Dauphin Island, Alabama: COVID-19 Unfolding, Part 8888: Boxing Day: Audubon Bird Sanctuary

 

Audubon Bird Sanctuary-Dauphin Island Alabama. December 2021.

 

Oh, it felt good to be out. 

I'd been lamenting to myself, of late, at the difference in my getting-outedness the past two COVID years in comparison with my Alamogordo year. That year in Alamogordo, I think I explored a new destination in New Mexico just about every weekend. I visited all but three state parks, I think. I went to the national parks and monuments. I went to museums, to festivals. 

Yesterday I drove out (over?) to Dauphin Island.

Destination: Audubon Bird Sanctuary. 

But first, I ate my picnic lunch at the Estuarium (also known as the Alabama Aquarium):

• Carrots
• Roasted, skinless, boneless chicken breast
• Sweet potato
• White potatoes

I lunched at a bench that overlooked the Gulf. 

 

Gulls on rocks. Dauphin Island, Alabama. December 2012.

 

I saw gulls, pelicans, a heron or two. 

And oil rigs. 

After lunch, I drove over to the Audubon Bird Sanctuary. 

I walked.   

 

Yellow gem leaves. Audubon Bird Sanctuary, Dauphin Island, Alabama. Decembe 2021.

 

Peace, serenity, beauty, breeze. Soft colors, muted for winter. 

 

A slide show of Audubon Bird Sanctuary below: 

If you'd like to go down a rabbit hole re: Audubon and sanctuary:

• September 2012: On the Road to Alamogordo, Day 1: Faith and Fury
  
• September 2013: Montezuma, New Mexico, Part 1: Light
• March 2016: Louisiana: The Chimpanzees From Alamogordo, Chapter 3
• December 2017: Ferguson, Missouri: Our Lady of Guadalupe and One of her Stolen Sons

Louisiana: Palmetto Island State Park: Pigs and Swamp

Palmetto Island State Park, Louisiana

Some of the Louisiana parks participated in the First Day Hike program, and Palmetto Island State Park was one of them.

Feral pigs at Palmetto Island State Park, Louisiana

A hiking companion and I, and her kiddos, were the only ones to do go on the park's First Day Hike. (It was a little rainy today.)

Feral pigs at Palmetto Island State Park, Louisiana

I saw my first feral pigs. Smaller than I expected, but these were the sows, their little 'uns, and adolescents. I guess the boars can get pretty large (100-400 pounds) with tusks. The boars are loner types. The sows and young ones form groups called "sounders."

Pleasant Road, which leads to the park from State Road 82, has a stretch of swamp that's very pretty.

Did you notice the pretty yellow flowers? In January!

Pleasant Road near Palmetto Island State Park, Louisiana

There's a guided canoe trip at the park on the first Sunday of every month. I signed up for the next one.

Palmetto Island State Park, Louisiana