Savannah Georgia to Hendersonville North Carolina

Yesterday was a great travel day. I started by visiting Skidaway Island State Park and it was incredible. The oak trees here are 80 - 100 feet tall with Spanish Moss hanging from the tree tops to the ground. They are in a drought period now too and some of my easiest and best birding happened at a 5 foot diameter water hole on one of the trails. It is so calming and peaceful to walk in the woods for miles with no humans in sight...everyone should do it now and again. At the visitor center they had couches lined up looking at the feeders and much to my delight I got a new bird the Painted Bunting. A male and female were feeding on millet and it was magnificent sight to have all this color surrounded by green and more green.


From there I headed northwest towards North Carolina going through downtown Savannah and seeing some of the beautiful homes and gardens. This is a place I need to come back to someday.

The rest of the day was spent driving through South Carolina and eventually into western North Carolina. It rained many times and felt good, something I had missed this season in the Everglades. Eventually the "low country" as it is called gave way to the mountains and it was fun to drive the rolling hills and the canyon river valleys.

My sister's house sits on a hill overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains and will be a great place to relax and bird for awhile.

Merritt Island, Cape Canaveral and the National Seashore to Savannah Georgia

What an incredible day it was. The first stop was Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. The wildlife drive was closed for maintenance but this gave me an opportunity to explore elsewhere such as Peacock's Pocket; It is a dirt road that led to the inlet with a canal the whole way. Great birds, plants and sea creatures abound. I was able to see Cape Canaveral and it is an amazing sight. It is the end of an era with no more shuttles being launched. The National Seashore is clean, pristine and chock full of life. Highlight today was Manatee and Dolphin feeding and playing not 10 feet from me as I stood on a sea wall.


The remainder of the day was spent driving to Savannah Georgia where I will explore tomorrow.

Jupiter to Cocoa Florida

I headed north on SR 1 and my first stop was the Jupiter Lighthouse. Big, beautiful and red...quite a contrast to the green of vegetation and blue of the ocean. I then went to Jonathan Dickinson State Park and it was fantastic! It was my first time in the sand pine scrub ecosystem and this community is so rare that it has been designated "globally imperiled". I went to Hobe Mountain Observation Tower which is an ancient sand dune standing 86 feet high. The views are incredible in all directions. Hobe Sound NWR was next. A small but wonderful site on the edge of the sound. Rolling hills of sand allow a change in ecosystems from slash pine to ocean beach. Further north I finished the day with Pelican Island NWR. This was the first designated National Wildlife Refuge and it did not disappoint. It has two 3-mile trails around the salt marsh and one .75 mile trail and butterfly garden. Highlights for today: Gopher tortouise, land crab, family of raccoons, skink, Sooty Tern, Pileated Woodpecker and Least Tern.

Tomorrow to Merritt Island NWR.

Port of the Islands to Jupiter Florida

On the road yesterday from Port of the Islands to Jupiter Florida. I took the back roads east of Immokalee through sugar cane and corn fields and an occasional orchard. In some places the cattle on the ranches were wading tummy deep in water (wierd). Loxahatchee NWR is worth a visit not only for the wildlife and ecosystems but to see how the restoration of the Everglades is taking place. Finally had a good rain storm with lightning, thunder and RAIN...it's been awhile. Highlights: Crested Caracara, Limpkin, Swallow-tailed Kite, Black-necked Stilt, Black-bellied Whistling Duck!!!!, Roseate Spoonbill, Common Moorhen babies, Cricket Frog, Pig Frog, FL Soft Shell Turtle, Red-bellied Turtle, Baby Alligator, Queen Butterflly, Palamedes Butterfly and Lubber grasshoppers everywhere....Loving each other :)


Today a wildlife sanctuary, lighthouse, state park for Florida Scrub Jay and then to Hobe Sound NWR.