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!

Event Update: SOS Walk on A1A

I did a solo SOS (Six on Sunday) walk today. I love walking with other people, but today was kind of nice too, I downloaded a ton of new music lately, and finally had the chance to listen to it on my 6+ mile trek. The mosquitoes were very very bad at the Jungle Trail parking area, and I of course forgot my bug spray, but once I got out on the water, there was a nice breeze, no bugs and it was a pretty great day. If you chose not to GOYB today, here's what you missed:

I wore my official "I Survived Boot Camp" t-shirt today.  They assign nick names to everyone at boot camp, and I was soooo afraid that I would accidentally fart while doing sit-ups and be forever after known as "GASSY" or worse. The back of my shirt said, "DAILY D" (cause I go to the gym every day.) I thought that was not only clever and cool, but a massive relief:-)

By the way, these shirts were designed and made by  a woman in our class who has her own design business. (If anyone reading this knows the name of Amber's business, please reply, I'd be happy to give her a plug as I love the shirt!)

 I saw lots of little baby lizards today. As I went on, I think I discovered why (keep reading)...

 Lots of flowers out today.

I thought this railroad vine flower was particularly spectacular.

 This could possibly be why there are lots of baby lizards around... I love how he is whispering sweet nothings in her ear.

As I've said before, the bad part of walking on A1A is that there seem to be a lot more dead critters. This is a green heron that I think got hit by a car. It didn't appear to be predated as there was too much left of him.

This is one of my favorite birds, the wood stork. This is the first bird I identified on my own in Florida.

 We always see great blues out here, but I thought this one looked particularly magestic.

 Here is something  I've never seen before - a hermit crab outside his house. I was told that they really can't survive too long outside, and he appears to have either died of natural causes or was killed by something when he left his house (presumably the shell shown here).

This is another relative rarity, a reddish egret. I haven't seen any around in a while.

I think this is a female fiddler crab. If it were a male, he would have one really big claw.

Remember, you might see stuff like this on the internet or on TV, but you will never really experience it until you GOYB!  Join us this week for some weekday walks, possibly at Hardee Park in Sebastian or Riverside Park in Vero, details TBD.

Event Update: River Walking...

We did a 3 mile walk along the river tonight. The skies were threatening so I didn't bring my real camera, I just brought my iPhone, but got some decent shots nonetheless. Not sure where my head was tonight, but luckily I had Heather along to point cool stuff out to me. If you didn't choose to GOYB tonight, here's what you missed:

A squirrel giving me the evil eye and telling me not to touch  his dinner.

This was one of Heather's finds, a really beautiful skink. This picture doesn't do him justice, he was really pretty.

Another of Heather's finds, a large black racer. He was quite accommodating and let me take a few pictures. Wish I had my long lens with me. I said that phrase a lot tonight!

You might have to enlarge the photo to see, but we counted at least 6 bunnies in this one spot.

There were zillions of giant land crabs out today. Saw some young (orange) ones and lots of older blue ones. Again, wish I'd had my real camera!

 This was a cool plant. I just liked the way the photo came out.

Someone was getting rained on a LOT. We were lucky, the rain held off till we were having dinner (inside) then the heavens opened up again.

It was a great walk, saw a bunch of really cool stuff. Sorry you missed it! We are doing our SOS walk on Sunday, join us if you want to see all kinds of cool stuff!

Great Diet Tip!

This week I accidentally bought Cabot Habanera cheddar instead of my usual Jalepeno cheddar. I discovered that I use a LOT less cheese on my morning eggs as it's a tad on the hot side. Well, technically, my underpants burst into flames when I farted after I ate it, so it's a little more than a "tad" hot. But it's really yummy, and if you can tolerate it, it's a nice way to spice up eggs.

Event Update: Walk at Riverside park

Due to rain and the fact that I didn't get home from GA till late yesterday and was very very tired, we (Heather and I) just did a 2.5 mile walk today. Despite how tired I was, I still GOMB, why didn't you?? If you didn't, here's what you missed:

A nice red-bellied woodpecker.

 A suggestive pair of mushrooms.

Man, my mind must be in the gutter... is it just me, or are these mushrooms mating??

Anyway, this is just a very small sampling of the cool stuff you miss when you stay inside! Join us on a walk soon, the world awaits you!