Winter 2008 Week 3

It was really busy today; several large school groups in the morning and about the time they left, the birders returned from their morning trips to cruise the exhibit hall. We took a few breaks, one at a time to attend seminars about exotic birding travel destinations (Brazil, Ecuador, Canadian Arctic) but mostly we chatted with folks at the booth and tried to spread the word about how neat refuges were, Okefenokee in particular. We attended the keynote presentation about the Ten Greatest Bird sightings in the last 30 years and Number One was the Ross’ Gull in Newburyport Mass in 1975. After the presentation we went back to the coach to relax and prepare for another nine hours at the booth tomorrow-it’s fun but tiring!

Today’s nine hours at the booth were longer than yesterday’s but still very interesting. Lots of people especially kids today. We gave out lots of posters and almost ran out of maps. We took turns going to seminars and got lots of information on birding trips to Ecuador, Peru and Brazil. When the exhibit area closed we attended the keynote address delivered by Kevin Karlson a very talented birder and photographer. We will be going on a field trip with Kevin tomorrow since the exhibit hall closed today. Just before the presentation began, we got a call telling us that Sandy’s Mom had fallen in her room. It was a few scary moments until we spoke the Heights Crossing, Sandy’s brother and finally Mom and confirmed that she is OK.

After working (volunteering) or driving for the last ten days, we spent today enjoying some festival activities. In the morning we went birding with Kevin Karlson, the author of a great book on shorebird identification. We learned a lot about shorebirds and got to see the bald eagle feeding her two big eaglets. We then packed up the booth materials and went to the final festival event at a local park. We had a great lunch, got to chat with many local birders and a couple of the trip leaders. We then heard another interesting keynote speaker.

We slept late then drove back to Okefenokee. When we stopped for lunch at a rest stop, we noticed an Allegro coach parked nearby, towing a gold Honda CR-V just like ours. CR-Vs are very popular towed vehicles. Once back at volunteer village we set up on our site, did some laundry and read two weeks of mail that was waiting for us.

After several weeks of not getting much exercise, we went for a run this morning. We walked a lot too but it was great to get out and be moving. We will be here for a week before the next conference. We restocked our brochure supply in the car and did some food shopping. When we returned, the Allegro coach with the gold CR-V was parked in volunteer village. Small world; Jan and Rocky from NJ are new volunteers at Okefenokee though they have volunteered at other refuges. Later in the afternoon we noticed the screen door was open. Then we noticed the cat was gone! Shaking her treats package and calling her name produced no results in the coach or just outside the door. We widened our search area and after a few tense minutes, we found Ginger hiding under the motorhome next door.

Our run this morning was rained out but it cleared up later in the AM and we went for a long walk and saw lots of birds including a blue headed vireo. Carl washed the outside of the coach while Sandy cleaned the inside. After lunch we drove to Jacksonville to shop at the Town Center Mall. We used some of our Hannukah gift certificates then visited a huge wine store nearby. We had originally planned to visit the kids tonight but Scott called to say he had to work late so we shopped some more, had dinner locally while the rush hour traffic abated then drove back to the swamp.

Today, Sandy took a day to cook, go birding and relax. Carl joined three other volunteers in an expedition to Floyd’s Island from the west side of the swamp. We towed a boat to Stephen Foster State Park then took it and another boat from the west side into Billy’s Lake and up towards Big Water. It was an interesting trip as the canoe trail we were following winds its way through the cypress trees and in some places the trail is less than two boat widths wide. Adding to the fun was a one to two knot current as the water flows out into the Suwannee River. At the turnoff to Floyd’s Island, the trail got narrow and shallow. We cut away lots of branches and vines creeping in from the banks and hanging low over the trail. Once on Floyd’s Island we explored the old house and hiked across the island to the canoe trail that leads in from the east side. The trip out was even more interesting with the current carrying us too fast through the narrow channels. Once back at the boat house, it was a 70 mile drive back around to the east side and a late supper.