Hunting Island Day 1

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Monday, May 7, 2018

It’s always fun arriving at a new place, anxious to explore and see what is here. We walked out the long boardwalk into a huge marsh. It was low tide and they haven’t had rain for 12 days, so the only water was in the creeks. I was disappointed not to find birds, but it gave us an opportunity to see all the animals that provide food. One inch crabs were everywhere. They live in little holes with mounds of dirt making hills from their tunneling. There were abundant Periwinkle snails and mussels. A raccoon was feasting through the grass, barely looking up to see if we were a threat. 

Then we visited the little nature center where two volunteers gave us some great lessons about the park and where Martha could kayak. We headed over to the lighthouse for the 187 steps to the top. It wasn’t bad, and it provided a beautiful view of the park. 

Tuesday

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We photographed lots of birds gathered in a small pond beside the road. We would stop at the next pond north the following day, only to get caught by a very nice park ranger. I noticed the sign said not to approach the birds because they were nesting. Especially the wood storks can be scared off and never return to the nest. In an odd quirk of nature, the birds like this pond because it has alligators. Lots of animals like to eat bird eggs, particularly raccoons, but alligators like to eat raccoons.