beach, birds and fireworks

So tonight i headed back to the beach as a volunteer to watch the fenced off areas of the bird colony during the fireworks. i met more volunteers. Jan and i were position on the beach side centered in the middle of the colony (but on the other side of the fenced area). as we were walking over to our position, we noticed foot tracks inside the colony area. i mean, come one, there are signs everywhere saying "stay out, endangered birds", etc. and people are still going in there? sorry, but that makes me sick.

the fences were extended yesterday to give the birds a bigger area. we noticed tonight that the birds are venturing closer to the shore, which is a good thing. there are so many birds inside the colony that it is a bit dense. but widening the area, it gives the birds space and encourages the fledglings to venture further away and allows the chicks to have a better chance at getting fed. there seems to be a lack of food source (fish), so the fledglings are killing some of the chicks as they fight over food. (makes me want to go out and buy some fish for them). right as the birds seemed like they were settling down for the evening, the fireworks started - and that caused them to panic and fly off. i took an interesting picture of them as they were scattering. it's all good info to have, because now the woman who runs the volunteers, Nancy Maclearie-Hayduk can give all this information to the biologists involved and speak with the township about moving the fireworks down a few blocks.

here are the birds scattering

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baby robins, snakes (ick), butterflies, swans and more

this guy seems to have moved into an area in my back yard that i refer to has "flower island". and it is more likely a she than a he because we've had snakes in there before and they like to have their babies there. I have to tell you that it is a big deal for me to have taken a picture of a snake and then post it on my blog. even the thought of the photo on my camera card gives me the heebie jeebies. (trust me, i will be erasing it right after this). but i am trying to get past my utter disgust for snakes. this one is harmless; although i will not appreciate tons of baby snakes slithering around while i am trying to water.... blachhhh. my lack of enthusiasm for snakes comes from when i was younger, in 8th grade, and i had a paper route. i would be out very early in the morning delivering papers. it would be so quiet and peaceful out in the country with the birds chirping, cows in the meadow, dogs barking. i'm busy daydreaming and then wham out of nowhere, a snake would slither in front of my bike and scare the crap out of me! it happened on many occasion too.

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we are surrounded by many little lake areas, so last night as we were driving home from the beach, we came across this swan and 3 babies. we fed them the rest of our bread.

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here are the latest pictures of the baby robins. they are getting bigger. whenever i walk under the arbor i can see their heads beeboppin about as i look up. i think they hear me and think that it is their momma come to feed them.

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i noticed this guy while i was just outside watering. he was quite hard to pin down for a photo. the second shot is kind of cool. as i was just taking the shot of him, he flew away and you can see a wisp of him leaving.

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so tonight i have been recruited to man the bird area that i visited yesterday. there were a couple of delayed firework displays for several townships here, so they are having them tonight and tomorrow night. the beach towns set off fireworks from their boardwalks, so after the incident on the 4th, there will be people there to keep an eye out for any idiot who thinks its fun to set off firecrackers next to an endangered bird colony. then next week i will be receiving training to become a "monitor". i will learn all about the birds (who will be there until August) and then i will monitor their activities, take notes, etc. sounds fun to me.