Rex goes into the Big Boy pond!

Today big boy Rex, the Red-bellied Slider, was released into the pond behind the Nature Center. Rex was given to the nature center last spring by a caring little girl. She found him outside and he was only the size of a quarter. Rex is now bigger than my hand and was ready to free into the wild. Rex thanks everyone for their company in the nature center and hopes that you come and visit to feed him in the pond out back!! He told me to tell you to make sure he gets most of the turtle food! So look for him while you are out feeding the turtles behind the nature center! Here's one last look at him before you go! Keep safe little Rexy!

Hardy-Davis Eco Friendly Wedding

On February 12th, one of our Naturalists, Amanda Hardy-Davis, got married at Walker's Landing. She planned a beautiful eco-friendly wedding. This included anything from recycled paper invitations to 12 inch Southern Red Cedar trees (which are native) for the guests. She and Trevor planted a Southern Red Cedar together as their unity during the wedding.

The wedding was beautiful and the weather was perfect. We already miss her at the nature center and it seems a little more quiet without her happy-go-lucky attitude and playful laugh! We wish her well however and hope she will join our team again soon! :)

A sea star thanks his lucky stars

Amanda Clark was on a beach bounty tour today and came across a sea star. It was stiff, so everyone thought it was dead. A family from England was going to take it home. Fortunately, the family left the sea star at the nature center by accident. I came across it, picked it up and wasn't sure if it was dead or not because part was stiff and part wasn't. Amanda said she hadn't seen its tube feet move, but suggested putting it in the tank to make sure. Well, sure enough, it was alive! It's feet started to slowly move. We were so happy for the sea star....until the stone crab in the tank grabbed it! Luckily Amanda saw it in time and took it from the crab. The sea star was so appreciative that it would not let go of Amanda! We moved the crab to another tank so hopefully the sea star will be able to live peacefully at the nature center now. We think the sea star got caught on land and was cold-stunned when they found it.

An exciting end to a bird tour

I just came back from a birding tour. We saw black-crowned night herons, anhingas, cormorants, northern shovelers, a coot, great blue and little blue herons, marsh and other hawks, a kestrel, egrets, sandpipers, etc. Then, right as we were about to leave, an osprey rushed by with a fish in its talons. As we were watching it, another bird came flying in really fast. It was a bald eagle! It dove after the osprey into the marsh. When the birds came back up, they flew in different directions, but neither had the fish.

After that, I saw a duck fly in to a nearby pond. If I hadn't have noticed it fly in, we would have missed about 10 hooded mergansers. These are really beautiful diving ducks. Males are black and white, and females are brown with funky little "hairdos". We were quiet and able to get really close to them. I could have stood there forever just "drinking" them in!

Nature Center animal update

Nowadays, when you visit the nature center, you are often greeted with a loud "hello" and maybe even a bow. We naturalists are very friendly, but actually it would be Buddy, our blue and gold macaw greeting you! Buddy was rescued last August, and it has taken him some time to warm up to us and for everyone to trust each other. One way to get on his good side....peanuts!! He often settles for a nice head- scratch, too, but only from the naturalists, who he trusts. He has a huge new cage in our new classroom, and also a large perch by the window that he can see people as they come in.

Another favorite animal of our visitors is Hokey Pokey, the armadillo. Since she learned to climb over the baby gate which kept her in our back office, we decided to let her have the run of the new classroom. At night she is put in her cage, but we have to put three boards and two heavy bins on top so she can't escape!