Yesterday was a really interesting and eventful day. After breakfast we went over to a lighthouse on the highest point on the island. The views were absolutely spectacular (sorry I can’t post pictures!) When we came down, several people were buying shells and Cokes from the lighthouse keeper who lived in a little house next door. I walked over toward the house and saw a big turtle shell (known as a carapace) on a table on their front porch. I asked the man sitting at the table whether that was a sea turtle shell and he proudly says, “Oh yes! I shot that turtle right here!” and points at his neck. I was stuck in a weird position. The teacher and environmentalist in me wanted to give him a long lesson about endangered species and how that adult turtle could have lived for another 75 years, easily, helping to make dramatic increases in the failing populations…But…the other part of me didn’t want to walk all over this man’s cultural traditions, of which he was obviously proud. I didn’t really do either. When he told another person the story about his turtle I said something along the lines of “Oh, don’t do that—they’re endangered!” I think he may have thought I was joking. How do you handle that type of a situation?? I would love suggestions.
After lunch we went snorkeling at Rocky Point, which is by far my favorite spot so far. The coral there was way closer to the surface and there was much more coral to see. I saw a Queen Angelfish, which is easily one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Anyway, we get back from snorkeling, change, shower, and head up to the cafeteria for dinner. As we’re waiting in line for the cafeteria we hear a loud whistle. The little man in charge of the center is standing at the front of the room looking alarmed with his arms up in the air saying, “No showers, sinks, flushed toilets, laundry, NOTHING. The water pump is out on our rainwater filtration tank. If we can’t get it back going we’re going to have to go on water rations until our parts come in next Tuesday.” At the dinner table the other teachers and I joked about flying home to our husbands a messy, smelly mess after not having showered in three days, but later the conversation turned more serious when we started thinking about how much we had in our water bottles and whether we had enough to get us through everything we were going to do the next two days. It’s so easy to take clean, fresh, running water for granted. But when it’s not there, you really start to appreciate this basic necessity. The rest of the day, the center’s management and maintenance people were running all over looking very concerned…Hopefully it’ll start working. The center is currently housing three high school groups, a college level group of students, several groups of researchers, and us.
But the day didn’t end all bad. We caught wind of a neighborhood “Fish Fry” going on about a quarter mile away from us down at the pier. Several of us planned on going, and were looking forward to it. Then at dinner, a lady from Massachusetts in charge of a group of high school kids came over and told us that there was going to be a parade beforehand. Then she goes, “And do you know why they’re having this parade celebration?” (…dramatic pause…) “Because the LAKERS won the NBA finals!!” Why the people on this little island would be so excited about a basket ball team 5000 miles away is beyond me. Also, this news was especially funny coming from a lady from Boston. Anyway, we were excited about experiencing the culture and going to a party. After a visit to the computer lab, I hear boom, boom, ba-boom, boom from a subwoofer coming down the road. My thoughts immediately jump to my camera sitting on my bed, so I start running toward my room. On the way, I see my roommate and yell, “CHERYL! The parade’s starting!!” However, by the time I grab my camera and get back up the hill the parade was already over. Apparently, a “parade” on this island is just a line of about 5-6 cars driving about 20 miles an hour in a row down the road while honking and playing music. I’m sure the locals got a big kick out of me getting all excited and running across campus yelling about the parade for what was just a caravan of cars… I felt pretty silly.
At around eight o’clock, we walk down to the pier toward the music. The menu at the Fish Fry included fried chicken, coleslaw, and cinnamon buns. When we asked a nice man behind the counter who we should pay, he waived his hands and said, “Nothing! It’s a party!” Their generosity and hospitality was a very nice surprise. It’s not too often in the states that complete strangers can walk up to a party on the beach and be welcomed with open arms. We really enjoyed ourselves. The music was great too. They had a DJ who played everything from a knock-off of Usher’s “Yeah” to “YMCA” to “We are Family” to some traditional island sounding music. I’m sure the islanders thought we were pretty funny dancing around (well, more like hopping and waving our arms…They didn’t dance quite like that—haha).
By the way, since I wrote this, we’ve been giving the OK to flush toilets and take 2 minute showers. So we’re not completely out of the woods, but it seems like we will at least have enough drinking water. :)
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Sea Eggs and Foreign Invaders!
Hola from San Salvador! After taking a car, to a train, to a jet, to a van, to a bus, to a little bitty plane, to the back of a flatbed truck I finally arrived in San Salvador, Bahamas! I was worried about riding in a little 7 passenger plane, but it really wasn’t bad at all…Actually, I loved it! I enjoyed being low enough to see the water clearly and flying right through the fluffy clouds where I saw rainbow after rainbow. Anyway, we’re staying at the Gerace Research Center (pronounced “Jer-ace”), which used to be an old naval station set up to track Soviet activities during the Cold War. You can tell it’s an old military post, too. The buildings are all plain, white, cinderblock-stacked rectangles, which are very functional and practical. But the best part about the center (besides the window air conditioner that they installed the second day I was here—Hallelujah!) is that it is just steps from the most beautiful aqua blue water I have ever seen. Actually, I’ve spent the better part of the past three days inside that water. I’ve already snorkeled five different reefs and went SCUBA diving on two other reefs—one of which was named “Lindsay Reef.” :) I wish I could have posted sooner, but they’ve kept us really busy—I had to wake up early just to type this out. I could write a page about each one of my snorkeling/SCUBA trips, but I’ll give you the shortened version.
DAY ONE: SCUBA across from the San Salvador High School
I hadn’t been diving in over 8 years, so this first trip I stayed with the instructor who helped me practice clearing my mask and doing all the safety things you have to do. Didn’t really see much, but I made a complete fool out of myself trying to get my fins on. Another lady who was also somewhat inexperienced told me to put them on in about knee deep water (mistake). We ended up losing our balance and flailing about like a turtle on its back since we had the heavy tanks strapped to us. We then went back and snorkeled with the rest of the group at the pier, where I’ve never seen so many conch shells. They harvest them at the end of the pier then throw the empty shells in a pile at the end. I picked up the one I thought was the prettiest to bring back.
DAY TWO: North point and Lindsay Reef
In the morning we snorkeled out along the sea grass beds all the way up to north point collecting small specimen for a temporary aquarium we’d set up in our lab. I saw a sea turtle for a split second :) and walked on a beach with pink sand—well, pinkish sand from dead conch shells. Pretty cool! I got a little bit of sunburn on my back from all that snorkeling, though. The water tricks you into thinking you don’t need sunscreen. Ug. I had much more success on SCUBA diving Lindsay Reef this day (no flailing), and I picked up a cool looking piece of dead coral from the bottom of the ocean.
DAY THREE: Telephone Pole Reef and Snapshot Reef
These two reefs were very similar and both stunningly beautiful. I wore a long sleeve shirt and shorts to snorkel today to avoid the same mistake I made in day two. The most interesting thing I saw at these two reefs was by far the HUGE lionfish at Snapshot. I saw the SCUBA divers all motioning to one another to come over and see something that was hiding inside one of the big sections of the reef. I asked one of them what they were looking at and she spelled out L-I-O-N with her hands. I waited above a hole in the reef until I saw it. I’ve heard ocean water makes things look 20% bigger than they actually are, but this thing looked like it had to be a foot and a half long.
This is especially concerning since lionfish aren’t even supposed to be anywhere near the Atlantic Ocean. They’re native to Indonesia and a very popular item in people’s fish tanks. They’ve somehow been released into Atlantic waters, and now they’ve been sighted all up and down the east cost of the US. They have strong stinging bars on their backs and sides, so nothing eats them and they eat everything else. They’re beautiful, but they’re like the kudzu of the seas now. I heard a speech last summer about a dive group that spears them on sight to try and save the native Caribbean fish populations. On the way back in from Snapshot I found a really neat sea urchin shell. They are so fragile that I decided to carry it instead of putting it in my bag. When we stopped in town at the Straw Market, a lady stopped me and said “Sea Egg.” When I looked puzzled she explained that the locals call sea urchin shells sea eggs and to be careful because the live ones “could stick you.” I thought that was pretty neat.
TODAY we’re going out to the old Lighthouse on the north end of the island, snorkeling across from the high school again, and going back to Lindsay, Snapshot, or Telephone Pole Reef. I’ll try to be better about posting more often so that my posts don’t have to be so long. I wish I could post some pictures, but we don’t have a strong internet connection here and it couldn’t handle uploading that much data (check back on Wednesday June 30th for pics).
DAY ONE: SCUBA across from the San Salvador High School
I hadn’t been diving in over 8 years, so this first trip I stayed with the instructor who helped me practice clearing my mask and doing all the safety things you have to do. Didn’t really see much, but I made a complete fool out of myself trying to get my fins on. Another lady who was also somewhat inexperienced told me to put them on in about knee deep water (mistake). We ended up losing our balance and flailing about like a turtle on its back since we had the heavy tanks strapped to us. We then went back and snorkeled with the rest of the group at the pier, where I’ve never seen so many conch shells. They harvest them at the end of the pier then throw the empty shells in a pile at the end. I picked up the one I thought was the prettiest to bring back.
DAY TWO: North point and Lindsay Reef
In the morning we snorkeled out along the sea grass beds all the way up to north point collecting small specimen for a temporary aquarium we’d set up in our lab. I saw a sea turtle for a split second :) and walked on a beach with pink sand—well, pinkish sand from dead conch shells. Pretty cool! I got a little bit of sunburn on my back from all that snorkeling, though. The water tricks you into thinking you don’t need sunscreen. Ug. I had much more success on SCUBA diving Lindsay Reef this day (no flailing), and I picked up a cool looking piece of dead coral from the bottom of the ocean.
DAY THREE: Telephone Pole Reef and Snapshot Reef
These two reefs were very similar and both stunningly beautiful. I wore a long sleeve shirt and shorts to snorkel today to avoid the same mistake I made in day two. The most interesting thing I saw at these two reefs was by far the HUGE lionfish at Snapshot. I saw the SCUBA divers all motioning to one another to come over and see something that was hiding inside one of the big sections of the reef. I asked one of them what they were looking at and she spelled out L-I-O-N with her hands. I waited above a hole in the reef until I saw it. I’ve heard ocean water makes things look 20% bigger than they actually are, but this thing looked like it had to be a foot and a half long.
This is especially concerning since lionfish aren’t even supposed to be anywhere near the Atlantic Ocean. They’re native to Indonesia and a very popular item in people’s fish tanks. They’ve somehow been released into Atlantic waters, and now they’ve been sighted all up and down the east cost of the US. They have strong stinging bars on their backs and sides, so nothing eats them and they eat everything else. They’re beautiful, but they’re like the kudzu of the seas now. I heard a speech last summer about a dive group that spears them on sight to try and save the native Caribbean fish populations. On the way back in from Snapshot I found a really neat sea urchin shell. They are so fragile that I decided to carry it instead of putting it in my bag. When we stopped in town at the Straw Market, a lady stopped me and said “Sea Egg.” When I looked puzzled she explained that the locals call sea urchin shells sea eggs and to be careful because the live ones “could stick you.” I thought that was pretty neat.
TODAY we’re going out to the old Lighthouse on the north end of the island, snorkeling across from the high school again, and going back to Lindsay, Snapshot, or Telephone Pole Reef. I’ll try to be better about posting more often so that my posts don’t have to be so long. I wish I could post some pictures, but we don’t have a strong internet connection here and it couldn’t handle uploading that much data (check back on Wednesday June 30th for pics).
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Countdown to San Salvador
I have less than a week until I board a little 8-seater plane and head to San Salvador, Bahamas! You're probably thinking, "San what?? Where is that?" Actually, that's what most people have said when I told them about my trip, so I thought I'd post a little something about the island.
Located 360 miles southeast of Miami, San Salvador is one of the less developed islands in the Bahamas. This island is also known as Columbus Isle because most historians agree that it is the island where Christopher Columbus first made landfall in the "New World." Apparently, Columbus himself said, "The beauty of these islands surpasses that of any other and as much as the day surpasses the night in splendour." Pretty good recommendation, huh? I guess I'm in for a pretty cool trip! This website has some more cool information about San Salvador.
So we're going to stay at the Club Med on the island...Haha--Just kidding! The Gerace Research Center will be our home-base on Columbus Isle. We'll be staying with other researchers in dorm-like facilities and snorkeling/SCUBA diving daily--Can't wait!
By the way, look who stopped by to say hello the other day? My husband is "deathly afraid of snakes" and has a most unfortunate, self-proclaimed "Brick Throwing Policy," which he says he will implement at the sight of any snake. Actually, it should probably be called the "Throw-your-hands-over-your-head-and-scream-and-run-down-the-trail" because that's what he did last time he saw a snake. Anyway, with THIS guy around, he's off Brick/Run-and-scream duty because this is an Eastern King Snake. These guys actually eat other snakes and regularly eat pit vipers like cottonmouths, copperheads, and rattlesnakes because they're immune to their venom.
So the moral of the story is: Don't throw bricks at snakes or any other wildlife. They all serve an important purpose in the ecosystem--some of which may benefit you too!
Located 360 miles southeast of Miami, San Salvador is one of the less developed islands in the Bahamas. This island is also known as Columbus Isle because most historians agree that it is the island where Christopher Columbus first made landfall in the "New World." Apparently, Columbus himself said, "The beauty of these islands surpasses that of any other and as much as the day surpasses the night in splendour." Pretty good recommendation, huh? I guess I'm in for a pretty cool trip! This website has some more cool information about San Salvador.
So we're going to stay at the Club Med on the island...Haha--Just kidding! The Gerace Research Center will be our home-base on Columbus Isle. We'll be staying with other researchers in dorm-like facilities and snorkeling/SCUBA diving daily--Can't wait!
By the way, look who stopped by to say hello the other day? My husband is "deathly afraid of snakes" and has a most unfortunate, self-proclaimed "Brick Throwing Policy," which he says he will implement at the sight of any snake. Actually, it should probably be called the "Throw-your-hands-over-your-head-and-scream-and-run-down-the-trail" because that's what he did last time he saw a snake. Anyway, with THIS guy around, he's off Brick/Run-and-scream duty because this is an Eastern King Snake. These guys actually eat other snakes and regularly eat pit vipers like cottonmouths, copperheads, and rattlesnakes because they're immune to their venom.
So the moral of the story is: Don't throw bricks at snakes or any other wildlife. They all serve an important purpose in the ecosystem--some of which may benefit you too!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Whachu got, shark?? (Brazen Blue Crabs and other Linsky adventures on Tybee and Williamson Islands)
Ah, the beach…What’s not to love? The sound of the surf, soft white sand, and massive barges. Well, at least that’s the view here on Tybee Island.
Saturday marked the official start to my summer adventures. All the teachers going to the Bahamas in two weeks traveled to Tybee on Friday for a prep session. I woke up early Saturday morning to take a stroll on the beach--one of my favorite things in the world to do. There’s nothing more peaceful that standing on the water’s edge, feeling the pulse of the waves lapping over your feet, and looking out over the seemingly endless expanse of the natural world. However, my serene escape from my busy life was somewhat disrupted by this little reminder of my proximity to the port of Savannah.
Actually, the people of Tybee put up with a lot of headaches for these shipments. The Savannah River needs to be dredged up several times a year to keep it deep enough for the jumbo barges, which prevents the beaches of Tybee from getting the natural source of sediments. So every 7-9 years the beaches have to be “replenished.” This means the sand you see in this picture probably came from a sand bar out at sea somewhere. Also, additional crews have to go out with plows to make sure the new sand isn’t packed down too hard for nesting sea turtles.
Anyway, back to Tybee. This island is the most highly populated of the Georgia islands, but I was really impressed with their environmental initiatives. A lot of their street signs are shaped like sea turtles, there’s a great Marine Science center, and every beach access point has this trash/recycling set up to keep the beaches clean. I assume the ATV-like tracks next to the bins were from people collecting the trash/recyclables. Hopefully they know what sea turtle tracks and nests look like...Some of the tire tracks I saw were right next to the dune line, which is where turtles like to nest.
Speaking of the dunes, check out the footprints right next to the “Keep out of Dune Area” sign. Ug. The dunes protect the upland from hurricanes and are home to an entire ecosystem of organisms including many endangered birds that nest on the ground. If you’re ever on the beach and see a bird flying really close to you or limping around like its hurt, it might be a mama bird pretending to have a broken wing so that you will go toward it and away from her nest. Cool factoid, huh?
But I digress… So after my morning walk, I joined the other teachers on a pontoon boat, and we headed out to Williamson Island. If you’ve never heard of the island, it’s because its completely undeveloped. It’s a tiny barrier island which is so small that it doesn’t appear on any of the maps Google images has to offer (sorry--I tried). Anyway, as we were pulling up, we saw this non-nesting sea turtle crawl. In other words, a mother sea turtle came on shore to nest then changed her mind and went back.
These guys were also trying to lay eggs on the beach, but didn’t have as much luck getting back. We saw these live horseshoe crabs stranded on the beach trying to make it back to the water. According to horseshoecrab.org 10% of these “living fossils” die from shore strandings. We weren’t entirely sure if all of them were stranded or still nesting…We put several of them back in the water, though.
A little farther down the beach we saw another sea turtle crawl and what looked like a nest. We were concerned with the nest’s location because the eggs would probably drown at high tide. However, I now think this was another non-nesting sea turtle crawl because it didn’t have the “thrown sand” like in nest 07-024 on the St. Catherine's Sea Turtle Conservation Website. Mother sea turtles throw sand as they dig their nests, so no thrown sand around a body pit like this means it‘s not a real nest. Again, something spooked this mama turtle, which made her go back to sea without nesting.
I love the marsh. It’s one of the most productive ecosystems on the planet. I look at this and can’t help but think about the marshes in Louisiana. Getting oil on the beaches is bad, yes. But the marshes is where the majority of the ocean’s fish and shellfish go to breed. No marsh=no sea life.
A little later in the day we broke out the seine to see what was hanging out in the ocean around us. We stretched out the net, took it out to about waist deep water, and then turned around and came back to shore. After we checked out the catch, we threw back the fish and other things we found.
We caught this teeny puffer fish all puffed up from the seine excitement :)
We also caught this gorgeous juvenile Bonnethead Shark. As we were marveling at the shark and preparing to throw it back, a tiny blue crab approached it with pinchers out at the ready as if to say, “You wanna piece of me??? Whachu got, shark? Bring it!” He was completely unfazed by the shark thrashing around (double click the picture to enlarge.)
Coming up: I leave for the Bahamas in less than two weeks! I’m not gonna lie...the thought of a little 8-seater plane is a little unnerving. Also, I can’t decide if I should go SCUBA diving or just snorkel. I’d love your input!
Saturday marked the official start to my summer adventures. All the teachers going to the Bahamas in two weeks traveled to Tybee on Friday for a prep session. I woke up early Saturday morning to take a stroll on the beach--one of my favorite things in the world to do. There’s nothing more peaceful that standing on the water’s edge, feeling the pulse of the waves lapping over your feet, and looking out over the seemingly endless expanse of the natural world. However, my serene escape from my busy life was somewhat disrupted by this little reminder of my proximity to the port of Savannah.
Actually, the people of Tybee put up with a lot of headaches for these shipments. The Savannah River needs to be dredged up several times a year to keep it deep enough for the jumbo barges, which prevents the beaches of Tybee from getting the natural source of sediments. So every 7-9 years the beaches have to be “replenished.” This means the sand you see in this picture probably came from a sand bar out at sea somewhere. Also, additional crews have to go out with plows to make sure the new sand isn’t packed down too hard for nesting sea turtles.
Anyway, back to Tybee. This island is the most highly populated of the Georgia islands, but I was really impressed with their environmental initiatives. A lot of their street signs are shaped like sea turtles, there’s a great Marine Science center, and every beach access point has this trash/recycling set up to keep the beaches clean. I assume the ATV-like tracks next to the bins were from people collecting the trash/recyclables. Hopefully they know what sea turtle tracks and nests look like...Some of the tire tracks I saw were right next to the dune line, which is where turtles like to nest.
Speaking of the dunes, check out the footprints right next to the “Keep out of Dune Area” sign. Ug. The dunes protect the upland from hurricanes and are home to an entire ecosystem of organisms including many endangered birds that nest on the ground. If you’re ever on the beach and see a bird flying really close to you or limping around like its hurt, it might be a mama bird pretending to have a broken wing so that you will go toward it and away from her nest. Cool factoid, huh?
But I digress… So after my morning walk, I joined the other teachers on a pontoon boat, and we headed out to Williamson Island. If you’ve never heard of the island, it’s because its completely undeveloped. It’s a tiny barrier island which is so small that it doesn’t appear on any of the maps Google images has to offer (sorry--I tried). Anyway, as we were pulling up, we saw this non-nesting sea turtle crawl. In other words, a mother sea turtle came on shore to nest then changed her mind and went back.
These guys were also trying to lay eggs on the beach, but didn’t have as much luck getting back. We saw these live horseshoe crabs stranded on the beach trying to make it back to the water. According to horseshoecrab.org 10% of these “living fossils” die from shore strandings. We weren’t entirely sure if all of them were stranded or still nesting…We put several of them back in the water, though.
A little farther down the beach we saw another sea turtle crawl and what looked like a nest. We were concerned with the nest’s location because the eggs would probably drown at high tide. However, I now think this was another non-nesting sea turtle crawl because it didn’t have the “thrown sand” like in nest 07-024 on the St. Catherine's Sea Turtle Conservation Website. Mother sea turtles throw sand as they dig their nests, so no thrown sand around a body pit like this means it‘s not a real nest. Again, something spooked this mama turtle, which made her go back to sea without nesting.
I love the marsh. It’s one of the most productive ecosystems on the planet. I look at this and can’t help but think about the marshes in Louisiana. Getting oil on the beaches is bad, yes. But the marshes is where the majority of the ocean’s fish and shellfish go to breed. No marsh=no sea life.
A little later in the day we broke out the seine to see what was hanging out in the ocean around us. We stretched out the net, took it out to about waist deep water, and then turned around and came back to shore. After we checked out the catch, we threw back the fish and other things we found.
We caught this teeny puffer fish all puffed up from the seine excitement :)
We also caught this gorgeous juvenile Bonnethead Shark. As we were marveling at the shark and preparing to throw it back, a tiny blue crab approached it with pinchers out at the ready as if to say, “You wanna piece of me??? Whachu got, shark? Bring it!” He was completely unfazed by the shark thrashing around (double click the picture to enlarge.)
Coming up: I leave for the Bahamas in less than two weeks! I’m not gonna lie...the thought of a little 8-seater plane is a little unnerving. Also, I can’t decide if I should go SCUBA diving or just snorkel. I’d love your input!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Exotic Suwanee, Georgia
I've got two and a half weeks until I board an eight-seater plane and head to San Salvador, but my lovely hometown has given me several reasons to break out the camera to capture images of wildlife!
First, look "hooo" stopped by last week! Seemingly unfazed by our 85 lbs Bernese Mountain Dog, this is a Barred Owl landed on our back fence and seemed to study us at the same time we were studying him. Check out this website:http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Strix&species=varia He was making the "Scream" sound (which is more like a wheezy squeak), but we hear many variations on the call. What does the "Typical Call" sound like to you? Bird lovers like to think the call sounds like "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?"
He stopped by again the next day. These guys are causing big problems in the Pacific Northwest because they're much more aggressive than the smaller spotted owl--check out "A new wrinkle" at the bottom of this site: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0722_040722_tvspottedowl.html
This little guy knocked on our door last weekend. He is a Green Tree Frog. We hear them singing all the time, but this is the first time we've actually seen one. This is what they sound like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fWjKQaPc0c
Roman (my unofficial blog mascot) found some exotic wildlife of his own at Suwanee Town Center Park. This unusual specimen of the bipedal smoothie variety frightened my four-legged best friend, so Roman proceeded to tell the fruity monster how he felt.
First, look "hooo" stopped by last week! Seemingly unfazed by our 85 lbs Bernese Mountain Dog, this is a Barred Owl landed on our back fence and seemed to study us at the same time we were studying him. Check out this website:http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Strix&species=varia He was making the "Scream" sound (which is more like a wheezy squeak), but we hear many variations on the call. What does the "Typical Call" sound like to you? Bird lovers like to think the call sounds like "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?"
He stopped by again the next day. These guys are causing big problems in the Pacific Northwest because they're much more aggressive than the smaller spotted owl--check out "A new wrinkle" at the bottom of this site: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0722_040722_tvspottedowl.html
This little guy knocked on our door last weekend. He is a Green Tree Frog. We hear them singing all the time, but this is the first time we've actually seen one. This is what they sound like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fWjKQaPc0c
Roman (my unofficial blog mascot) found some exotic wildlife of his own at Suwanee Town Center Park. This unusual specimen of the bipedal smoothie variety frightened my four-legged best friend, so Roman proceeded to tell the fruity monster how he felt.COMING UP: I'm headed down to Tybee Island tomorrow for a prep session for my Bahamas class. We're going to spend Saturday on an undeveloped barrier island--check back Monday for more info!
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