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Published: January 5th 2014
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From North Carolina back to The Florida Keys Feb 2013
Little Switzerland was a cute little town nesselt into the blue ridge mountain in North Carolina, Just like a mountain village in Switzerland. The dry stack stone walls on the side of the road reminded me every time of the places I grew up in.
The next bigger city was Asheville and that was just an hour drive. Asheville had its charm and was very bohemian with all kinds of exotic foods and teas to try. Just watching the people was and entertaining experience.
The winter in the Blueridege mountain was hardly a winter compare to what I had endured in the Yukon and Alaska. The time flew by and the year turned another chapter. The mild winter fooled me into thinking that spring was already here and I was ready to head east to the coast to kite. But the winter storm that got hold of the east coast changed my mind.
I had received a call from my friend at the Bird Center and he offered me a job to build the new boardwalk. Perfect timing … so I headed back south to the
Florida Keys. Hello Anne’s Beach…here I come!!!!
The drive south did not go without some little miss-hap. Just a halve a mile before my exit to stay the night the front right tire blew out and I had to pull over and put on my spare. The weather was getting nice and warm and soon I found myself and my dogs back in the Florida Keys. I did not think that I would be back so fast. But here I was unpacking my Kite and pumping it up. It was great to get out on the ocean again.
The” Florida Key Wild Bird” center became a big part of my life in the keys since I was now living and working there. The people are great and I feel like I can make a difference by taking on some of the most pressing projects. First I will have to rebuild the Boardwalk that creates the path through the mangroves. There are cages on both sides along the path and you will encounter lots of wild birds right on the path sometimes blocking the people from getting through. Sometime a pelican will slip by you on the narrow boardwalk.
It is an great place but it had taken some damage through out the last few storms and often it was lacking on funding and workforce to fix or replace the old cages. I like to see the place get back into shape since the rehabber running the animal hospital across the street is doing such an amazing job caring for all the injured birds that we get in.
If any of you out there would like to help or like to get more information please go the Website
http://www.fkwbc.org or find it on face book. ( e-mail
fkwbc.floridakeyswildbirdcenter@facebook.com)
When I am not busy working on the boardwalk or clearing out old cages and debris I go sometime to help out on a bird rescue mission. Some are more eventful than others but it always leave you with mixed feeling. You feel sad for the bird that got injured often by human carelessness or ignorance and at the same time you are glad that you can make a difference and that some people care and take action. We got called on a bird emergency that seams to be shortened to "birdency" here at the center. We drove
to the Mile marker we were told and met up with the caller that had spotted an injured pelican. He took us out on to the channel and we searched up and down all the little water ways in the area it was getting late in the afternoon and we figured we went to roost somewhere and had to give up the search for today.
On an other "birdency" we where called to the aid of a Osprey Chick that had left the nest somewhat prematurely and was found on a dock and was easy captured. We picked the young bird up and brought him to the hospital for a check. He seemed to be fine and did not need medical attention so we wanted to try to return the bird to the nest. The common idea that the parents will not take the young back if we touch them is not true. When returned to the nest even just close by somewhere save for the young bird most of the time the parents will keep caring for their young. We tried to get a fire truck to the location in order to reach the nest on top of
a telephone pole. Unfortunately the truck was to big and could not get into the small road. So we tried plan B. One of the neighbors close by allowed us to attach a laundry basket to the rafters and we placed the Osprey into it and watched and waited. We hoped that we had the right nest since there was and other one on the other side of the highway. It was clear that the adult birds where aware of the strange contraption below their nest and within an hour they had started to drop fish into the basket. We had to go back one more time to place him back and he will be ready to fly and learn to catch fish with his parents and sibling.
Kite surfing has become my favorite fun sport. To me it is an combination of paragliding and surfing or sailing. I love to hang out on the beach with my dogs and when the wind is blowing 15 to 20 knots I am riding the wild wind. I am by far not an expert yet but I made it over the hump and am able to stay upwind and have fun
cruising… ;p
Life has its ups and down but for me it is always an adventure and the downs turn often into the best experiences. Break ups and break downs are just a opportunity for change and new beginnings. I am always looking forward to the challenges life has to offer.
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