It turns out any day spent with Clyde and Nancy is a good day. We usually don’t start too early, but once we get going, it’s great! Today was another fine example; we started out looking for alligators in the wild. Nancy checked online to find out where Nubbins Slough was located, and we discovered that it was where we went gater-searching yesterday, with no results. But since it was warmer today (mid-70s), there was a better chance the gaters would be out. It took awhile, but we did see one lazying about in big canal that runs into the lake. He (I’m assuming it was a male, but who knows?) was out in the middle of the water with only part of his head showing. It was too far for my camera to get a good picture, but with Clyde’s binoculars we could see him pretty good. The pelicans that were diving for fish didn’t pay him any attention, but they didn’t get too close, either. In another part of the canal were a lot of big water birds called Anhingas. They are the ones that stand on the river bank and spread their wings out to dry. Apparently they don’t have oil in their feathers, so they get water-logged and need to dry out occasionally. And a couple of Great Blue Herons were there also, fishing and sitting in the sun. They are so beautiful - very large with distinctive markings and wispy decorative feathers.
Next stop: Arnold’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. It’s a small wildlife care facility that is located about 13 miles out of town. They get a wide range of animals, for a lot of reasons. Some are pets that are no longer wanted - there were a lot of cockatoos, which surprised me, because those are expensive animals and they make good pets. Some of the birds they get can be adopted out, which is great.
Some of the birds are obviously recovering from bad health, like Ruby, who has beautiful scarlet head feathers but is missing a lot of her body feathers. Apparently she has already regrown about half the feathers that she lost from bad food and indifferent care before she got here. Besides adopting out pets when possible, the people who run the place release wild animals (who are usually here because of an injury) whenever possible. The animals to be released are not on view to the public so they don't get too used to people. But a lot of animals can’t be released; sometimes because their injury prevents it, but usually because by the time they come to the Center they are both used to people and dependent on them. These are animals that should never have been pets, but somebody tried. Like Fennec Foxes. They are unbelievably cute because they are the size of a small cat and have ears as big as their heads. But they are wild animals and don’t make good pets, even if they are raised with people.
They have a couple of Lynx, with slender long legs and tufted ears. And three cougars, which certainly looked healthy, but even if they can be taught to feed themselves, they cannot be taught to defend themselves against other cougars. And they have Serval Cats, which surely have the most beautiful spotted coat of the entire cat family.
One of the Bobcats was stretched out against the fence, and the temptation to tickle those furry toes was almost more than I could resist. . . but I did resist because he just looked too comfy to bother. Plus I was sure he could take my finger off pretty fast.
It's a shame to see these animals in enclosures, but it was obvious that the staff gave them as much space and care as they could; the animals had significant room to move around, they had places to jump up onto, and they had areas where they could get out of view whenever they wanted. Plus there were usually more than one in an enclosure, which meant there was someone to cuddle next to, like the Servals were doing. A couple of the big cats (not sure which ones) started fussing at each other. Honestly, they acted exactly like our two housecats at home. One lay on her side, staring up at the other with one paw raised and sort of growled. The other sat right next to her with one paw raised and growled back. They would raise their voices a bit, give a tentative swipe at each other, and then ignore each other.
There was a nice setup for the two otters, with a little waterfall and a deep pool. The otters kept standing up on the rocks to get a good look at us, while we were looking at them. They have a couple of skunks here and an albino hedgehog, a walleroo and a porcupine. And several marmosets, which are the tiniest monkeys ever. And a Capybara (which is the largest rodent in the world), and a few Sulcate Tortoises, who were chasing each other around at top turtle speed.
A small deer was resting in the shade, and I was sure she would jump up and run away when I got close. But she didn’t, and I got to pet her! They liked to lick our arms and legs - they have soft tongues, like a dog. They were so beautiful and very gentle with us, and it was like a dream to be able to pet them. But those gorgeous eyes don't really connect with ours, like a dog's eyes would. I think that's a sign that part of them will always be wild; they can adjust to us, but they don't really belong to us.
The butterfly garden has paths lined with flowering bushes and shrubs, and butterflies like this Zebra-Striped butterfly just flit around the ones they like best. It was so peaceful to wander around there.
And everywhere are beautiful Peacocks and Peahens, including an albino Peahen who was a little shy - she would scoot away when I approached.
We wrapped up the day with a trip to Dairy Queen for dessert, followed by dinner at Clyde and Nancy’s RV. No, that’s not backwards, that’s just right!
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