Florida Panther Sighting!

On January 25, a resident on the resort walked her guests out to their cars after a nice dinner. As she said bye and looked down the road she saw a slender animal walking away into the shadows with a very distinct sway to it's walk and a long fluffy tail which turned up just before it touched the ground. Know what the animal is yet?

Florida Panthers have been known to roam Amelia Island occationally. Sightings occur about a few times a year, mostly at Fort Clinch, and pictures rarely turn up. Florida Panthers are native to all of Florida but are more commonly found in the Everglades and surrounding areas. In the sand at the top of the Sunken Forest, you can see proof of his appearance on the resort. Following a trail of raccoon foot prints, a distinct set of paw prints can be seen.

The resort doesn't have much roaming area for a panther or enough big game for him to hunt so he will probably didn't stick around long, but it's always spectacular to see this beautiful endangered species still survives!

Okefenokee Swamp

On January 8th a few naturalist's got to take a trip to the Okefenokee swamp. The trip is to a close swamp area that is located in southern Georgia. This property is 438,000 acres with most being protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. We offer this off property tour at our guests convenience and try to take as many trips a year as we can. This wildlife area is very different from our property. The have a very wide range of animals, reptiles, birds, plants and trees. Yesterday we were able to see Sandhill Cranes in the swamp along with gators and many different kinds of lizards.

Buddy gettin' down!

Today, Bob Seger came on the radio and Buddy was dancing up a storm! Buddy has been at the nature center now for about a year and a half and he's loving every minute of it! Between getting to watch the guests dance for him or all the treats he could ever ask for, Buddy is one spoiled nature center bird! Here are a few pictures from a year ago when he first arrived at the nature center.

Educational & Interesting Ecology

For all you who love to learn something new everyday, we have a variety of ecology tours available at the nature center. If you want to learn about the marsh, beach, or maritime forest, we have the tour for you! Our tours are educational but also fun! Perfect for families or individuals, we have no tour minimum!

ALSO, starting this month we start a new tour called Treasure Seekers! Learn to navigate a compass and about cardinal directions.

Come learn how ye can be a pirate, matey!

Update on Mr. Whiskers

In case you were wondering what happened to Mr. Whiskers (see post from August 31), we are happy to say that he found a loving home with an Omni employee! He came back so we could take him for a vet visit. He loved seeing the squirrels that we are raising, but somehow I don't think they were as happy to see him!

Getting in the Halloween Spirit!

At the beginning of last week the Amanda's decided that it was too early to carve pumpkins but not too early to paint them! So... we found some interesting looking pumpkins/ squash and painted whatever we thought would fit them! Enjoy!

Maize

This is Maize, a Miami corn snake that we are "snake-sitting" at the nature center. She's just a few years old, and is similar to Gator, our Red Rat Snake, but is smaller and has lighter, orange markings. Her (human) Dad has one more semester to teach up in Ohio before retiring here on Amelia. Visitors to the nature center enjoy seeing this sweet girl, and we enjoy spending time with her too. She's a good house guest, which for a snake means she's not messy and is eating and shedding regularly. We will miss her in December when she leaves, but I'm sure something else will come along then.