Monday, January 25, 2010
An Afternoon with Birds and Mangroves
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Monday, January 25. The old saw,“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailor take warning,” proved true today. We were really glad to be tied up at a dock, because mighty winds blew all day long.
Bob and I spent the morning cleaning the boat and packing up 20 pounds of winter clothes, which are now bound for Huntsville in the mail. No more deep freezes allowed! We rewarded ourselves by driving over to Sanibel Island, where we toured the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. This pristine wildlife area was named for J.N. “Ding” Darling, an editorial cartoonist and conservation activist during the early 1900s. We mainly saw lush mangroves, palms, and gumbo limbo trees because the wind kept most birds hunkered down out of sight. We did see a few Roseate Spoonbills from a distance, which made the trip a complete success. Magnificent birds! (I need a better camera.) One poor egret seemed troubled by the sign that said he couldn’t go any further.
