Prior to Christmas, Charlie Corbeil sent this beautiful photo of a masked duck that has taken up residence at Viera Wetlands. According to Wikipedia, these smallish stiff-tailed ducks reside primarily in Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean and are generally non-migratory. They are rarely seen in our neck of the woods. Charlie tells me there was a female masked duck in the Viera Wetlands three years ago, and hundreds of birders from all over came to see it. This one is a drake, and we're lucky that Charlie saw it and got this beautiful photograph before the hordes began decending on the Wetlands again. (Right after Christmas, the Brevard Natural Resources Management Offices reported numerous traffic problems attributed to folks coming to see the duck.) The first one three years ago stayed about six weeks, so perhaps this little guy will hang around for the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, January 27 - February 1! (As aways, our continuing thanks to Charlie for sharing his talent with us so graciously.)Speaking of the Festival, be sure to visit Blog the Beach (see Reference Links below) - David is posting professionally for the Festival this year and has done several excellent posts about field trips and speakers.
I took a look at what I wrote on January 1, 2009 - it was about Ann Zscheille's trip to The Turtle Hospital for a rehab workshop. She went again this year, and her visit reminds me to tell you that Sandy, the Hawksbill from St. Croix that was attacked by dogs while laying her eggs on the beach, flown to the United States, and treated at The Turtle Hospital, recovered after a full year of treatment and was flown back to St. Croix and released. How's that for a great success story! Kudos to all involved, including American Airlines, who brought Sandy to Florida when she was injured and flew her and Turtle Hospital personnel back to St. Croix for her release. (See Reference Links below).
It's a rainy, quiet day here on this first day of 2010 - perfect for making resolutions and being retrospective, but I'm not fond of either activity, so I'll watch football and wallow in a day of laziness. Here in Central Florida, we're being held hostage by the battle between Time Warner Cable and Fox, so we still don't know if we'll see the media-flagellated drama that is the Gators in tonight's Sugar Bowl. Right now, I'm going to go watch Bobby Bowden's last game, not because I'm an FSU fan, but out of respect for an icon that's been treated poorly - what classless treatment of a classy coach.
But whether we get to watch the game tonight or not ...
GO GATORS! REFERENCE LINKS:
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