Fort Clinch

Last week I took a group to Ft Clinch, a civil war era fort located in Fernandina Beach, which is the north end of Amelia Island. This is a great place to learn about history and nature, as it is also one of the first State Parks in Florida.

The first weekend of every month are Garrison days at the fort. Historical interpreters dress in replica clothing, and can be seen around the fort doing their various duties the way they would have been done back in the 1860s. Join us on Saturday, December 5 for a special holiday garrison trip to Fort Clinch. We also explore the historic lighthouse and the resident critters and plants. Call the nature center at 904-321-5082 for more info.

Squirrelios

This is Cocoa, the latest squirrel that was brought to us. He was found, presumed orphaned, a couple of weeks ago. We'll do our best to raise and then release him. We released Huey and Duey a few weeks ago (see previous posts). A week afterwards, though, Duey came up to the nature center's front door. We thought he was just saying hi, until we noticed some blood around his mouth. Horrified, we went out to try to catch him. Christina and I caught him in a net, but he managed to squeeze out. We tried again, and he'd get close but not enough to get caught.

Heartbroken, we were forced to leave him outside, but put out some soft food for him on the porch. The next day, he came to the back porch for some grapes. It was a nice cool day out, so we had the doors open. Well, he decided to let himself in! We closed the door then Christina used food to lure him to her and got him in his old cage!

We drove him down to the Jacksonville Wildlife Rescue Coalition to be examined. They had him a few days and said that the poor guy had knocked his top front teeth out! They gave him some antibiotics for inflammation and started feeding him formula. We got him back and have been continuing his medication and giving him formula and soft fruits and veggies. He is doing great!

The good thing is that rodents', including squirrels', teeth grow continuously. So, in a couple of months Duey's teeth should be fine for eating! We'll monitor them to make sure they are growing back correctly. If they don't, we'll have to file them down regularly. Either way, we're so happy that he knew where to get help when he needed it!

Henry takes a shift as office manager

Last month, a sweet gray cat was found by the Inn. Christina was able to pick him up and brought him back to the nature center. We took him to the vet, turns out he was already neutered and in perfect health! We're not sure where he came from, but he loves people.




After a couple of days he'd made himself right at home in Christina's office. He even started taking calls while sitting in the office chair. As you can see in the photo, he had the bad habit of not listening to callers. You'd think we'd learn by now that cats are not the best office managers (see previous posts). Sleeping about 20 hours a day doesn't help. We named him Henry, but nooone came to claim him.

Not to worry, though...we quickly found a home for this soft and handsome fellow. Amanda Clark (one of our naturalists) took him up to Georgia to live with her mom! Once again, he took no time to make himself right at home. Makeup artist? Once again, sleeping on the job. Oh well....Amanda's mom already adores him!