estacey
Monday, April 21, 2008
  Florida NEVER ceases to surprise...

Fischer's Lovebird, originally uploaded by mpgoodey.

So while I'm driving, I'm usually aware of what's going on by the side of the road. I'm always on the lookout for an injured bird (or turtle, or possum, as the case has been in the past).

Well, today on my way home from school, I noticed a bird fluttering around on the side of a very busy road. Glades in Boca, for you South Floridians. It was BRIGHTLY colored.. I was going pretty fast (duh), but from what I saw, I thought, "Oh my god, that was a conure!" Really not what you expect to see on the side of the road. I figured it had to be an escaped pet or something.

I immediately tried to find a place to pull over, but no luck... About a block down the road, I found a parking spot at a fire station and ran back to where I spotted the bird. It was still fluttering... As I approaching, it was jumping off the ground and falling back on its side. I was thinking that it REALLY didn't look good that it was that hurt. With the traffic whizzing by, I got closer and planned to nab the bird.

When I got about five feet away, I realized it was TWO BIRDS. Two. Brightly colored little birds. Doin' it. In the road. (Why they chose a busy road with cars zipping by at 40-50 mph, I have no idea. Thrill seekers, I guess.) They got spooked by me and jumped... It took a little bit for them to get regrouped, but when they did, they took flight and I watched them flap their little wings across Glades Road and into a tree somewhere on the other side.

I looked up on Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation website to figure out what they were, since up close I realized they were not sun conures, at least. There are no conures reported in Florida, but there are these Fischer's Lovebirds. They are reported as being present in the state but, "Not reported breeding." Well then. I guess I have news for the FWC. :)

 
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I'm Stacey. I'm a 31(!)-year-old Wisconsin girl living in sunny South Florida. The highlights in my life are my lovely boyfriend, my aloof cats, my adorable/adoring stepdogs, my two lumbering tortoises, select family members, being outside, being underwater, taking pictures, yadda yadda. Stay tuned for lots of babbling!

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Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States

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Making a difference

A small boy lived by the ocean. He loved the creatures of the sea, especially the starfish, and he spent much of his time exploring the seashore.

One day the boy learned there would be a minus tide that would leave the starfish stranded on the sand.

When the tide went out, he went down to the beach, began picking up the stranded starfish, and tossing them back into the ocean.

An elderly man who lived next door came down to the beach to see what the boy was doing. Seeing the man's quizzical expression, the boy paused as he approached. "I'm saving the starfish!" the boy proudly declared.

When the neighbor saw all of the stranded starfish he shook his head and said: "I'm sorry to disappoint you, young man, but if you look down the beach, there are stranded starfish as far as the eye can see. And if you look up the beach the other way, it's the same. One little boy like you isn't going to make much of a difference."

The boy thought about this for a moment. Then he reached his small hand down to the sand, picked up another starfish, tossed it out into the ocean, and said: "Well, I sure made a difference for that one!"


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