Happy Spring...Happy Birds!

Spring has arrived on Amelia Island! We've been having beautiful weather! The birds seem to be enjoying it as well as us. These woodstorks were snoozing by the pond at Egret airport. The ibis in the background are enjoying the pond and in the back there's my favorite bird...

the Roseate Spoonbill! These birds go further south in December, and we are so glad that they are finally back!

A property owner came by and told us about a great horned owl nest...so of course we had to go check it out! Sure enough, up high in a pine tree along the golf course, was a nest with two baby owls! Too far up to get a good photo, but this one by Dave Furseth is what it looked like. Talk about a big baby, and adorable,too! We look forward to monitoring the progress of this owl family on our Birds of Amelia tours.

Good Grebe- Aloft & Lost

It's been so windy lately that our poor birds have been having trouble staying aloft and on course. Today, 3/15, Hardy and Clark were called to the rescue of a Pied-billed Grebe which was found by Amelia Inn's pool deck by some of the guests. The poor guy was scared to death hiding in the bushes by the pool.

Grebes are usually found in ponds and lakes and sometimes the marsh but very rarely on the beach. They are a very small bird with a duck-like appearance. Grebes are a type of water bird which prefers to dive underwater to escape predators than fly. This is possibly why the he decided to hide inside the bushes instead of fly when people approached him, but just to be on the safe side, Clark took him to BEAKS (bird wildlife rescue) to make sure his wings were good to go.

We concluded that since the wind was so strong today, he may have been guided off course from one of our lakes on property when he was aloft. BEAKS will release him tomorrow in a proper area after they make sure he is a healthy boy.

Coconut - a free squirrel!

On Monday it was a beautiful day....nice and warm and no more freezes predicted (this has been the coldest winter here in over 30 years). So...since he's old enough...we decided it was the perfect morning to release Coconut! (See previous posts for his story). A little hesitant at first, he began to explore the back porch and surrounding areas!

We left his cage out and open for him, just in case he wanted to return there for a familiar place to sleep. This Carolina Wren decided to help itself to the food scraps swept from his cage!

Coconut quickly learned where we leave the dish of food for the wild squirrels - a few of which we released in previous years.

Every day he comes by to visit us. It was raining today so he came to the covered area of the porch...and decided to nibble on a few of our shoelaces while he was there!

What's a little squirrel to do when he's on his own? Coconut is a little unsure about his new squirrel peers...and decided to hang around his friendly human parents instead. Yesterday he actually ran into the nature center! After running around and climbing up the stuffed snakes in the store, he decided the wild life was for him after all and hopped out the front door.

Like our other released squirrels have, I'm sure Coconut will gradually keep more distance from people...but hopefully will continue to come by to visit and get a snack!

Flat Stanly Project

A couple of weeks ago I received letters from my twin nephews from Rockford, Michigan. In their first grade classes at Meadow Ridge Elementary, they read the book Flat Stanly by Jeff Brown. Stanly was flattened, so he was able to be mailed around the world and explore new places with ease. My nephews, Bryce and Connor, sent the flattened versions of themselves to visit us in Florida. What better way to teach them about Amelia Island than to take them to work with me? Flat Bryce discovered beach bounty, including sharks' teeth and a mermaid's purse (egg case of a skate which is related to a stingray).

He made friends with Gator, our red rat snake, who thankfully wasn't hungry at the time.

Baby T, our Diamondback terrapin, is always anxious to pose, and allowed Flat Bryce to share his spotlight.

Flat Bryce was a great assistant while feeding the animals.

Samantha the Florida box turtle was especially curious.

Flat Connor was intrigued by how Harley the eastern King Snake could make himself into a pretzel.

Flat Connor met our saltwater fish, including the spadefish and mojarro .

And, of course our burrfish had to check him out, as they do with everyone who visits the nature center. They were less impressed when they found out Flat Connor had no seafood for them.