Settling in...

Whew! We're finally somewhat settled into our new house and have internet service again! That's why I've been awol. :) Even though we don't have a forest directly behind our house, there's a small conservation area nearby, and we still see lots of birds! In fact, on one of the move in days, we saw 4 red-shouldered hawks. One of them was even sitting on the road! There's also a mockingbird who sings his little heart out every single morning in the tree at the corner of our yard. It took me a little while to figure out what it was since mockingbirds mimic other birds' songs. (hence the name ;-)

Another fun animal sighting - Tricia saw a bobcat in the edge of the trees at work last week! We were both in our cars, and she tried to get my attention, but it was too late. Oh well. She's lucky!

The shuttle came back on Thursday, and I finally heard it! It sounded like a really big tree branch cracking twice. No... not even a really big tree branch... a tree branch so big that it doesn't exist. But the type of sound was the same despite how loud it was.

So those are my udpates. The biggest excitement in our lives right now is the house. It may be a while until we have another adventure. I'll keep you posted on the little things until then!

Beach Relaxation

We just got back from the beach. We sold out to do a timeshare spiel in exchange for a free night at the RonJon resort. Yes, that's right, RonJon now has a timeshare. The address is Cocoa Beach, but it's technically located in Cape Canaveral. And you all know how I feel about the Canaveral beaches. :) That is.. if you've read this blog you do. haha. However, that also meant that we could see the shuttle launch site from the resort! How cool would THAT be?! Unfortunately it just went up on Saturday. We saw it in Orlando though. It's so amazing to see that fiery tail and huge smoke trail blaze into outer space in minutes. We've seen it 3 times now, and I still get excited. I think I may even post a photo of the trail for you all even though it's not wildlife related. We really need to try to see it up close. Wow. I'm told you can often actually hear it landing here. It sounds like a very very large sonic boom. We've never been lucky enough to hear it, but our friends have! The conditions have to be right where you live.

Anyway, back to the beach. It was lovely and relaxing. The waves were HUGE due to Florence. That was GREAT for our boogie boarding! (Any of my relatives remember that?) There were also tons of surfers. One of the maintenance guys pointed out where some turtle nesting sites were, but we didn't get out to check if any hatched last night. :( I really want to see that! The beach was in a very natural condition, and we saw lots of what seemed to be least terns, but I'm not sure since my trusty bird guide is still packed away from the move.

The take home message though? Do the timeshare thing for free stuff if you can stomach a sales pitch, but it's too expensive for the average Joe to actually buy into!

Bok Sanctuary - back post from summer

Edward Bok, early 1900's editor of Ladies Home Journal, collector of famous signatures, and wealthy, nature loving man, decided to create a sanctuary for himself on his estate that would be left for future generations after his death. This is called Bok Sanctuary in Lake Wales, FL. Ron and I had always wanted to visit and hear the carillion from the Bell Tower at the highest point on grounds. At 298ft above sea level, it is very high indeed for Florida. It made me laugh though when I thought about the fact that I used to live thousands of feet above sea level.

The sanctuary is an amazing haven for all kinds of creatures and rare plants. One
plant that startled me was the Australian tree fern. It literally was a fern that looked like a tree! So bizarre. This monstrosity of a plant had no sign, so I have no idea what it is. I just know it's cool! The whole sanctuary was laid out beautifully with gorgeous architecture. It was a normal Florida summer day - HOT, and muggy. But we had a great time anyway.

The Bell Tower is a gorgeous homeage to native animals and stone.
After looking it up, I believe this is a hispid cotton rat. It was very cute, totally unafraid of people, and we saw them everywhere.
There was also a beautiful little hut with a window from which you could observe the animals at the pond. I saw the most wood ducks I've ever seen at one time! There had to be at least 60 of them! They're such an elegant little duck. I would have gotten a photo except that we startled them. We also saw a few turtles and some black snakes.

When we couldn't stand the heat any longer, we explored the gift shop and beautiful cafe. All in all, it was a beautiful day in a place I highly recommend.
Now I'm finally caught up!!

Labor Day at Leu Gardens

Happy Labor Day! Or at least, Happy Labor Day yesterday. :) Ron and I went to Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando yesterday since we had Sunday AND Monday off together!! Another bonus is that the gardens are free on Monday mornings. That's a lovely word for brand new homeowners. It was a pretty & peaceful place, but not quite as lovely as Bok Sanctuary. (which I will post soon I promise!)

Ron finally saw a blue-tailed skink! I caught a flash of his blue tail high up in a tree. I've only seen them a few times. Of course we saw lots of birds and squirrels as well. One red-bellied woodpecker came very near us.

Most of the flowers weren't in bloom since it's so late in the summer. The butterfly garden was probably still the most colorful. There were butterflies all over the place. We even saw a very dark orange one that I've never seen before.

Oh, and that frog from Sunday? We thought we'd lost him, but this morning when I walked back into the apartment from the balcony, guess who hopped in with me?!?! I had to catch him and escort him back to his proper home. It was very amusing.

Tree Frogs Galore!

We've seen a lot of tree frogs lately. And we've not just seen the Cuban kind, which are everywhere. We've seen green tree frogs! They're the Florida natives and smaller (and cuter in my opinion) than the big brown Cuban frogs. The Cuban tree frogs actually eat the smaller greens and out-compete them for food and habitat. It's much the same problem we see with Cuban anoles and green anoles. We see a lot of both native herps here though since we have a forest behind the apartment.

Yesterday, I found what I'm pretty sure was a green tree frog on our railing. If anyone out there is more of a herper than I, please correct me! It was SO tiny and cute! I took two photos, one for size reference, and one up close and personal.

They're baaack!

Well, the pileated woodpecker pair has been back! I'm so happy because we probably won't see a lot of birds like that in our new home, lovely as it is. The female, who has black in her facial lines and a smaller red crest, was pecking away at the dead tree behind our balcony. She was very intent. After a little while, the male came calling and gave her a break so she could fly off. I watched them for about 40 minutes, and they didn't even seem to care that I was there! Here's one of the photos I took.