Wildlife/animals

Mile High Dive

 in Colorado / Wildlife/animals  tagged Denver Colorado / Landry's Aquarium / mermaid / moray eels / Scuba diving / sharks / snorkeling / sting rays / travel / volunteer by

Dry-landers take heart.  If you’re yearning to snorkel with sea creatures a thousand plus miles from the nearest seashore, Landry’s Denver aquarium will have you swimming with more sting rays, eels, fish, and skates than sea snorkelers can hope to glimpse.  You may even spot some mermaids.   Too calm for you?  In another exhibit, you can scuba dive with the largest sharks in Colorado either as a guest or volunteer.   It’s a great way for divers to keep in practice when a trips to the coast are such a strain.   After a year of driving to Denver to work as a guide, I can attest that Landry’s is a breathtaking place to […]

Wireless Bird Call

 in Peru / Snowbirding / Wildlife/animals  tagged Amazon rainforest / bird call / cell phone / Peru / toucan / travel / travel guide by

On a rickety, hundred foot tower in the Peruvian rain forest, our guide couldn’t spot the toucans he’d hoped to show us. “I’ll call them,” he said, and pulled out his cell phone. We all laughed and watched as he pushed an icon and…played a toucan recording. The toucans came. I recognized their beak shape, but they weren’t Fruit Loops toucans–just dark colored birds we might see anywhere except for their profiles…that and answering phone calls.

Dolphins Boosting Wounded Warriors

 in Florida / Gratitude / Wildlife/animals  tagged dolphin / Dolphin Research Center / dolphin therapy / donation suggestion / DRC / Giving Tuesday / PTSD / travel / Wounded Warriors / WWP by

Since 2009 the Dolphin Research Center in Florida has been partnering with the Wounded Warrior Project to ease severely wounded heroes into healthy civilian lives.  Project Odyssey, named for Homer’s saga of a hero’s journey home, helps brain injured and PTSD warriors work through challenges and improve their outlook.  The warriors participate with peers in a three day retreat which includes dolphin dock interactions and a dolphin swim.  The atmosphere and activities are designed to invite warriors to connect with their outer world in a stress-free, nurturing environment. In addition to core goals of bonding with others on similar journeys, connecting with nature, and learning new skills in a novel setting, the program supports the warriors […]

Suffering Sweetness

 in Florida / Newfoundland / Peru / Wildlife/animals  tagged blackflies / bloodsuckers / butterfly / butterfly garden / Florida / Minnesota / mosquitoes / New Foundland / Peru / Thanksgiving / ticks / travel by

After a walk in a Minnesota park I glanced at my shoes and started tearing my clothes off.  Ticks were swarming my laces, storming my socks, and breaking ground on my shins.  The battle was epic.  In Florida, mosquitoes ravaged my legs right through my leggings until I looked like I’d been kick-boxing cactus.  In Newfoundland, heavy clothes helped, but blackflies left knots all over my neck.  Then a Peruvian butterfly garden specimen perched on my arm and begin shoving its proboscis at my skin…drinking my sweat? Steve may be right about my being a bug magnet.  My parents used to call me “Sweetness” which sounds nice, but I’m beginning to suspect it […]

Dog Gone 2

 in Snowbirding / Travel tips / Wildlife/animals  tagged Blue Grass music / Cherokee Alabama / coon dog cemetery / Deep South / Labor Day festival / Liars Contest / travel by

In search of attractions to add to our Deep South itinerary, I came across a coon dog cemetery.  I like dogs and cemetery strolls, but I think it’s enough to know that this coon dog cemetery exists. If you’re thinking of adding it to your list, Labor Day might be the time to go.  An annual festival includes Bluegrass music, hickory smoked barbecue, decorated graves, and a Liars Contest telling tall tales.  No, really, it’s true!

Quest Blessing

 in Gratitude / Our Quest / Wildlife/animals  tagged Denver aquarium / presentations / sea jellies / sea stars / shark huggers / Stirring Sea Secrets / volunteer enrichment by

The Denver Aquarium seemed like a good place to find audiences interested in hearing my Stirring Sea Secrets presentations, and it is, but when I contacted the education manager there I found I’d stumbled on a motherlode. Colleen Shipley’s standards for volunteer enrichment programs are stringent. Every driblet of information in my hour-long talk had to be cited to respectable sources. My terminology needed updating too. Starfish and jellyfish are now sea stars and sea jellies because they aren’t fish–the very sort of nitpicking I needed to bolster my confidence and credibility. Colleen’s passion for education keeps her running hard, but […]

Want a Hug?

 in Wildlife/animals  tagged animal behavior / Denver aquarium / hugs / sea urchin / travel by

Believe it or not most visitors to the touch pool at the Denver Aquarium  take me up on the offer and get a thrill out of their hug.  Why do these sea urchins gently squeeze our finger between their spines when we give them a chance?  I’d tell you, but I’m afraid that if I look it up I’ll find out that the “hug” is  an unfriendly reflex of some kind, and that would spoil everything.

Weird Job

 in Florida / Newfoundland / Our Quest / Wildlife/animals  tagged archer fish / Denvery aquarium / dolphin research / L'Anse aux Meadows / Pueblo Chieftain / Rookery Bay / sea urchin / shark tagging / travel / University of Miami / Viking lodge / whale watching by

When our local paper asked for wacky, wonderful job stories, I had to share mine: “Can I squirt him in the eye?”  I felt weird being so blunt with the brave little geek in braids, but having graduated from high school in the seventies, I knew I’d feel weirder negotiating with five teens over shark tagging tasks.  So when the grad students got our shark situated under their bodies, I got to test his reflex, and his eye membrane nictated nicely which meant that he wasn’t too stressed.  On the next round I clipped a bit of tissue off another […]

Sea Quest: Florida

 in Florida / Our Quest / Snowbirding / Wildlife/animals  tagged Dolphin Research Center / Dolphins / Dry Tortugas / Florida / manatee / Miami Beach / Rookery Bay / sea llife / sea turtle / sharks / snorkeling / travel / turtle skull / University of Miami by

I Was a Dolphin Pool Toy

 in Florida / Our Quest / Snowbirding / Wildlife/animals  tagged Dolphins Plus / dolpins / travel by

Imagine the patience and skill it takes to train these powerful, free spirits to play these games with any dolphin lover who signs up to be the ball.  The artistry required to make such programs safe using only positive reinforcement is mind boggling.  Many thanks to the Dolphins Plus team for their absolute dedication to helping dolphins support themselves by having fun with people like me.