“We had a busy morning identifying birds on our beach. Most are a part of wildlife protection in FL:

Royal turn

Foresters tern

Willet

Laughing gull

Herring gull

Black backed gull

Black skimmers

Brown pelican

Snowy Egret

Blue heron

White ibis

Cormerant

Osprey

Sand pipers

For other creatures:

Huge, mushroom capped jellyfish

Sea cucumbers

Jumping fish

And three dolphins swimming five feet in front of us!

~ Franci DuMar

This was not a morning for hurrying. Late, around 9:00, I went out. The beach was populating with chairs and picnics, sun tents and families. A single kite, tethered to a beach chair, hovered above the Gulf. I waited, thinking there would be daughters joining me. It was a late sleeping morning. But I shortened my walk, knowing they might want to join me later. True. All of us went birding, my daughter’s idea: to identify all the species of shorebirds we could find. The five of us strolled and she made her list. We walked to Beer Can Island and took a quick dip. A stroll back, and then, as we were about to go in, my daughter’s boyfriend spots a fin right in front of us–then there are two, then three, swimming only feet from us on the shore. My daughter and I wade in, and the dolphins come near, but not near enough. The five of us and all all the others on the beach watch them for some time, they linger, dipping and flipping their tails. It’s the first sighting for the newcomers. It’s an exquisite end to our fine nature walk. We walk back home full of joy. A weekend of relaxation. I am peaceful as a kite in an azure sky, tethered to a beach chair. Oh! And then I opened an e-mail, dreading a rejection, another upon another of the poems I submitted throughout the fall. And it isn’t a rejection. It’s an acceptance of two that have been passed by and are now among the chosen ones and I feel the uplift of this writing project; a poem wants a good home in print.