This weekend, instead of shepherding a bunch of birders around the flooded fields of Belle Glade as I normally do, I volunteered to do trail maintenance, weeding, and trash pickup at another local natural area managed by the Department of Environmental Resources Management: Delray Oaks. The site is one of my favorites: it’s in south county, so it’s close to home, and it’s really quite beautiful. Small (25 acres), shady, and full of wildlife (this morning I saw a gopher tortoise, got closely acquainted with several of the local arachnids, watched dragonflies, heard blue jays and cardinals), Delray Oaks is a real treat.
And today, unlike the last time I volunteered for ERM, we were in the shade! Hooray!
A bunch of students from Florida Atlantic University were there this time, and having their youthful enthusiasm really helped the work go faster! Their exuberance was sometimes a bit much for the flora, as their mantra seemed to be banzai rather than bonsai, but overall, we left the place cleaner than we found it, which is the whole point, after all.
And in other news, Eric had his first taste of oatmeal this morning. And he seems to really like it!