Defecating River Otter "Made My Day."

Defecating River Otter “Made My Day” Says Young Woman

Merritt Island NWR, FL—Friday, February 10, 2012: a day that will live in infamy. Well, at least to one young woman. It was on that day that Lauren A. Smith, age 24, saw her first river otter (Lontra canadensis) in the wild, along Black Point Wildlife Drive in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. “I was so excited, I’d only seen them in zoos before!” she gushed.

  

Resting for the big event

The river otter in question spent a few minutes poking around the edge of the impoundment before it lifted its tail and defecated. It then scampered off into the bushes, but not before Smith managed to snap off a few pictures. “This is why I always carry my camera with me, you never know when you’re going to see a pooping otter,” she said.

Lifting the tail

Smith is a Public Use intern at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, located near Titusville, Florida. Smith, a zoology and English major who graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University, has always loved animals. “I’ve known since 5^th grade that I wanted to be a zoologist and work with animals,” she said. “The other kids were going around saying, ‘I want to be an astronaut’ or ‘I want to be a ballerina.’ No one even knew what a zoologist was.” 

A birder and ornithologist, she jumped at the chance to internship at Merritt Island. “People come from across the country to see the birds here,” she said. “There are fantastic opportunities to see some fantastic birds.” She admits there was an additional consideration in her internship choice— “Spending the winter in Florida was also pretty appealing.” 

Taken from the backseat, before Sam opened the truck door to let me out. That is Sam's hair and beard in the rear-view mirror, not mine.

Merritt Island NWR is a pretty appealing place to a number of animals, including river otters. River otters are found in many of the wetlands areas of Florida. Ranging over large expanses, up to 50 miles, river otters unfortunately often end up as road kill. They can be active both during the day and at night, and are often found hunting for food along water edges. 

Playful hunters, river otters will catch and eat a variety of critters found in the marshes including minnows, catfish, crayfish, mollusks and frogs. Because they have very high metabolisms, an adaption to help them keep warm in the water, they must consume at least 15% of their body weight every day.

Otters can range in weight from 10 to 31lbs, males typically weighing more than females. They have webbed feet and short, thick, brown fur to help keep them warm while in the water. While swimming, they close both their ears and nostrils. 

Time to head back to the bushes

“I absolutely love working at the refuge,” says Smith. “Any place where you have the chance to see painted buntings, roseate spoonbills, scrub jays, gopher tortoise, bobcat, and alligators every day can’t be all that bad, right?” she adds with a smile.

Cinammon Teal in Florida!

There has been a Cinnamon Teal at MINWR for the past few days now, and no one really knows what it's doing here. Cinnamon Teal are normally found in the western part of the U.S., and this time of year they should be wintering in Mexico, Central and South America. According to the Merritt Island bird list, the last time a Cinnamon Teal was seen here on the refuge was in 2000.

I went out yesterday morning with some of the volunteers to see if it could be spotted. We met up with three other birders/photographers, and between the six of us we found it (and by that I mean one of the others found it while I was busy watching the Black Skimmers-- pictures to come). I tried to take a few pictures through the spotting scope, but every time I clicked this happened:

The Cinnamon Teal is the one in the middle, with its head underwater.

So I decided to take a video instead, because then I wouldn't have to worry about my timing. That, and we had to go pick up a fire truck for a school program later that morning, so we didn't have much time to mess with taking pictures.

The Cinnamon Teal is the reddish-cinnamon colored bird in the middle that keeps putting its head underwater. There are quite a few Northern Pintail swimming about in front of it, and a couple Blue-winged Teal snoozing behind it.  The black on the side is because I took the video through the spotting scope with my little point-and-shoot, and I'm still learning the ins and out of digiscoping (taking pictures with a camera through a spotting scope, i.e. using it as a big lens to get pictures of far away birds that otherwise would be little specs).

I also took pictures of the fire truck, and I got to ride in it. It smelled like smoke, and was basically just riding in a big white truck with lots of extra buttons I wasn't allowed to touch.

USFWS fire trucks don't have sirens, because they don't exactly need them to fight forest fires and manage controlled burns. The animals already know to get out of the way, they don't need a siren to tell them something's burning. They're smart like that.

Cary, a volunteer, demonstrating the fire hose

 The kids loved the program, and hopefully they learned a little bit about controlled burns as well as all the animals that depend on scrub habitat.

Some of the school group and a chaperone, their teacher, and volunteers Cary and Betty Salter (in fire-fighting garb) and volunteer Bill Nunn

And we are go for launch

One of the perks of living on Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is that NASA shoots up rockets in your backyard. Tonight I went out and watched the launching of the Atlas V Mobile User Objective System 1 satellite. The MUOS 1 is a military satellite, which will "improve ground communications for U.S. forces on the move" ( from the Kennedy Space Center website).

It's a pretty spectacular sight, and I managed to get a video. I apologize for the shakiness, I'm not very good at holding still.

If you listen closely you can hear the countdown on the radio. There is an AM station that follows the launches and talks directly to the Air Force and NASA people involved with the launch. It's very interesting to hear what they do to prepare, and to know what's going on, especially if there is a weather delay, as there was last time I went to watch a launch.

The large building is the Vehicle Assembly Building of the Kennedy Space Center.

Here are some pictures before and after the launch

A Trip to Viera Wetlands

It seems like every other day I hear someone talking about all the great birds they see at Viera, so today we finally went. Though we missed the Crested Caracara and the Black-bellied Whistling Duck, we did see some other pretty cool birds, including four Limpkin (a life bird for me!)

Here's my list for the day:

Great Egret

Pied-billed Grebe

1. Blue-winged Teal
2. Green-winged Teal
3. Ring-necked Duck
4. Hooded Merganser
5. Pied-billed Grebe
6. Double-crested Cormorant
7. Anhinga
8. Great Blue Heron
9. Great Egret
10. Snowy Egret
11. Little Blue Heron
12. Tricolored Heron
13. Cattle Egret
14. White Ibis
15. Glossy Ibis
16. Wood Stork
17. Turkey Vulture
18. Osprey
19. Bald Eagle
20. Northern Harrier
21. Common Moorhen
22. American Coot
23. Limpkin
24. Sandhill Crane
25. Foster's Tern
26. Belted Kingfisher
27. Loggerhead Shrike
28. Tree Swallow
29. Palm Warbler
30. Common Yellowthroat
31. Savannah Sparrow
32. Red-winged Blackbird
33. Boat-tailed Grackle

Not too shabby for starting at noon and getting rained on multiple times, not to mention putting up with some pretty gusty winds. I also put together a short video with some of my pictures/videos I took today:

In case you're interested, here's the link to the Viera Wetlands website:
Viera Wetlands- Home



On the way home we passed this sign. Unfortunately, we were too late to discover what the PMS problem is, but it must be pretty good since this is the second part. I can't imagine what two sermons on this topic would entail, but I'm sure it'd be enlightening. Or something like that.

"All the best stories are about love."

Red River Gorge, Kentucky, November 2011

Baltimore, Maryland, June 2011

"That which I have learned I leave as my legacy.
Close all gates behind yourself.
Every generation should have its own Bible.
The walls we erect to protect Ourselves from early pain often shut us off from later joy.
To immerse oneself in the natural world is to share a universal thread with every living thing.
Always declare yourself to the person you love.
Live each day not as though it is your last, but as though it is the last day of the lives of the people you meet.
All the best stories are about love."

Merritt Island NWR, Florida, February 2012

Howard Frank Mosher
from the book On Kingdom Mountain

A Day At the Beach

Sit.

Damp sand.

Watch waves roll.

Wind pulls the ear.

Listen, it says, feel me.

Sun at my back, warm, bright.

Shorebirds scurry, fast fast probe, take flight.

Beyond the waves dolphins flash, light gray blurs.

A pelican dives, comes up empty, and tries again.

The sand is soothingly cool between my toes, firmly soft.

Why am I here, I wonder, how is my being me? 

Why this spot, this desolate stretch of shore, with seaweed and shells?

A sanderling quickly trots by, and it suddenly all doesn’t matter.

In this moment all is well, the air is clear.

I can see for miles all around except behind.

Forward changes every time I turn my head.

As the sandpiper flies, I’m already there.

Sun shows the way, reveals wonder.

Wind whispers comforts, gentle mantras.

I stand, ready now.

Direction steels conviction.

First step.

Go. 

~~~

I wrote this today while I was sitting on the beach at Canaveral National Seashore, playing with words. It took me much longer than it should have because I was slightly distracted about halfway through, and it was very difficult to resume my original train of thought.

If you ever go to Canaveral National Seashore, I would not recommend visiting parking lot 5, the last parking lot from the northern entrance (Apollo Beach). Not knowing any better, I parked there. I meandered down the beach a ways, then sat down to write in my journal.

Not where I sat. I have no idea how this got out here, or what it's from.

As I was writing, an older man walks by. I glance up and wish I hadn’t. I see his feet first, sneakers, white tube socks, and then… let’s just say there was a distinct lack of material around his nether regions. It was cold out, the breeze was pretty chilly, so he also had on a windbreaker. To keep warm.

I also happened to see said gentleman again when he came off the beach (fully clothed, thank goodness; and this was completely unintentional on my part, I was trying to avoid him) and I must say he would have been sent home from Highland Middle School—his shorts were not fingertip length.

I didn’t know it at the time, but Stop 5 is where the nudists go, because it’s out on the end. The beach stretching south is undeveloped for miles, until you get to Playalinda Beach, the part of Canaveral National Seashore nearest Merritt Island NWR. There, it’s Stop 12, the furthest parking lot north, that’s the nudist part.

I’ve been told that the beach here was traditionally a nudist beach, but when the NPS took it over there was some confrontation between nudists, NPS, and the local police. Now there is an unofficial agreement that the nudists will go to the furthest stops, and no one will bother them. However, they don’t exactly have this up on a sign, so how are we innocent tourists supposed to know this?

Nude willet: acceptable. Nude old men: not so much.

Reminds me of when I was in Oregon, and we went to a hot springs alongside a stream near the field station. The pool was slightly larger than a hot tub, barely enough room for the four of us (and, actually, not all that hot). We are all in bathing suits, I should point out. A man walks up and, in front of us, proceeds to strip and then get in with us. We were sitting in the deeper, warmer parts, so he was in the ankle-deep section. Quite suddenly we all realized we were ready to head out, and quickly did so.

My eyeballs are still burning.

You learn something new every day...

"Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you always will." 

-- Vernon Howard

 

They say you learn something new every day. Well, on Sunday my something new was learning how to shoot a handgun. It was an interesting experience. Wayne, one of the USFWS guys who works over at Headquarters took us interns (Patrick, Meghan and myself) to the shooting range, where he is a range officer, to fire off some rounds. 

Patrick, one of my fellow interns, showing off and shooting one-handed. He's had some experience.

  

Prior to Sunday afternoon, my only experience with guns was of the squirt and glue variety, and that blow gun in Ecuador. Not that I would know, but it seemed to me that none of those are quite like a Beretta, though at least the blow gun had the potential to be lethal (if your dart was tipped in poison, which ours weren’t. Or so they told us…).

Meghan taking her turn. She, like me, had never fired a gun before.

  

Needless to say, I was slightly apprehensive about holding a real-life actual gun, let alone pulling the trigger. Burning yourself and gluing your fingers together with hot melted glue is one thing, shooting a hole in your foot quite another. However, once I figured out how to aim the thing properly, I wasn’t such a bad shot. We were shooting at metal plates, and in my final rounds I managed to hit about six in a row before my eyes would get too out-of-focus and I’d miss. And I’ll admit it, my arms got tired. It’s hard to hold your arms straight out in front of you like that for extended periods of time. 

Picture proof I actually did it!

 

 Though I’m probably not going to be rushing out and purchasing a gun for myself, I did enjoy the experience more than I thought I would. And, I think knowing how to handle a gun safely is an important thing to know. Knowing how to fire one safely could potentially come in handy someday, if I ever have the chance to use a tranquilizer gun perhaps. I’m sure they’re exactly like either handguns or glue guns. 

~~~

On Monday (my weekends are Sunday and Mondays) I went kayaking with some of the volunteers from the refuge: Trish, Betty, Roz, and Trish’s friend, Mary. We launched from the boat ramp near Trish’s house in Cocoa Beach and spent a morning paddling around in the mangroves and canals. It was fantastic.

Trish heading into the mangroves

Mary and Betty

 Betty loves the mangroves, and she loves to tell people about them, so the morning was not only fun but educational. She had us all lick black mangrove leaves, to taste the salt secreted on them. Surprisingly, I managed to teach her a few things too, about preen glands and how not every species of bird has them (during my research on parrot coloration I learned that some parrots and a few other birds, ostrich being one, don’t have them). We also discussed feather lice, ticks on birds (and people) and feather-degrading bacteria and fungi. You know, normal things to talk about with friends while kayaking. And, I will have you know, I did not bring up any of those subjects, I just added to the conversation. It started when we saw an anhinga preening and went from there. 

 

Hanging out with the volunteers is always a hoot, they’re all so interesting and such characters. I’ve long ago realized that being old is a state of mind; you’re never too old to do what you love and what gives you joy. 

Someone had anchored this plastic chair in the middle of the mangroves, probably to sit in while they fished. The water is only a few feet deep, and the chair is sunk into the muck.

 

And, in other non-related exciting news (but since when does anything exciting ever have to be related?) my little brother Eric was named Employee of the Month at the Enclave!!! 

I heard the news yesterday, when I called home and was told he had some news he needed to share with me. We had the usual game of 10,000 questions:

Me: "What’s your news Eric?"

Eric: [silence] 

Me: "It’s something at work?"

Eric: "Yes."  [silence] 

Me: "Do you get to clean the toilets now?"

Eric: "No."

Me: "Well that’s good, you don’t want to do that anyway."

Eric: [silence] 

Me: "Come on Eric, just tell me, I want to know your news!"

Eric: [silence]

Mom: "Just tell her what it is."

Dad: "Finish what’s in your mouth and then tell her." (They were eating dinner when I called, and put me on speaker phone). "Stop cramming more in there and finish chewing."

 After a few more minutes in this vein I was given the clues “I got a certificate,” “They spelled employee wrong, they forgot an l” and “But they spelled the month right.” We eventually put everything together to determine the good news. YAY Eric! I’m so proud of you!!

AND, I found his picture on the website! Here he is hard at work landscaping (I think it must have been staged, because he looks way too clean to be actually working. I’ve seen his clothes when he gets home from work). Eric is the one in the brown Brown’s hoodie, in the picture under the words “Supportive Employment.”

http://www.medinacreativehousing.com/site/page/supportive_employment