12 April 2026 Sanford: South of Daytona for a Some Birds

 

There were two nice birding locations near Daytona that Leslie and I decided to explore.  First we traveled to the end of the barrier island to Lighthouse Point.  The second location the Port Orange Causeway Park.   A total of five new lifebirds was the haul for the day.  

A Moai statue in front of this hotel

A small plane too

Grab a flag and wave it at oncoming drivers to warn them that you are using the crosswalk

Pastel colors

The pay gate into the lighthouse park

The lighthouse

Lots of walkways to walk upon

Leave the tortoises alone

Tat was a good spot for a sign

The sun is hot

Dunes ahead

The yellow feet of a little egret

To the Jetty

The inlet

Tidal intrusion

Lots of fishing going on

Ruddy Turnstone

Stoic behavior

Zoomie

No one actually got up on a surfboard

A long jetty

Lots of beach at this park

Cars can come on the beach

Ruddy Turnstone

Royal Tern lifebird #1

Go go go gopher tortoise 

An elegant bird indeed

This was the sight of a planned resort, the Inlet Terrace Resort.  Construction had begin and was continuing when the 1926 Hurricane ripped up the coast.  The collapse in Florida property values that followed was the death knell of this project

Natural scrub land

The light house

Brown Pelican

The osprey with its fish

At the causeway park

An American oystercatcher life bird #2

The oyster catcher and a blue heron

Brown Pelican

Laughing Gull Lifebird #3  

American Herring Gull lifebird #4

Hippy time on the highway

Who the king?

And the queen!

Maddy is Queen too!

Just me

All hail the Queen

The cardinal agrees

Macys just gotta sit on someone

Eastern bluebird lifebird #5

   

 It has been 3 years and 307 days since we began our Migration

12 April 2026 Sanford: Off to Daytona for a Cheer Competition

 

Daytona was the location of the cheer competition that Raylene was competing in.  It was only 45 minutes away but we thought it would have been further away.  We left with what we thought would  give up lots of time to get there before the 2:50 scheduled performance.  Our planning worked out fine as we got there just after 2.  We had to pick up the tickets and we were in the venue by 2:15.  It was a sensory overload in the center.  There was a loud booming from the cheer teams that were on stage, the cheer teams waiting for their time slot were all milling about sitting, standing, walking, stretching and such.  One team "Top Gun" had huge, ratty, poofed up wigs attached to oversized bows perched high on their heads.  See the above picture to understand how absolutely goofy this look was.   Ryan had gone out to get some lunch and we met him upon his return around 2:30.  We were getting the lay of the land and popped into the performance space only to find out that Raylene was on the stage with her crew already performing.   Yikes, we almost missed it!  Three minutes later it was all over and we met Raylene outside.  She was hanging with her team mates looking at the videos of the performance together. They ended up in first place for their category with a nod to the great gymnastic elements.  Who was doing the majority of the gymnastics?  Raylene of course! 

Lambo on the highway

Daytona Speedway

Speedway boulevard

Merch for sale

The hall was huge.  I picked a moment where there were very few participants ion the shot

The Ambition Tam in on the stage

Preparing the base

Lifting

We have pyramids

Point your toes

Bridging the towes

Combining all the towers into one

Action shots

Spreading back out

Very dynamic

Finished

Now the littlest crew comes out

All excitement

Smiles

Participants

Observers

Decorative elements

 It has been 3 years and 307 days since we began our Migration