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!

Sanibel Beach Prime Time

This afternoon, we went to do a couple of errands and since it was so nice out, we went on over to resident access 2 on West Gulf Drive.   The sky was a beautiful blue today with only small fluffs of clouds floating around.  There was a pretty strong breeze blowing and it didn't feel too hot.

 

You have to call this time of year, 'Prime Time on the Sanibel Beach'.  I only saw one couple walk past while we were there.  There were plenty of birds though.  I love it when they get used to you staying in one spot for a while and start walking right past, or standing close.  That's what they did when I was on my knees, looking through the shells.

The selection of shells wasn't great, but I picked up a few mini shells, and had fun doing it. :) 

It was so nice and peaceful  on the beach that I wasn't ready to leave, but after being in the sun for a while, I started getting too hot, so it was time to go.  I suffered from heat exhaustion eons ago when I thought I was invincible. I had a habit of working out in the hot sun all day, because the heat never bothered me, and now I get very annoyed when I can't be out in the heat of the day. During summer months here, I try to be careful not to be out very long at a time. In the winter, I do better, but still can't stay in the direct sun too long if there isn't much air movement. 

Some symptoms of heat exhaustion are, feeling weak, clumsy, and confused. Since I have to deal with those things on a regular basis, it's a little difficult to know when I actually have a problem from the heat. :) Seriously, I have to be careful not to get dehydrated and usually the first warning I get is weakness, dizziness, nausea, and blurry vision. If I notice any of those things, I know it's time for me to head for a cooler spot. Thank goodness for big umbrellas, beach chairs and bottled water.

After one glance back toward the water, I headed back to the access path.

This evening we went to spoil island B on the Sanibel Causeway to watch the sunset.

The sunset was very pretty, but the usual rainy season clouds were missing.  I truly love those clouds, but when the clouds leave, the humidity drops and that's a good thing.  The breeze was cool, making a pleasant evening to relax as the day ended.

Well, that is until this couple, probably in their late 60's, came roaring in beside us.  After a few minutes, they shut the noisy thing off, got off for a couple minutes, then he got back on and fired it up again, drove a circle around her, parked it closer to the water and shut it off again.  Now, I've seen lots of people taking photos of each other with a sunset in the background, but this was a first!  They stood back, while he took pictures of the cycle (by itself) as the sun went down.  After that, he got back on, cranked it up, revved the engine several times, she climbed on and they roared away.  Yep, another one of those things that make you go......hmmm.

After the sun was down, I walked along the water's edge to see what was there.  Usually there are no shells worth picking up in this area.  I found one little cone, so that made me keep looking.  In just a few minutes we had picked up 17 of them.  One Florida cone was fine, there was a little color left on a couple of others, but the rest were white.  There was also a Rose petal telin and (I think) an Eastern Nassa.I could use some verification on that one. :) I looked until I didn't have enough light to see very well.  I had found little minis in a couple of other areas on the causeway islands, but none right there.  That turned out to be entertaining and fun.