Picture by Keith.

Sources: Wikipedia and The Sibley Guide to Birds.

Cape Canaveral National Seashore is a fine example of how technology and nature can do more than co-exist; they can thrive.

When the Federal government purchased the land for Cape Canaveral, they involved the Department of the Interior. Together, they made the barrier islands outside Titusville a marvelous magnet for seabirds and a fairly pristine shoreline habitat. It’s remote and uncommercial by Florida standards.

I am using David Sibley‘s The Guide to Birds and Wikipedia for bird identification. I’m a total novice, so all mistakes are mine. Sibley spent years in his 20s living in his car and drawing birds at various stages of development. I find bird identification as much an art as a science.

Little known fact: David is from Guilford, CT, my home town. He has been drawing birds since he was seven years old.

In the case of the Dowitcher, I am relying on the long bill and the fact that Dowitchers are shore birds for my identification.

A bird’s experience is far richer, complex, and ‘thoughtful’ than I’d imagined. And if that was news to me after a lifetime of watching birds, it must be surprising to other people as well.” 

David Allen Sibley’s What It’s Like to Be a Bird