Today was my scheduled “Knock on Wood” bird tour. As I expected, no one showed up to take advantage of this marvelous opportunity. 
So instead, I took Kathy, the intern, along with me to ride the tour route anyway. She was very interested in learning about birds and becoming a ‘birder’. I switched out the 15 passenger van for the electric cart, and we were on our way. We barely got started before we received a call on the radio to return to the VC. Two young ladies had shown up an hour late for the tour.
There were lots of turkeys around early in the morning, but they were gone by the time I took the tour out.
The day turned out to be a cloudy one, and the birding was rather subdued. We had a nice time, and since they were interns from a different facility and interested in plants, I showed them our pitcher plants. Couldn’t seem to find the toothache grass today, though. By the time we finished it was lunch time.
I was supposed to spend the afternoon roving, but was requested by Gracie, the volunteer coordinator, to work the VC this afternoon. So that’s what I did. During a lull in visitors, she gave me the verdict on whether or not I would be able to stay on the refuge during my recuperation from surgery. The answer was no. I was very disappointed, and could feel my face reddening as she gave me the news. It seems to be a matter of liability in case I might fall or something during the recuperation process. I guess I can understand that, but I was sure hoping I wouldn’t have to pack things up and find a different place to stay. 
I do have a couple of possible locations in mind, and will pursue them more diligently when I finally get a surgery date. That news kind of put a crimp on my day.
On a brighter note, a couple of days ago Kathy found these tracks not too far from the volunteer village. We think they are from a bobcat. That’s cool beans.
I have to tell you what happened last night that nearly gave me heart failure. About 10:30, after my drama with the huge bug in the rig, I hooked Emma to her leash for her last outs. I flicked on the outside light, and down the stairs we went to the outside. As we reached the ground, there were loud raucous squawking sounds and a huge bird swooped down just above our heads. I about passed out, and Emma was so shocked she didn’t even bark! She just cringed. As I looked at it flap by, I think it was a great blue heron. I have no idea why it would be roosting outside the RV. It took us a few minutes to calm down enough so Emma could do her business, and I could go to bed!
The plan for tomorrow is to spend a good deal of time boating through the swamp. I’m excited about that, and hope to have some great pics for tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later, Judy
