Happy Birthday!

I thought I heard rain this morning when I awoke, but it was just a very brisk breeze in the cabbage palms, scratching against each other and batting at the roof. Rain was in the forecast yesterday, but the clouds seemed to remember it's my birthday, so they're waiting til tomorrow.



I walked out to a crisp, clear sky with a crescent moon, the Big Dipper and a host of other stars. I may have spilled my tea and had to go to work, but it's still a great start to the day. Plus, drying mint tea on my car floor was pretty good! As a gift to myself, I decided to spend the day at Perdido Key -- one of my favorite places in the park.



I used to say Perdido was my favorite place til I stopped to think -- every part of the park is my favorite for a different reason.



There's the fire compound at NLO. There are so many flowers and plants, and I've only found half of them so far.



Santa Rosa has tons of birds.



On days when the road crew isn't there, I love to go survey the north shore, knowing I'll find a wide variety of plovers, some yellow legs, rails, willets, and an unpredictable assortment of song birds flitting through the marshes and remnant maritime forest (there's very little post-Ivan).

Fort Pickens has such a variety! There's Three Ponds...



There are huge stands of sand and long leaf pine,



forest hammocks, dune meadows, (this dune meadow was obviously last spring!)



open beach and the old fort.



With the differing landscape, there's a lot to hold your attention for hours. On rainy days, there are lots of places to find shelter too.



Fort Pickens also has avocets from time to time -- they're such elegant birds!



Perdido is just stunning. The dunes there are recovering well from recent hurricane activity, and the endless expanse of beach at the roads end is a great escape.

It's a monarch migration route...



A hotspot for egrets and herons...



And a popular dolphin feeding grounds. I borrowed this picture from a park visitor, Gene Bond, who shared lots of his photos with the park, hoping they'd help the park's mission ro protect these stunning places.



It's a great venue to watch the Blue Angels practice too, though they can get a little loud sometimes. I'm blessed to have a job I love so much!