Wetlands Institute

AHHHH. I am on vacation this week. When I woke up this morning, it was cloudy. I started to laugh. You see, generally when I go on vacation it rains. While watching the Weather Channel, they were calling for showers and thunder storms. Well I wasn't going to stay in, so I went to the Wetlands Institute. When I pulled into the parking lot, I almost left. There were two school buses. I stayed and figured I would have to deal with it.

Outside on the front grounds, there were beautiful flowers.

I went inside and was greeted by a very friendly lady. We talked for a bit and she asked me if I was staying. I told her yes and paid the fee. She handed me an orange sticker. I asked her what that was for? She said I had to put it on my shirt so that they know I paid. Another lady there said that the sticker police do go around and check to see who has a sticker and who doesn't. I laughed. This lady proceeded to tell me about the institute. She explained that the two display cases were wood carvings. She explained that every year they hold this event. The winner gets $5,000.00 and their carving displayed in the case. She explained that everything on the carving was make of wood. Even the rocks.

She told me to follow the turtle prints and this would lead me to the diamondback terrapin. I asked her what a turtle print looked like? She said it was a round thing. Oh okay.

She told me there was a quarter mile walk I could go on. Okay. No problem.

These birds were along this walk, but I have know idea what they are.

There were a lot of swallows, red-winged blackbirds, egrets, ibis and of course sea gulls. When I got to the end of the walk there was a dock. Here is where all the kids were. They were having the time of their lives. At the waters edge, an employee of the institute had them put on a pair of waders, gave them a net and explained to them what to do. You should have seen their faces when they got out of the water and found out that they got a sea snail or a shrimp. This was fun to see.

They have an osprey cam. There are TV's set out in different locations to view the osprey nest. They say that there are four eggs in the nest.

This isn't a very good picture, the female is on the platform and her mate is standing guard to the lower right of her. He stayed there the entire time I was there.

Here is the proud daddy. I went into the lecture room. They had three scopes set up. One was on this guy. A lady came in and we started talking she said she's been here for three hours and he, the osprey, has not moved. I wonder if this is natural for the male to stand guard over the female and nest.

While we were in the lecture room, these two red-winged blackbirds were flying around and fighting. We couldn't figure out if it was males fighting over territory or a female. Or if it was a male and female. The only thing we knew and saw was the brilliant red on them.

When Bobbie's family was visiting in March, they went to the institute. They were telling me about this octopus and how funny it was. Well this was the highlight for me. She was just hysterical. Her name is Lois.

When I was leaving, I stopped at the front deck and thank the lady for her help and information. She asked if I saw Lois? I said I did. I asked who named an octopus Lois? Out of all the names that one could come up with. Lois? She said that Lois was donated to the institute. The lady that was giving Lois was also donating money. One of the conditions was that the octopus be named after her. I started to laugh. Now this woman had a sense of humor. So, if you should ever have the chance to visit the Wetlands Institute, make sure you visit and say hello to Lois.

P.S. It didn't rain. Got hot as hell, but no rain.