It's the Woody Woodpecker Song

We are off to Florida for a few days. Sirius is at Camp Green Dog and we are driving my new Hyundai Santa Fe. The car is so cool with automatic everything. The bright lights and windshield wipers turn on by themselves when needed. When you use cruise control it slows you down when the car in front of you slows down. Also beeps when you drift into another lane and lots more safety features that make driving a pleasure.

Yesterday afternoon we left and drove to Cape Canaveral to stay overnight. This morning we continued to Boca Raton with a stop at St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park. There we found a volunteer who told us that the park is noted for Manatees and the Red - Cockaded Woodpecker as well as Bald Eagles. We drove off into the 22,034 acre park to see the manatees and then hiked in to see the woodpeckers. Jeff had enough after 10 minutes and decided to wait for me under a tree in the shade. I was determined to see this rare woodpecker and I trudged on down a sandy road. All in all I walked 2.5 miles and yes, I found the woodpeckers. Apparently they only live in long leaf pine trees that are 80 years old or more. I took some pictures and saw that the birds were banded. One more check mark in my bird list. I think all these photos are females as I see no red over the eyebrow.

We saw a few more birds sitting on the telephone pole wires. Brushed the sand out of our shoes and headed south again arriving in Boca around 3:00. A little resting and unpacking and chatting with Elaine and Rick before heading out to dinner. It is Valentine’s Day and we are meeting two couples who are dear friends from Yardley. Phyllis and Jordan and Judi and Fred were friends and neighbors who spend some cold winter months in Florida. We went to a deli/restaurant and I had truly delicious salmon baked with an apricot glaze. The potato pancake that came with it made it a memorable meal. Afterwards we went back to Phyllis and Jordan’s for dessert and now home to a comfy bed and sleep.