Another day in the life…

Egad!  It was 23* when I took Emma for her first outs this morning and the north wind was blowing.  Much to my chagrin, she thought the brisk wind and crunchy turf were invigorating, and took her sweet time going about her business.  :(   Wouldn’t you think a short haired dog would have more sense than that?  Nope!  She ran around in circles on her long lead and fairly made me dizzy.  Eventually, we went back inside and I got ready for the bird count.

 

Fellow volunteer, Marilyn, and I headed out at 8:30 for our appointed rounds.  We about froze our fingers off walking the transect at the first stop.  The marsh was wet, but frozen.  The little killdeer and yellow legs were walking around on the ice looking for something to eat.  No ducks to be seen.  They were probably off to more sheltered grounds.  That was one chilly bird count this morning!

 

This afternoon, I needed to make the ten mile drive into the main part of the refuge to gas up the refuge vehicle before the weekend.  Since I was there, I took a ride down all the refuge roads for probably the last time.  After four volunteer stints here, I’m really not planning on returning, but you just never know.

As I drove down the entrance road, I noticed smoke from another fire.  This time it wasn’t the burning of rice fields or pastures, but the burning of debris piles still left from hurricane Ike.  You just can’t imagine the massive amounts of debris left from a hurricane unless you’ve seen it.  That raised shed, on the right, is one of many that was constructed to oversee the removal of all the debris.  Last year, big dump trucks hauled huge mounds of stuff away every day.  Now, they’re burning what is left.  I think it’s been over two years since that hurricane, and that gives you an idea of how long it takes to clean up from such devastation.

As I made my way around Shoveler Pond, this great blue heron decided to pose for me.  That beak is sure a formidable weapon, and this bird is an expert at freezing in place until an unsuspecting fish or frog moves past.  Then that beak moves with lightening speed to grab some tasty morsel.  I’ve enjoyed many a moment watching these herons work at getting a large fish, head first, down to their gullet.  

A Virginia rail also made an appearance today.  See how it has puffed out it’s feathers to keep warm?  You know it’s a chilly day when they don’t live up to being ‘as thin as a rail’!

 

Lastly, I need to vent a little rant on what some people do on our public lands.  Yesterday, Marilyn was working the VIS, and needed to visit the restrooms that are located across from the VIS.  As she entered the restroom, she found that someone had taken a crap in the hand washing sink!  Can you believe it?  There are two stools located there, so why would someone do this?  And guess who had to clean it up?  The volunteer!  I just don’t understand.  What a disgusting thing to do!  I know what I’d like to do to the person who did this.  What is this world coming to?  Ugh!

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy