Jetty Park was COLD. 48 degrees before I went out on the pier. By the time I got the end I was convinced that snow should be falling. I stayed a while trying to get some photos, but my fingers were aching and so I went down to the beach, where, it wasn’t much warmer.
Here’s my species list for the day
Northern Gannets (many)
Cormorants
Brown Pelican
Ruddy Turnstone
TriColor Heron
Snowy Egret
Green Sea Turtle
Forster’s Tern
Least tern
Common Tern
Royal Tern
Black Skimmers
Bonaparts Gull
Laughing Gull 9some displaying the full hood already)
Since our big Florida freeze, the black vultures have congregated here in amazing numbers. This particular day I saw about 40 eating a hog. Today, in another area, I saw hundreds on the ground and more "kettleing” in the sky. I know they do this annually in some areas, but I have never seen so many at once in one small area. Amazing.
Vultures are often thought of as disgusting and unclean. The truth is that without them, we would have a lot more dead animals everywhere. They dispose of a carcass in record time, and leave little behind. They have bald legs and faces to prevent parasites from jumping ship from the dead to them, and are intelligent, interesting birds. Some studies have suggested that they form large groups and have a communication system that employs a lookout and scouts, and even tackle large animals like newborn calves if the opportunity arrives.
I will tell you the species number tops 40, not including the Masked Duck, which I did not see today. Also not seen were Bald Eagles, harriers, or canvasback ducks.
I may have mentioned that I live in a pretty amazing place before, but I don’t think I’ve conveyed that in photos real well just yet. You’ve seen the critters that visit my yard, now here’s a peak into the river goings on this time of year. This is the Indian River, less than a quarter mile from my driveway.
White Pelican and Cormorants Rafting
A larger look at how many birds I was seeing, before more flew in.
As I mentioned before, I’m very unhappy about the U.S. relegating space exploration to “trips to the space station” and low orbit travels. Basically, the idea seems to make space a tourist industry rather than a scientific one. While China is building and innovating, we are sitting on our thumbs watching them do it. What a great plan.
Meanwhile, here in Florida, we’re building a TRAIN to take people a two hour drive away. Didn’t we build a train that went farther than this in the 1800’s? Didn’t it cross the United States? Yep, it’s still there by the way. What happened to railroads? The Japanese perfected them once we gave up. Apparently trains weren’t going to be needed for one or ten reasons. The building of this new Tampa-Orlando train is supposed to employ some people and offset the some 7000 jobs expected to be lost from the space industry. How many jobs exactly? For how long exactly? A year or two maybe, maybe 1000 jobs. SEVEN THOUSAND Jobs lost in the space industry. These jobs belong to engineers, chemists, and rocket scientists. The best, the brightest, and historically some of the most innovative professionals. These job slots will be given to manual laborers. I’m sure it’s justified. I justify it as another way to marginalize America. We can’t all be smart, but we can all work hard for nothing. Great. Of course, the train and all it’s parts will probably be shipped in from Japan and China. You know, they are experts at these things. Buying American is too expensive because we’ve regulated everyone until they can’t make a profit. They don’t do that overseas. Funny, we used to be experts at something too. Can’t remember what now. Oh yeah, trains.
Meanwhile, people are saying privatization is going to be better. I agree. It’s better because someone other than the government is going to be rich. Maybe it will be me. What I don’t see happening is scientific research. The incentive isn’t there.
I can’t help but be cynical of a “regime” that puts trillions of dollars into failing corporations that reach beyond our borders, and then proposes a bill to the American people that says that if they don’t buy government sponsored health insurance, and don’t have other insurance, they could go to jail. What have we come to?
America was once a place where explorers and rebels camped in uncharted territory. It was once a place where people lived and died to invent, create, and map out the unknown. It was a place where the best and brightest came from nothing, because nothing was all we had. Now, it seems, we’re okay with being mediocre, safe, and full of excuses. When we dream now, we dream of rockstars and starlets, owning expensive stuff, and plastic surgery. We have to change this. As Americans it is our duty to carry forth the spirit that created us. If you don’t like that spirit, move to North Korea. They don’t like it either.
So today, after a rather unpleasant night that involved a lot of children throwing up, we ventured out to the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. There were a lot of people there and the displays were nice, but I couldn’t help thinking how much better it could be. It’s crammed into this tiny auditorium, and most of the vendors are birding tour representatives from other “exotic” places. The classes and trips I’m sure are great, but what about the rest of us? I was a little disappointed. On top of that, I found myself reeling with a conflict of interest when we visited the Raptor Project display. It featured at least twenty different species, live, on display, and together. Tethered, beautiful, and a few very anxious. I instantly regretted coming to get a peek at them; I can’t agree that this is humane treatment of captive wildlife. Despite the educational value, where is the ethical value here? The birds were subjected to loud noises, bright flashes, and the natural instincts that say that they shouldn’t be within such close quarters of each other. My heart melted for the owls, the poor owls, who were hiding in their dark boxes. I felt a little anger as I watched the Caracara intelligently assessing the tether on it’s leg. I’m all for hands on education, but this was just too much. I know they are well kept and cared for, but why do they need to become objects to be on display. Whether they think in those terms or not, I’m sure they know they are captive, and that they’d rather not be faced with all these conflicting instincts.
Later, we went to the Black Point Drive area of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. It was popping in some places, dead in others. The collage is a poor representation of some things I saw.
Here’s the list, without hiking any of the walk in areas.
Lesser Yellowlegs
Blue Winged Teal
Northern Shovelers
American Widgeon
Common Tern
Ring Billed Gull
Roseate Spoonbill
American Coot
Little Blue Heron
TriColored Heron
Great Blue Heron
American Avocet
Northern Harrier
Black Vulture
Osprey
Red Shouldered Hawk
American Robins
Red Winged Blackbirds
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black Bellied Plover
Willet
Dunlin
Cormorant
Anhinga
Pied billed grebe
There were many more species I’m sure, but I wasn’t able to get a good look at the larger groups of birds.
I have decided that since I am not able to get out as much right now to bring you new and exciting photography, that I will reinvent the wheel a little bit. I’ll be posting about particular species that I’ve photographed with a special report on why they are important. This is called Conservation Photography. It’s what I do anyways, just sometimes, I don’t have the time to write up a nice story to go with what we’re seeing. I will continue to post new stuff too. So keep watching, it’s coming!
This Saturday, I was privileged to go to the Kennedy Space Center, yet again. I have been doing this all my life, nearly every year. My dad, the big guy in the middle, has worked there the whole time. This year was a little different though. This could be the last time we get to do this. The space shuttle program is ending with some speculation that the ARES program, the future of space exploration, will also be canceled. This particular open house was extra special, it was a family event, where only certain areas got to bring in people. We got a tour of OPF 3 (that’s orbital processing facility) while it was housing Endeavor. Interestingly, this is the same shuttle that was there during the brief time I worked in logistics there. Then, we got to go to the launch pad. Normally, people don’t get to “go” to the launch pad. Normally, you drive by it in a procession of many aggravated engineers and their families. This time, we actually parked, and walked up the slope to stand in a place that flames consume each time the shuttle is launched. Even more special, there was (and still is) a shuttle prepared and ready to go on the launch assembly. IT was something I’ll never forget. So in a rather weird mix of emotions, I found myself smiling ear to ear and feeling like crying a little. The shuttle has been a part of my life, all my life. The first one launched the first year I was born, and the last one will launch this year, before I turn 30. Why do I care? I don’t know. I guess it might be because I know that the end of this program will herald the end of this area. Brevard county has been my home, and the entire economy here is built on space. There’s not a store you go in that doesn’t tout some sort of memorabilia. Roads are commonly named after missions and astronauts, and we even have a town named Satellite. Maybe the end of the program will bring new industry here, but that probably won’t happen soon. I’m just worried what will.
While the Space Shuttle isn’t our only option for space travel, our current President and his constituents are seemingly uninterested in space at all. There have been zero visits tot he Space Center, little interest in funding (1% of the budget), and now talk of privatizing space flight altogether. What a mistake. Other countries are advancing, finding new technologies, and will reach space goals much faster than we can. Welcome, to the dark ages, America. Get ready to speak Chinese.
Actually, I’m not sorry. That’s funny, I don’t care who you are! “He Looks so Happy!”
