Friday, October 1, 2010

Show Kindness to Island Wildlife

Our temperature today went from 73 to 86 and 60% humidity.  All in all, a nice day.  Mid-afternoon we went for a drive and eventually went to Captiva to check out the beach.  At the time, the wind was from the NW and very windy on the beach and also some pretty big waves.  There were no shells where we were.  I'm guessing because of the wind direction and the large waves,  there may have been shells on Captiva side of Blind Pass, but the parking lot was full and we didn't stop there.

We were across from Tween Waters Inn, and as we walked onto the beach, the first thing we saw was a little boy chasing the shorebirds.  I won't call him a 'bad boy', but I will say that his parent was obviously not concerned about teaching him to love and respect wildlife.  This child ran up and down the beach clapping his hands and yelling at the birds to scare them away.  He then watched until they landed in another spot, just to do the same thing again.  His family sat and laughed, the mother even got up at one point and ran with him through the birds, waving her arms and screaming.  This went on the entire time we were there.






 I know kids just want to play and the little ones aren't doing it to be mean.  I have to say it looked like a lot of fun for the little guy.  They may not realize they are scaring the birds, and some parents may even think it doesn't matter because they can't catch them, they only move down a little way to a different spot and their child is getting a lot of exercise. 

Some children I've seen are just curious, walk slowly toward the birds, not intending to scare them.  The birds actually don't seem scared, they just sorta move out of the way if they get a little too close.  To me there is a difference.

I just feel that even though a child is young, they can still have fun while you teach them to love, respect and have compassion for living creatures.  What better time than when they are young?  I think ultimately, it teaches them to respect all living things, including their fellow humans, and themselves.










We walked over to Tween Waters Inn Crow's Nest.  We visited with a couple of friends we hadn't seen for a long time.


After a while we looked around and realized that we had missed the sunset.  I stepped outside to get a look at the afterglow.




This is how the sky looked when we left.




And....the cool breeze on the way back to Sanibel
was nothing short of awesome!

6 comments:

NanaDiana said...

I know about the birds. We have a wildlife sanctuary right down the road from us and our kids have been taught since day one...not to chase the geese or scare the animals. You are right though-it was probably a city family and they are so unaccustomed to seeing wildlife up close...they don't think it does any harm. I'm sure they would never do it if they thought that.

Lovely wind as seen in your last shot-

Drawn to The Sea said...

Sometimes grownups just don't think... sometimes they were never taught to respect wildlife.

Funny, now you've got me enlarging all your photos... looking for treasure :-))

George said...

You raise a very good point in this post. I think parents do need to do a better job of teaching youngsters to respect wildlife and nature in general.

Gayle said...

Not something my kids would ever be allowed to do, but then I was taught better so I taught them better. Some are just ignorant. And some are just mean.

Heaven's Walk said...

I totally agree with you about caring for the wildlife, Tootie. Sometimes you just wonder where in the world or how some people were brought up....Very frustrating. Kids nowadays just aren't brought up like we were, I think. :( Anyway, on a brighter note, I really enjoyed seeing the beach photos in the bright sunshine, and when I got to your 'Tween Waters Inn photos ---- my pulse quickened just remembering the happy times hubby and I have spent there in years past! Thank you for the sweet memories once again! :)

xoxo laurie

The Florida Blogger said...

I'm looking forward to the cooler temps. It was nice today with the windows open.