Nature on Vacation (birds, snakes, snake, geese)

[jtur88]

What are some of the nature-related things you like to do when you are n vacation or traveling?

We are birdwatchers, so we're constantly watching to identify every bird we see, naming them as we pass under them on overhead wires or they fly off the fence posts. We try to identify at least three birds in every county we go through, and keep a log (we're now at 2,268 counties with 3 species in each). We travel with wildflower books and try to identify them on the roadside. Haven't really gotten into trees, but that would be interesting, too.

[andthentherewere3]

I've forgotten how things work in Texas, how large are counties? We tend to look for differences more by state rather than town or counties, as counties don't mean much in the small state where I live. Where I live it's pretty much the same throughout the whole state as far as nature. When we travel to other states though, we'll look for different birds/animals/trees/flowers and compare them to our state, but we've never kept a log. That is a pretty good idea.

[Kracer]

Count hawks perched along the highways.

Identify the local fauna by identifying the dead bodies on the roadway. when you say you saw a weasel, no one needs to know it was a dead weasel. A weasel is a weasel. one of the best ways to conduct surveys to reveal the presence of critters no one believes exist in their area.

Always check the states fish and game website to see what they list as living in their states, especially birds and bird lists.

species of trees such as oaks that occur in differnt zones but not at home as well as differnces in growth due to being in a different zone, soil conditions.

Always attracted to rivers which are major migratory routes for critters depending on time of season.
read tracks in mud, look for oriole nests.

Also consider all the isolated islands of paradise created by off ramps and drainage ditches along the interstates and roadways. these are secret islands of nature so many 'nature lovers' miss on their way to nature destinations.

Here is a fox with pups on such an island at the entrance ramp top 395 in maine.





Look for impatients/jonny jump ups, that the deer missed, for migratory hummingbird roadside refilling stations during the late summer into sept.

Call every chance I think I can sqeak in a birds or a fox.

Look at the eastern redcedars along highways/interstates to see if they are munched. This would indicate a high density of deer and a possible deer meets car episode.

[PAhippo]

That's a great shot, Kracer. Don't get to see that too often.


I look for different fungus. Only recently realized the variety of sizes/shapes/colors. Now I want to see them all!

[Kracer]

Focus on a single thread of interest and it draws you in as far as you want to follow it.

You don't need to be an ornithologist or a mycologist to enjoy nature. Its inherent beauty is enough of a reward. You need not know a myrtyle warbler from a magnolia warbler, just that it is something different and that it causes you a moment of peace where time and problems slip away even if for an instant.

The wonder of nature provides a variety of threads which act as divergent trails that eventually lead to thr same place.

That is a vista of greater perspective. We see a cascade of interrelated life from which we are inseperable.

The greatest lesson we should learn is that prejudicial thought limits our creativity and imagination and what we see. If I didn't expect to see the fox in the middle of a highway system, I would not have seen them.

If things appear the same we look for differences, when things appear different we look for similarities. Look for that errant traveller, a fulvous tree duck or brandt, in the large flock of ho hum Canada geese.

Check out my album for more 'lucky' images.

[PAhippo]

oops-where/what is your album?

[firebll31]

We like to go to beaches for vacation, and snorkeling is one of our favorite hobbies. I like to go very slowly, looking in all the crevices among the coral for the small critters everyone else misses. I have an ID book of Caribbean sea creatures and mark next to each picture when and where I first saw it. Helps me re-live vacation memories during cold winter months.
I also enjoy ocean fishing and do the same thing with fish I have caught.
We float our local rivers in kayaks, and I always see mink, ducks, snakes, birds, muskrats, beaver and other creatures that the powerboaters miss. My husband calls me "Wally Wildlife". I don't really mind!

[Kracer]

click on my highlighted username and see in the lower right an 'album', has a photo of a box turtle on the 'cover'.