Double-decker squirrels

Beach art - Don Pedro Island

On our recent Florida vacation, my husband & I took a long, long, long walk on the beach at Don Pedro Island. Here's some of the "artwork" we saw along the way...

The journey is half the fun...

Mention the word "ride" around our pups & they practically fly into the car. It's amusing to me that they have no idea where they will end up - a three mile trip to the post office or 650 miles to Aunt Bev's in Florida - doesn't matter to them. Ahhh, life is good!

Florida scrub jay - close up!

After a couple of years of saying "we should go see the scrub jays", we finally did it. We were told that the place to see them was at Oscar Scherer State Park, near Sarasota Florida. So on the way to my sister's house on Don Pedro Island, we took a little detour. We asked the gate attendant where we could find some scrub jays. She told us to drive through to the last parking lot, then follow the yellow trail. She said we probably wouldn't have to walk very far down the trail to see some. That was an understatement. As soon as we stepped out of the car, we heard them and saw a few flying around. I took a few photos of them drinking from a small creek, then we headed down the trail.


The park's brochure said not to feed the wildlife, but it was obvious that not everyone obeyed that rule. These birds were downright tame! My husband held out his empty hand and 2 jays fluttered inches above it to see if he was offering any food.


Florida scrub jays are listed as a "threatened species", but it was obvious that they didn't "feel threatened" by us! This guy perched about 2 feet away from my camera lens and posed for me like a perfect little bird model...











Florida scrub jays

A new home for Allie

Our neighbors' Sheltie passsed away last summer. And from these dog lovers we've been hearing "we'll get another Sheltie someday, but we're not ready for another dog yet". So we were surprised to see a dog in the back of their car as they drove in their driveway last week. Check her out - definitely not a Sheltie! She's a sweet stray that had been hanging around their church for a couple of weeks. Now she has a great home. I love happy endings!

They'll probably return soon ...

I have a spare memory card for my camera which I rarely use. When I needed it recently, I found it was full of images taken last summer. Here's a sample -

A turkey vulture - for Lynne???

My BIGBY 2008 list is up to 37 species, but until yesterday, the turkey vulture was conspicuously absent from my list. Sure, I'd see them soaring while I was driving, but that doesn't count for BIGBY. Yesterday we finally saw some soaring while we were walking. Susan's post about vultures last week was for Lynne. Does Lynne like vultures? I didn't know that about her, but if so, this post is for her too!





I took this photo last summer - click to enlarge the photo & check out that hole in the top of his beak. I think I could hook my pup's leash to that!