Finally, An Easy Day

(Just in case you missed it, there's two posts for today.  Don't miss our post about last night!)

Today was an easy day.  I had a textbook relocation on South Beach.  On my way to South Middle, I stopped to chat with the UTenn people.  They were trying to catch fish to look at in the slough with a large net.  It's fun to have visitors on the island, at least most of the time.  South Middle had nothing so on my return I picked up some balloons and a wood bucket that I'll add to the recycle bin collection.  I was on land by 11 and home before noon.  On my way I stopped to pick flowers to replenish the collection in the house.  It's amazing what jars of flowers can do.

Steve had more activity than I did.  He also had some puzzling crawls that still leave questions in his head.  I like to use that 7% statistic (that experts miss 7% of nests).  Sometimes the beach is a mystery.

After lunch, Steve crashed for couple hours.  Naps are a way of life around here.  I cleaned the house and arranged the flowers.  I also went outside to cut lots of gardenias that are in bloom.  It smells lovely outside.  They're only in bloom for a couple more weeks, so we'll need to take advantage before it's too late.

I haven't written a lot about the other wildlife that we encounter, and since the day's activity was low, I'll share a bit now.  I recently bought bird seed and a hung a hummingbird feeder.  A family of cardinals stop by regularly to snack on seeds I throw out the computer window.  It's a treat to watch the dynamics of a mother, father, and fledgling.  The hummingbird feeder is a magnet for the little birds.  Before Ossabaw, I had only seen one, and that was the week before we came here on Jekyll Island.  Now it's a regular event to look out the window as I type and see one.

The white tail deer are giving birth and that means that we see fawns all over.  When we drive and an adult runs by, we're quick to hit the brakes because the babies are often in quick pursuit.  One morning, before the sun came up, while I was driving to the beach, I spotted a deer ahead.  Then I saw a baby.  They scattered, but the baby ran in the opposite direction.  I turned off the lights to give them a minute to find each other when I saw a second baby.  Their gangly legs and funny walk lead me to believe that they were both very young.  It was so fun to watch them run around across the road to find each other again.  Eventually the three walked off into the woods as if nothing had ever happened.

Last week as I was driving through the marsh I thought I saw a snake in the road.  It was having difficulty getting out of the tire track so I grabbed the camera.  It looked strange to me, and later I learned it was a legless lizard, called an eastern glass lizard.  They have eyelids and ear holes like lizards.  And appendages that have shrunk over time.

Also in the marsh is a swamp rabbit.  We're starting to see them regularly on the road early in the mornings.  We're working on pictures of the animals we see and will share as we successfully capture them.

Andy and Amanda, the island manager and his wife, invited us over for dinner.  Jim Bitler was there too.  Lots of stories were shared.  Steve and I had a nice time socializing with our only neighbors.