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!

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!

Busy Naturalists

This past week, we've been painting and rearranging our office at the nature center. Hokey Pokey, the armadillo, slept through all the commotion. She was happy to get out of the cage when we were done to check things out.

Buddy, our Blue and Gold Macaw, got to take a road trip on Friday with Amelia (Christina's Hahn's Macaw). They went to Orange Park to get a pedicure, beak and wing trim. Buddy also picked up his new cage, so he'll have plenty of room to stretch his wings. He's also practicing Amelia's favorite word - peek-a-boo!

Squirrel Release

We've had three baby squirrels at the nature center, Flopsy, Mopsy and Trixie (or Little Bit, as she's a little smaller than the others). They fell out of their nest and came in when their eyes hadn't even opened yet. (Their eyes open around 4 weeks). They've been in a cage outside the nature center, and then at Drummond Point Park. After getting used to the surroundings out there, we released them last Sunday. When we opened the cage, nothing happened at first, until Amanda Hardy moved something. That startled them and one of them jumped on Amanda, thumping her right on the head! The two boys ran off and Trixie stayed around to say her goodbyes. We go back every day and make sure they have enough food and water, since they don't have winter stashes started yet. This is Trixie saying "hi" and thanking me for her breakfast!

Right Whale Festival - 2010

Every year around November 20th, many people gather learn about Right Whales and their conservation. Right Whales are on the move from northern Atlantic Ocean to southern Atlantic where the mothers will have their young and enjoy warmer waters. They can be seen off our local coast anytime between December and March.
The Right Whale festival always has fun and educational booths from numerous conservation societies. The Nature Center got a chance to join in on the fun! We had a booth set up with a Question and Answer board - How Much Do You Know About Right Whales? and a corner so that kids could make their own Right Whale. For this craft, Christina and Amanda Clark were able to teach the kids about the anatomy which distinguishes a Right Whale from other whales. Christina and Amanda Might have had their fun with the whale calf as well!

Halloween is always a fun time to be at Omni-Amelia Island Plantation. The weekend coincides with the Florida/Georgia college football game...which is a huge rivalry game played in Jacksonville every year. Many people who come to watch the game on Saturday stay with us for the weekend. So, Friday night we have a big Halloween carnival for these guests as well as the local community. This year the nature center held a pet parade and costume contest right along with the children's events.


Proceeds went to RAIN (Rescuing Animals in Nassau), a local non-profit that helps homeless animals. All participants had fun, and our costume contest winners were Wolfy and Satie as policedog and inmate, Paris as Halloween Queen, and Amelia as a yellow submarine. Thank you to everyone that helped - Bark Avenue, Redbones, Petco, Hot Paws pet spa, Fernandina Beach Animal clinic and RAIN volunteers!
Thanks also to Amandas and their dogs, Pearl as the cat in the hat, and Dutchess as Scooby Doo. Watch out- this creature might surprise us on our next Amelia at Night tour! (Amanda Clark, you had way too much fun with this!!)

Starting him out young...

This is my baby Naturalist, Evan, who's growing like a weed! (see his first picture in a May 2010 post). He's already been studying animals....at the nature center, the zoo, and at home - my two cats and various rescued animals. You can read an article about me and my life as a naturalist that was in the local newspaper here: http://fbnewsleader.com/articles/2010/10/18/around_town/00atmayihelppaarlbert.txt