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I love when old cartoons pop up from the past. This one was from 2017. One of the first plants that I found at the Merritt Island Visitor Center was this beautyberry. It’s hard to believe that a berry can actually be that color. One of the birds I will be will be Ospreys. IContinue reading “Back to Merritt Island for more natural history fun”

Jacco, another friend from Ann Arbor came to visit Don and Loree for the day. Jacco, Don and I spent the morning driving the beach looking for bird. There were a lot of gulls and terns, like the Royal Tern, on the beach. But we had a special target to get for Jacco. The sunContinue reading “Looking for birds with another friend”

Not every day is warm and sunny, even in Florida. So, what do you do? Laundry was the start of the day. But there’s a lot of time waiting. There was a game to play while we waited. But Susan opted to read about moths. and i wasn’t up to an operation. So I wentContinue reading “A cold rainy day in Florida”

Today we spent time at the Wiregrass Prairie Preserve south-west of New Smyrna Beach. The main trail (at least for the orange trail) winds through a prairie and into pines. This is a grassland habitat that is dependent on fire to keep it this way. As you look to the sides of the trail throughContinue reading “Wiregrass Prairie Preserve”

We had a full day at Merritt Island on Kennedy Parkway, Palm Hammock Trail and Eddy Creek. Some of the highlights included excellent looks at a group of four Florida scrub Jays. There was a pair of Red-shouldered hawks about 100 yards down the road, which didn’t seem to bother the jays. We found aContinue reading “A full day at Merritt Island and Daytona Beach”

We are not missing the storms rolling across the lower Great Lakes. Today the high temperature was just shy of 70F. This cartoon appeared on my FaceBook stream last night and again this morning. I figured that it was a sign. This branch would have easily fit into a 12″ circle. It was filled withContinue reading “A day searching for things other than birds”

Our day started out at the shore where Fish Crows are the dominant crow. The crows were above the gulls, terns and even this Brown Pelican. Searching through the abundant Sanderlings we were lucky to find three Western Sandpipers. Savannah Sparrows were tucked into the seaside shrubs. As the day warmed we started being distractedContinue reading “Looking for a western vagrant”

I’m not sure which I like better – the Loggerhead Shrike looking at me, or in profile. It took a while to find one, but we finally had a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron. The Great Egrets today all seemed to be in breeding plumage. Spotted Sandpipers haven’t been all that common. This one was very cooperative. ThereContinue reading “A day full of birds”

We care “a whole awful lot,” which is why we visit so many wild areas. Today the search for plant and animal diversity took us to the Savannah Wildlife Refuge. The main driving trail was closed for work. So, we found another spot with extensive hiking trails. And this is what we ended up withContinue reading “Visiting the Savannah Wildlife Refuge”

This is the embossed cover of the journal that I am currently writing in. I have kept personal journals for too many years to remember, although I could go downstairs and look for the ones that date back to the early 1970s. For me it’s fun to be able to look back and read aboutContinue reading “Writing and planning”