Birding in the Rain

So Jonah learned an important lesson today. We should make sure that all our activities are done through the Inn for reasonable prices. We kind of got ripped off, but that's ok. Also it probably would have been better organized. As we were walking by some guy invited us to do a birdwalk at a sanctuary. Jonah was all for it while I was simply quiet. Then I started whining that this would make us miss lunch. He didn't care. So we got on a glass-bottom boat and rode out there. Glass-bottom boats are pretty cool, you can see the reef below you. The magic was probably a little lost on us because rather than looking down on the reef we had been in the reef mere hours before. Anyway we get to the island sanctuary place and see a bird right off the bat: chickens. domesticated chickens. as we started scaling a hill we saw another bird or two and even a flicker of a gecko before it hid (for those counting that's birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, as well as tons of inverts in one day). Then we found a Tropicbird

It's baby is underneath. No you cannot see it

This island was a sanctuary for them, which was quite nice. When we went to a different point and were able to see a lot of them flying around a little cove. It turns out that these birds are quite graceful in the air, soaring and swooping, but are terrible on land. We're talking worse than ducks, worse than even penguins. I had a video of one trying to walk, but the internet is evil and hates me. Their legs are too short to really walk so they kind of hop/scoot. It's pretty funny. I'll put the video on facebook soon. There some others birds like boobies and frigate-birds

This is a red-footed boobie, what did you think I was talking about?

Fun animals fact: frigate-birds are sometimes described as pirates. They steal food from the tropic birds and so earn the name. So that was fun, but it wasn't an unexciting walk. When we got the view of the boobie our guide looked up and said "looks like rain." With in seconds it started pooring on us. We survived, but where soaked. The weather in the tropics is even less predictable than Maine! So we survived and finished the walk...and found that there was no boat waiting for us. There had been snorkelers, so we assumed they'd get bored before we finished and be waiting for us...Nope. An hour or so later the boat shows up. Apparently someone got sick so they all headed back, and then had to come all the way back out to get us. It was pretty boring/annoying. Sigh. Then it was nap time. Long day and it wasn't even dinner time yet.