Monday, January 17, 2011

Ricky (Bobby) and Freddy

Last August, the nature center took care of two adorable kittens (Ricky and Freddy) who's mother was a feral cat on property. They were about 10-12 weeks old and we found them a home pretty easily. We get all cats we adopt out fixed and their shots, and let the new owners know that if they can no longer care for them, we will take them back. Well, last week we got a call from someone who visited Animal Care and Control and saw Ricky and Freddy there! We had to go bail them out before anything bad happened to them. Close call!
So now we are looking for a new home or even foster home for these two gorgeous brothers. Both have long, shiny fur. Ricky (Bobby) is a sleek black with gorgeous golden eyes and has a short tail. Freddy is a grey tabby who sort of resembles a lion. They are about 8 months old now and love to play. We would love to see them get a home together, but as long as they both had loving homes they would OK separated, too. If you would like a fun-loving cat or two, could foster them, or know anyone looking for a cat, please let us know! Right now they are living in a small room in a house, with "play dates" at the nature center to stretch out their legs.

Fluffy Freddy.

Ricky, with a bobbed tail.
Oh sweet river otter, how I do love thee!!



Their baby pictures (aww):










Saturday, January 15, 2011

A Rogue Spoonbill



The other day I was in our back office when I heard Amanda Clark (who is now officially full-time, yay!) exclaim that she saw a Roseate Spoonbill. I had to see for myself, and there it was, just hanging out above our turtle feeding platform! Usually they are gone by the end of December. I guess this one figured it'd stay and hang out with its Great Egret friend, who stays year round. We've also had hooded mergansers, night herons, anhinga, kingfisher, Great blue heron and lots of woodpeckers around the nature center lately. Come on by to check them out!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Okefenokee Swamp in the winter

Our latest trip to Okefenokee Swamp was the week after Christmas. It started out a little chilly. I had never seen the water with ice in it! Luckily it wasn't everywhere and we were still able to take a boat ride. Blankets on board, and eventually the sun, kept us warm.
We were a little worried about not seeing much wildlife because of the chilly temps. But, it was too cold for the alligators to digest their food, so they weren't out hunting. And the other animals knew it! I saw more animals than I've ever seen at the swamp. Unlike this Great Blue Heron, most of them were too quick to get a photo of. We saw an otter eating a fish, quite a few raccoons (including a mom and babies up in a tree eating berries), kingfishers, grebes, pileated woodpecker and other birds. Most exciting was a bobcat that one of the kids in our group spotted (no one believed him until we saw it ourselves!). And, believe it or not, we saw Snipes! A snipe is very rare bird to spot in the wild, and we saw quite a few of them!
The water level was so low in the swamp that we were able to get off the boat and run around on the peat, which is usually underwater. We learned that running around out there probably wasn't the best idea, though, because....

you never know when an alligator will be there! The boys were playing and all of the sudden we realized there was a7-8 foot long alligator that they didn't even notice at first. Luckily, they saw it before tripping over it!
We also saw this bear track!


After lunch, we saw these alligators in the duckweed right where the boats are docked.

Hellloooo up there! We drove around the wildlife drive and then walked the mile-long boardwalk to get to this observatory tower overlooking a lake. It was a great trip with a great family. Thank you Colemans!