Gulfarium Ocean Adventures

Just across the bridge from Destin, you can visit the Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park. It's smaller and far more personal than a big place like Sea World. All these dolphins were bred in captivity and wouldn't be able to survive on their own in the wild. When we got home, I took 438 photos off my camera, thanks to the wonders of burst mode. After the first round of editing, I had it down to 247, a more manageable number. Now the hard part is deciding how many of them to feature in this blog post!

The trainers use hand signals to train the dolphins for desired behavior. It may be as simple as touching the trainer's hand with their snout, or calmly putting their tail up for the trainer to draw blood. Of course, each behavior must be solicited in baby steps since there is no good method of communication between the species.

The response is rewarded with a fish, of course. At the end of the day, I decided that the dolphins are actually training the people  using different signals to get them to give a fish! Look at those teeth! They have 80 - 100 cone shaped teeth. Don't want them to grab me.

We have seen quite a few wild dolphins already this trip and probably won't take a boat trip to find more. You aren't supposed to get closer than 50 yards to them, but of course, people don't always pay any attention to distance. I was amazed that they came right into the mouth of the harbor. You would think the boat motor sounds would bother them. There's a real risk of learning to be beggars from people instead of hunting on their own.

 I would think they have a problem with boredom, living in a relatively small tank all their lives. The training and shows probably help keep them from going crazy.

Any time there is a chance of free fish, the laughing gulls hang around looking for handouts.

I was fascinated watching a young White Pelican trying to get a fish out of a feeding container. Just imagine trying to pick up a whole fish with chopsticks! He had a hard time trying to get a grip on his lunch. Normally, White Pelicans catch their fish while swimming in the water, and just open their mouths around it then swallow. What a problem this will be!

Oops! Dropped it on the ground. Still can't just throw it in the air and swallow it down. White Pelicans don't eat that way.

OK, let's get in the water and clean the dirt off.

Ah, now he can grab it properly in the water using his big expandable mouth and throat.

 You can just see it sliding down his translucent gullet. Yummy!

Thinking the Pelican was finished, an opportunistic gull snuck up to grab a bite of fish for himself. Get away from there, you moocher! Ever been chased by the huge wings of a Pelican? This gull has and knew to make a fast getaway.

An afternoon walk on the beach completed our day, and our 10,000+ step goal. Have you ever noticed how birds on the sand all face the same direction, usually facing into the wind? Among cows, this practice lets them all run in the same direction without trampling each other if something attacks. However, one Sandwich Tern was attracted by something over his shoulder.

The clouds are coming in and the ocean looked silver instead of green. This sailor didn't mind, nor did the gull flying off in the distance.

Birding Expectations

Expectations are funny things. If you expect a lot, you can be disappointed sometimes. If you don't expect much, you may not try as hard. Since we were here last year, I had an idea of what to look for, and honestly, we've been a bit disappointed, in both the number of species and individuals found so far. The Alabama Birding Trail hasn't always resulted in much. This year's birding festival was last week -- can a week make such a difference? The weather turned cold and extra windy, and I'm not sure if this makes the birds stay put or what. Also, we have stayed on the beach and the coast instead of the inland marshy areas for the most part, so that may make a difference too. We have seen quite a few warblers, but without an expert, all I can do is say - Oh, there's another warbler! Actually identifying them is pretty tough. Same with any smaller shore birds. I recognize the Willets and Sanderlings with confidence, but anything else is just a guess. Maybe sometime I should ask Santa for a $2,000 Swarovski scope...

However, today we did have some pretty nice finds, though not the ones we expected, around Perdido Bay. A terrific boardwalk led over the dunes and I got some real postcard photos. Maybe someday I can make a lot of money selling photos to the gift shops! Dick says this Heron was hiding in the sea oats for fasting and meditation! An Osprey circled us for a while, and I'm learning the tricks with my new camera, so these turned out pretty well. A pod of 8-10 dolphins swam up and down the channel, for some shots I usually don't see.

We've become fascinated with tracks in the sand, both human and otherwise. Today I saw some unusual prints that looked like a really really small car tire tread, but they were under water along the bank. As I looked, a sea shell moved along the bottom, and I realized a hermit crab was in it, making the tracks we saw!

Before leaving this spot on the Birding Trail, we heard some action in the brush and went to investigate, adding a Swamp Sparrow to our life list. The really strange find was a large (robin sized) bird with a yellow belly, and brown and buff stripes on its head. The more I looked, the more I thought it was a Meadow Lark. What do you think? Maybe a juvenile, or just in nonbreeding feathers. How did this guy get to the swamp by a lagoon so close to the ocean? I know Alabama has agricultural areas that would be great for it, but I think he got turned down the wrong road!