And another fine day! More miles on Tues 2/21

This handsome fella in tux and tails looks fit enough for a Mardi Gras Ball.

Cedar waxwings ate & pooped berries near the C/G. Least terns on the sands. Two noisy, nesting ospreys.


Nannie on our long hike on Perdido Key (my sandals). This shorebird dogged our steps for a long time as we walked along.


Gull is obeying the sign. And here we have a "decorator crab" next to a hermit crab (both alive). We'd never seen anything like this walking pile of seaweed. It walks and looks like a tarantula (yikes!). We saw it cruising along in shallow water near a patch of short sea grass, using it's camouflage well: Dang thing would blend in perfectly in sea grass. Ain't nature amazing?


A small section of redheads (ducks) in the Lagoon; there had to be hundreds, and a lone brown pelican flying low near sunset.


Like a snow fence, this "sand" fence does the job... only this one seems buried forever. Lastly, a lovely sunset - reminding us it's time to get back to Tergel.

Today dawned overcast, but still no rain. We decided to chance it and drove the short distance to Perdido Key National Seashore. Wise choice indeed! This long narrow peninsula with white sandy beaches offers the best of both walks: One side on the Gulf of Mexico, while the other faces Big Lagoon with it's gentler waters. We stopped near the toll booth and walked the Discovery Trail, but it seemed kinda barren. We drove on. The park road only goes halfway, leaving the eastern end of the peninsula practically untouched. We parked near the turn-around point and walked east, encountering only a couple of people along the way. Nice.

These beaches are known for their "singing sands," 'cause the fine sand squeaks as you walk. Better than squeaking knees! We walked a good long way on the Gulf side, watching birds thru our binocs: Sanderlings, pelicans, gulls, least terns, willets, and so on. We examined flat, oval tar balls, washed up from the Gulf oil spill. I even picked up a piece of hard coal (anthracite?) that must have fallen off a barge. Not much else in the way of beach-combing goodies.

At some unknown sisterly signal, both of us wanted to cross the dunes and walk back toward the car on the Lagoon side. Here we spied lots of hermit crabs and the weird decorator crab, loons and mergansers, more shore birds, and some boat/barge traffic in the Lagoon. This water was marginally warmer than the Gulf, warm enuf to wade in.

Backed up to a low dune, we surprised the great blue heron (and vice versa); I believe he had been snoozing, because when I got my camera almost ready, he yawned! I missed that shot. He no more cared that we were passing him near the shore than if we were tugs in the water. We figured he knew we were photographing him in full breeding regalia and felt right proud of himself! You know: Hey! I'm handsome, go ahead, take my picture. Show the world! Neither of us had ever seen a heron quite that dressed up. He was impressive.

So, after many hours of walking and dawdling, poking and prodding, we made it to the car. Love the Golden Age Pass that let's people like me get in free, escaping the $8 charge to enter this excellent National Seashore. People like me that have attained - uh - a certain age...!