode out to the stick marsh, had an incredible dinner (including wine, brie, dessert... sorry, Alison, if you are reading this:-), then came back looking into a magnificent sun set. There were dozens of nesting ospreys. Here are the pictures, click to enlarge:

This is a female osprey. You can tell she is female cause the girls always wear a brown necklace. It is a fashion thing. 

This is a male osprey. Note he is not wearing a necklace, and is smaller than the female.

A female eating the lover offering from her boyfriend. I love the psychotic look in her eye.

Another female osprey.

Funny story here that explains why I am a terrible birder. See that little white dot on the horizon? Dr. Baker pointed out that it is the water tower less than a mile from my house. I have lived in Fellsmere for about 6-7 years now, and I swear I have never seen that water tower before ever. I think I might have a problem with observation. 

I'm not a good birder, but I can take a decent picture now and then. I really liked this one.

This is a red-shouldered hawk nomming on a lizard.

The exposure on this photo is awful, but it shows the contrast between the male (top, smaller,  no necklace) and the female (bottom, larger, wearing necklace.)

The classic view of a blue cypress sunset on our way back to shore. It's a rough job to live in Florida, but someone has to do it. Thanks to Dr. Baker for a fantastic evening!

Pelican Island

We had an awesome walk out at Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge today. Joined by HFC David (who was the leader of the walk), and a group of terrific local birders, we saw a whole bunch of cool stuff. If you didn't GOYB and join us today, here's what you missed! (As always, click to enlarge.)

A very strange, LARGE bird flew
over us to welcome us to the
refuge. I'm really really glad he
didn't poop on my car. Or me.

It was a little chilly start to the day,
but the skies were crystal clear
and there were lots of duckies.

This is a White-cheeked Pintail duck. It was a lifer for me!

Gaillaridia, one of my favorite Florida wildflowers.

Some Green-wing Teal.

One of our neatest critters in FL.
This is an Antlion trap. There is an
antlion in the bottom of the hole
waiting for something crawl into the
hole and get trapped. This was the first
time I have ever seen a bug actually
fall in, it was very cool.

Me and Teddy Roosevelt at the festival after the bird walk.