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facebook archive 7
2013
13 February – The view from the trail just before sunset on the conservation land surrounding the Audubon Center in Babson Park.  From yesterday’s visit to present the Lagoon program to Ridge Audubon Society. 14 February – This is a big year for Robins around town. Here are two atop the dead tree at ORCA last featured in the 13 December 2012 post with a Great Horned Owl perched in the same place.
15 February – This cold and rainy dismal day has made me a bit melancholy and nostalgic for similar rainy and gray though warmer days in the past.  Here is an image of Launch Complex 39A at KSC with the Orbiter Endeavour hidden in the industrial architecture of the launch tower with only Endeavour’s orange External Fuel Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters visible against a rainy sky.  Endeavour patiently waits as work proceeds to send her on her way on STS-127 in 2009. 16 February – Red-bellied Woodpecker clinging to a palm tree at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area.
17 February – Here is one of my favorite birds, a Black-necked Stilt at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. 18 February – I felt honored and humbled simultaneously when 108 people showed up this evening to see Birds of the IRL at the Pelican Island Audubon meeting at the Vero Beach Community Center.  Thank you to everyone who came out.  Photo is of a Roseate Spoonbill from the IRL program.
19 February – Another Space Shuttle anniversary image, this time of Endeavour burning through intervening clouds on her way to the International Space Station during a night launch in February 2010 on the STS-130 mission. 20 February – Wild hogs at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.  As destructive as this nonnative species is to Florida’s natural environment, they are fairly unique to see out and about.
21 February – I learned yesterday that I was selected for the NASA Social Media event for the upcoming SpaceX commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station. It promises to be a very exciting couple of days with all sorts of media tours planned leading to a close-up view of the launch itself! Pictured is the SpaceX C1 Dragon flown in space on a test flight aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on 8 December 2010. I saw it when it was on display outside the SpaceX launch control center at Cape Canaveral shortly after its flight. 22 February – Excitement at the office today when everybody had to go out to see the Great Horned Owl nest found on the south side of the FMEL campus in a giant oak tree.  There are at least two owlets in the nest including this one panting from the heat of the day.  Tomorrow, a picture of one of the proud parents.
23 February – One of the adult Great Horned Owls who are parents to the little ones in the nest seen in yesterday’s post.  A nocturnal bird of prey, the Owl looked pretty sleepy when I took this picture around midday at FMEL. 24 February – This bird is stuck with a rather inglorious name that describes one of its major features – Yellow-rumped Warbler.  Seen amongst a small flock of various warblers flitting around the dense foliage outside the FMEL Boathouse on Saturday afternoon just prior to the start of the last ORCA volunteer class.
25 February – White Ibis at Port Canaveral. 26 February – Tuesday night I was in downtown St. Pete presenting the ranch program to the St. Petersburg Audubon Society.  They are a fun group and it was a nice turnout with all sorts of interesting people coming to see the presentation.  The photo was taken around sunset from the big pier parking lot in downtown St. Petersburg.
27 February – Two male Lesser Scaup floating around with a larger group in the waters of Tampa Bay near St. Petersburg yesterday at dusk. 28 February – I am in the middle of the NASA Social Media event for the launch of the second SpaceX commercial resupply flight to the International Space Station.  Our NASA hosts are keeping us busy and I am happily taking a lot of photos.  For now, here is a photo taken at sunset out at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.  The Falcon 9 rocket is still horizontal from coming out of the hanger and here can be seen the Dragon spacecraft undergoing loading of refrigerated material and other last minute items.  Later tonight the rocket will be raised to the vertical position for launch at 10:10AM Friday morning.
2 March – The NASA Social is over and it was one great event!  Lots of pictures coming soon, including close views of the Falcon 9 launch, but for now here is a panorama taken during the hardhat tour of the new Atlantis exhibit currently under construction.  Atlantis is wrapped in plastic to protect it from the dust and debris stirred up by the ongoing construction. 3 March – Finally!  Here are the images of the Falcon 9 launch sending the Dragon spacecraft on a commercial resupply mission to the ISS.  These images were taken as part of the NASA Social for the event and my photos of the 2-day Social, including the launch, can be seen here.
4 March – Another image from the Launch Complex 39 press site of the Osprey bringing a stick to build his large nest atop a speaker tower.  See more images here. 5 March – A Gray Catbird outside the office door this afternoon.  The sighting was a calming counterpoint to a frustrating day that saw a drunk driver completely destroy not only my mailbox, but also the mailboxes of half the neighbors on my street.
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