Cute Little Armadillos

On Monday February 8th I ventured slightly north to Canaveral national Seashore. I found several 9-banded armadillos throughout the day. Cute little buggers!

This one was different though...I found him near the parking lot to the visitors center..I took a shining to him...maybe it was because he was the very first one I got to see up close! I watched from a safe distance as he foraged...never paying the slightest bit of attention to me...He started to come closer and closer and that's when I noticed the anomaly on his head. Between his eyes there was a large reddish raised area...perhaps a hemangioma or something....not sure what it was but I did not see it on any other armadillos! Hope he's ok!

He soon began foraging only a few feet from me..I decided to retreat to my car, I didn't want to trample his lunch...or be trampled either!

Birds of Viera Wetlands

Still feeling a little crabby after being up for more than 24 hours and only sleeping for 4 hours (thank GOD for LATE checkout!), I decided I needed to be away from people and go be with nature! I found a perfect spot...the Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands in Veira, Florida was only about 15 minutes south of Cocoa. The 200 acre wetlands was created by reclaimed water from the Brevard County waste-water reuse system. Sounds gross...but really...no smells...just a very nice nature area! I thought about hiking...until I saw a posting to the tune of..."beware...aggressive behavior...alligator mating season...."that did it. I would just drive casually on the dirt path as others were doing...pulling off at interesting places. Like to view this beautiful Great Egret!

Up the road apiece, I was juggling my camera, binoculars and my Sibley's (large bird book) trying for several minutes to figure out what this red beaked bird was. I thought I was enough off the road as to not block the path of those behind me looking for entertainment on Superbowl Sunday afternoon...when someone in a truck beeped and screamed in my open window "Its a BIRD!"...hellooooooo..its a NATURE TRAIL NOT the INDY 500 I wanted to scream...but he was a few hundred yards away now and I was only yelling at his dust cloud. PEOPLE! Anyway...its a common moorhen I found out later after giving up & asking someone with a spotting scope.

Several others appeared in a big hurry while driving this one way route with several different loops. I just don't get it...why go to a nature preserve if you don't want to take the time and want to see and observe nature things??? Maybe they were just there to show out of town visitors alligators or something. I found this glossy ibis near the egret while looking at BIRDS!

A red-bellied woodpecker flitted by and landed on this tree and drilled for lunch as I was observing the ibises.

Up the road a bit a few Blue Winged Teal swam by.....

Still...a little further... a Great Blue Heron who was in the middle of some sort of molt happened by....

It took me a while to figure out this little guy...the Belted Kingfisher should be called the look quick & raise that camera & I'm outta here bird. I "chased" him from tree to tree for several minutes before FINALLY getting a good look at him as he perched atop this dead palm tree.

Found some endangered Wood Storks laying on this little "island" near some alligators....hope the guys in the speeding truck missed 'em!

An hourish later sound this Tri-Colored Heron along with some Common Moorhens.

Finally....found an osprey atop this dead palm & observed him rubbing and scratching his beak on it as if he was sharpening or scratching it. Was an interesting observation.

This Great Egret appeared to be mimicking the reeds in an attempt to camouflage himself.

And finally...what visit to Florida would be complete without seeing Anhinga's?!

After 3 hours on the trail...I decided to make my way back to Titusville to check into my bed & breakfast in hopes that the Endeavour would launch tonight! (And get some SLEEP!)

Who..who..who.. are you?!

While I was visiting Aunt MaryAnn and Donna, Jim & the kids they told me of the havoc the owls were causing for the outdoor sports at the school. Seriously? What "problems" can owls cause??? They rid you of vermin and insects! Not so in south Florida. The Burrowing Owl is protected in Florida and therefore...where it burrows is sacred ground. Unfortunately for the sports field of St. Bernadette's...its now home. So while at the school carnival, Emily and her friends volunteered to take me to see this trouble-causing owl. I expected to see a whole field of the critters...instead, I was led to a 3x3 fenced off area smack dab in the middle of the field! Never did I think I would get THIS close! Really...not using any zoom! He was just standing there in front of the entrance to his abode looking at me like..who the heck are you?!


So..we just watched very quietly for a few minutes....hoping to see something spectacular from this 8 inch tall owl. Instead we just pretty much had a stare down. The kids were quite surprised at its calmness...they say it usually hisses.











He didn't look like he intended on retreating to his burrow anytime soon....













Finally...something spooked him and he took several retreating steps...time to leave.

Olympic Fireworks

Fireworks are one of my very favorite events to photograph. Unfortunately, after the Olympic Torch Celebration Ceremonies had come to a close, I only had a very small amount of space available on my chip. Here are my favorites, with the crowd proudly waving their flags that were handed out earlier!

Olympic Flamekeepers

After the torch festivities had concluded for the evening, it was time to extinguish the cauldron. However, the flame itself must be kept to finish its travels across Canada and arrive in Vancouver to light the cauldron there on February 12,2010! No simple feat mind you as the flame left Greece months ago and has travelled by land, air, and water to even make it this far!







As it was explained, this evening, 2 aboriginal Canadians will capture the flame from the cauldron and place it in a lantern, and keep watch over the flame all evening, until the next morning when it will light the torch of another Canadian as it prepares to leave Windsor. I was very excited to be in the very front row by this point to experience something so interesting!

Success, as soon as the flame in the lantern was stable, the flame in the cauldron was extinguished. You can see in the close up its just an itty bitty flame.

Olympic Flame

On Wednesday December 23,2009...the Olympic Torch Relay ended for the evening in Windsor, Ontario. The city of Windsor nominated 15 year old Matthew Charbonneau (seen to the left of the cauldron in white, holding the torch) to be the last torchbearer of the day and consequently the one to light the cauldron in Windsor. Matthew carried the torch in memory of his older brother Cpl. Andrew Grennon who died while proudly serving his country in Afghanistan on September 3, 2008.

Olympic Torch arrives in Windsor, Ontario!

So, I KNOW what you're thinking....WHY am I soooo infatuated with the Olympic Torch to travel for more than an hour and cross into a foreign country! Well, I'm not really sure....just seemed like a life experience that would be worth having...and I'm still bummed out about not seeing it while I was in Churchill!

So, time drew closer, and my prime spot moved 3 times already, not by my choice..but due to the bringing out of barricades and of course, the 5000+ people who arrived out of nowhere, less than 1/2 hour before the arrival of the Olympic torch! By now, I no longer had the best vantage point, but I could still see the large screen display in the park below where the "celebration" was going on. Until now...everyone had seemed quite friendly and enthusiastic! But...a rather rotund Canadian now entered my area and within only a few moments became quite obnoxious. I'm not sure if he was mentally handicapped or drunk, high, I just don't know. But I was quite irritated to hear him continually scream "I want the torch, I wanna see the *&^$ing torch!" over and over again. I did reassure him that it was on its way and just be patient, that didn't help. Then he started with "*$#^ you America...America sucks!". I had never felt like a foreigner or unwelcome in Canada prior to this, I felt very alone, and very unwanted and unwelcome. After taking in a very deep breath and trying to hold back tears (while telling my mouth not to open and tell him where I was and that I was very offended) I put on my brave face and kept my mouth shut and tried not to look out of place. So much for the torch being a "symbol of peace, hope, inclusiveness, equality, joy and fraternity" as the website touts.

A few moments later, I was ushered to the other side of the street as I was told Olympic vehicles would be blocking my view of the torch, and if I wanted photos, I should cross the street now. Like the 5000 other people WOULDN'T be blocking my shot?? At least I left the mouthy guy behind. Others kind of crowded me out and in order to take photos I had to lift my tripod as far as I could skyward while still being able to depress the button with my right hand! I sooo need a remote for this reason! I thought about going 8 feet behind and standing on the guard rail and leaning against the fence like some others were doing.....but they were probably not accident prone. Better to stay safe and in 1 piece than get the perfect photo. So here you see the city bus and some torch assistants handing out small Olympic and Canadian flags on small sticks to the crowd and next to the bus (in white) a torchbearer from earlier that day! Their outfits were especially designed for the some 12,000 Canadians who will be carrying the torch thru the communities of Canada.

Here's some of the locals proudly waving their flags while bundled up for the chilly evening festivities.

I think I would have been fine on the other side.....too late now!

Coca-Cola and RBC were 2 large sponsors of the torch relay and had special vehicles for the parade.

Now the torch frenzy starts, and everyone starts pushing in excitement!

Here you can see the torchbearer in white carrying the Bombardier-designed torch thru the streets of Windsor on day 55 of the 106 day torch relay throughout 1,037 communities all across Canada.

Below, you can see the torch and flame but not the individual carrying it.

Now, on to the celebration site in the park below....perhaps I may find peace and fraternity...there...

Detroit Skyline

My plan for Wednesday December 23rd was to go to Windsor, Ontario to see the Olympic Torch as it passed through the area. Not knowing exactly what to expect, I arrived 3 hours early. With nothing to do, and wanting to keep moving to keep warm, I wandered the boardwalk on the river.

I rather enjoyed the brisk day and took full advantage of the lighting to take photos of Detroit from Canada!
As darkness approached the lighting changed and presented yet more opportunities! I really enjoyed seeing the lights from this side of the river at night!