Friday, December 26, 2014

ELC Boat Trip

I was invited to take some pictures on the ELC "Floating Classroom" today. It was a blast! Here are some pictures.  Click to enlarge.

Our fearless leader, Heather, fearlessly leading us down to the boat.
"You're taking a picture? Wait let me smooth out my feath..."
<click>
"Drats!"
An Osprey, looking all poser-y.
Two brown pelicans chatting.
"Who you calling looney??"
"Well, helloooo there!"
American Oyster Catcher calisthenics.

"Lift one leg..."
"Now lift your wings..."
"Now lift both feet..."
Double-crested Cormorants, milling about and chatting.
I like now Cormorants always look like they are paying attention to some unseen teacher.
An Osprey, who thinks he is discretely eating a snack, but isn't actually being that discrete at all.

"Om nom nom nom nom."
Close up of the Oyster Catcher. Look at that crazy orange eye!
Heather explaining dem crazy bones.
Going under the bridge back to the ELC.
Returning safely to the ELC doc after another amazing trip!


Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Sebastian Inlet

I had an appointment up in Brevard this morning, decided to stop at the inlet on my way home. I took the pix for our annual holiday card. I also got some shots of other birds:

A Caspian and a Royal tern. Notice the beak shape and color differences.
Now this was about the weirdest thing I've ever seen. This one Skimmer just flopped down on his tummy on the beach. I thought he was dying...
Then another did the same thing...
 Then another...
At this point I called David to see if I should call Fish and Wildlife. He said that he doesn't know why, but sometimes Skimmers just lie on their tummies with their heads on the ground. They aren't sick or anything, they just do this now and then.
This is a cool picture as it helps ID similar birds. The ones with more black are the Black Skimmers. The ones with male pattern baldness and a yellow-orange beak are Royal Terns. The ones with the red-orange beak and male pattern baldness are Caspian Terns. The ones with the black eyes are Foresters Terns.

One good tern deserves another...
I liked this guy, he looked like he was staring at his shadow contemplating his own mortality in a very dramatic fashion.

Monday, December 1, 2014

Setting up WinterGreen Nightlights at the ELC





Putting the lights on the boardwalk out to the canoe dock
A Mangrove Crab came out to see what all the hubbub was about.

The front entrance
The tree in the gift shop

Volunteers trying to figure out how best to decorate the oak.




Trying to find the cursed broken bulb!
In the Lagoon Room

My favorite ornament!
A lovely natural ornament

A volunteer decorates a tree.
A tree has decided to get into the swing of things by turning red.
A volunteer shows off his wounds from an angry tree that bit him.
Having failed at decorating the oak tree, the volunteers decided to decorate themselves instead!