On flowers as a subject for photography

If i were a skilled photographer I would take pictures of flowers, for they are beautiful and diverse. Flowers vary in color and it's great to have pictures of something so colorful.

Flowers are a great example of how there is so much geometry in nature. Having pictures of them can show the concept. I personally love spending time in nature, observing, so seeing all the types of shapes and kinds of flowers give me something to hold in my memory, and if these flowers are from a different part of the world, I can take pictures of them and keep them with me.

Flowers come in so many varieties, so I can never exhaust my pictures, especially if I can take them in many different angles. Seeing the diverse beauty of flowers is great, but seeing it without having to stay in one place, without picking them is even better. That is the beauty of taking pictures.

Flowers can fit in with almost any feeling, so if I take a picture I can hang it almost anywhere in my house. These are some of the reasons why if I was a skilled photographer I would take pictures of flowers.

Stupendous Safari!

Prologue:

I can't believe the day is finally here! My parents have been waiting for 10 years for this, and I've been waiting for this for, like, 4 years. It was worth it! Our trip to Tanzania with Thomson Safaris was perfect! The guides, the wildlife, our accommodations, and just the idea of being there was amazing.

Date: 6/13/15
Place: Arusha; Weather: Cloudy

We met with our guides - Charles, Mohammad, Ali, Mustapha and our mentor Emmanuel. We are going to head to Tarangire National Park in a Land Rover. The van is filled with talking, laughing and rule-reviewing. People in Arusha have nice clothes. Today is market day so many people have booths for food, clothing etc. Many villages have houses with advertisements on them. I saw a green automatic rickshaw!

We went in a land rover to Tarangire. The road was smooth and we saw a lot of wildlife. We saw Zebras, Starlings, Impala, Ostriches and lots of lots of elephants (the babies were so cute) and Waterbuck. We even saw a lion!Then we veered off into a side road. It was really bumpy. After a while I got used to the bumps and started loving it! We were allowed to stand up on our seats and watch wildlife from above. Then we got to our camp and played soccer for a while. Then it was dinnertime and then we went to bed. The tents were very well made. There was a bathroom with pump-flush toilets (you pump a knob to flush them), and hot showers where you ask the staff to fill them for you. There are actual twin beds inside the tents!!! There were also solar powered lights.

Date: 6/14/15
Place: Tarangire; Weather: Sunny

We drove in the rover again. My friend spotted a lion! We sang songs. Elephants are commonplace around here. One even tried to scare us as she had a small baby. It sorta worked. Many starlings and white headed buffalo weavers were found. We also saw a lot of Masai Giraffes.

A little game of soccer when we came back, a class on the main language Swahili (not click speaking), good food, cake and a good night's sleep. Tomorrow we are going to Ngorongoro

Date: 6/15/15
PLace: Ngorongoro Crater; Weather: Cold

We drove from Tarangire to Ngorongoro. On the way we visited a school, the Ayalabe school and we learned how they take tests, their schedule and the school history. We then played soccer with the school kids. I was shy. We then left to have lunch at Gibbs Farm.

Soon we were at Ngorongoro Visitor Center. There were a lot of baboons. We soon arrived at our Nyumba. We played soccer and I found a game table, so my friends and I played Uno, Jenga. We ate dinner, a real African dinner that was very good and went to bed. The hot water bottle really helped!

Date: 6/16/15
Place: Ngorongoro; Weather: Cold

Today we drove to the crater floor. We saw Zebras hugging, lots of lions, buffalo and Three elephants! Wildebeest noises were really annoying. My mom thought she spotted a rhino but it was a warthog. We did see two black rhinos. On the background behind the rhino were a thousand flamingos.

We then had a picnic lunch. There was juice and chinese style rice and vegetables. We saw hippos in a pool. Then we returned and on the way back we saw more animals.

Date: 6/17/15
Place: Way to Serengeti; Weather: Moderate

Today we left for Serengeti. On the way we stopped at Oldupai gorge and saw early hominid footprints and also had a talk. Then we left for Serengeti. We stopped for lunch and are a puff, chocolate and juice and did a small walk to a view point.Serengeti was full of animals.

We saw many (putting it lightly) zebras. We saw a leopard in a tree licking itself. 6 lions were on the road! Too much wildebeest (migration is happening!). We also saw a serval cat hunt.

Then we came to our camp, played Uno, ate dinner and went to bed.

Date: 6/18/15
Place: Serengeti; Weather: Moderate

Today we are going to do storytelling! We started the day with a nice breakfast and went on the land rover. We saw like 30 lions including 3 cubs! CUBS!!! They even had spots on them. A little while later, we saw two cheetahs! Only, they were just stickin' their heads out of the tall grass.

We then had a picnic lunch and on the way back we saw more lions including two lions on a tree.

We then returned to the camp, played games, had dinner. Then it was story telling time and I talked with Emmanuel. He told a Masai story about a two-mouthed monster. I really liked it! I even guessed the moral really good. I told a Madlib. Here is how it turned out

Zebras have black and red stripes. Each zebra is disgusting. Zebras dance plants. They are herbivores. We see them all over the Taj Mahal. Zebras are komodo dragon like. They are very chunky animals. Zebras hug to sleep each other. The Swahili word for Zebra is tembo.

As you can see the Madlib was total nonsense. The Swahili word for Zebra is actually Punda Milia.

Then it was time for bed.

Date: 6/19/15
Place: Serengeti; Weather: Chilly and Rainy
 
Today we woke up got ready and set out for track identification with Emmanuel. We saw a bunch of hyena tracks, wildebeest, zebra, dik dik, gazelle, reedbuck and guinea fowl tracks. When we came back we ate breakfast and once again set out on a Land Rover journey. We saw the hippo pool, where we saw a hundred hippos, and a dead one with a crocodile sneaking bites of it. It was so stealthy. After a picnic lunch we saw mainly birds and we saw a Ground Hornbill with a puff adder in its beak, and a Martial eagle with a guinea fowl in its talons. It started raining heavily, while we returned to the camp. We needed to enter into the lounge under umbrellas. After a while, the rain turned into a light drizzle. We headed back to our tent (#7) and took a shower and put our things away. We had dinner and then I completed a beaded necklace. Then I went off to bed.

Date: 6/20/15
Place: Arusha; weather: nice

Today we headed off to Arusha on a plane. Funny airport, Serengeti airport! Just toilets, a grass landing strip, and a place for you to stand and wait for the plane. Right before the plane lands the guides are supposed to chase off the animals from the landing strip so the plane can land. It looked so funny from afar. After a while the zebras were chasing the trucks instead of the trucks chasing the zebras.

I was really, really sad to leave, but once we touched down in Arusha. We bought some souvenirs, had a snack of Bajiya, visited a workshop for the disabled called Shanga. We saw glass blowers, weavers, and painters. Then we left for Mount Meru hotel where we had shower and a nice break before we headed off to the airport to take off to Amsterdam.

Epilogue:

Overall the trip was one of the best I ever had. Tanzania is very much like India. When I grow older you can be sure I will go back. Everything was well planned and the accommodations were more than I expected of what camping could give me. Just observing the animal behavior was really interesting. I did not expect to see so, so, so many animals!!!

Dear reader, this trip can change perspective and can make anyone a better person! Observing wildlife has changed me and I became more interested in field biology. I would really like to share this interest with you.

Domesickness for Yosemite, yes, yes!

Day 1:

At 3:10PM we arrived at Yosemite Wawona Hotel. The beds are very plush, yes, yes. I am sitting at the front porch while enjoying the view and fresh air. Beautiful place, Yosemite, yes, yes. In fact i think the earth is an artist, and the National Parks, its carvings.

A little while later, we took the bus (whilst thou was still there, thank goodness), to the famous Mariposa Grove of BIG trees about 7 feet in diameter! We took a short walk there, and found that Mariposa grove had a lot of woodpeckers, yes, yes. At the end of the walk there was the GRIZZLY GIANT! Very, very scary! (I am just joking, the Grizzly giant is just a very very very large sequoia tree). It's branches are the size of thin trees!

Grizzly Giant at Mariposa Grove

On the way out we went through the California tree tunnel. A very large tree with a big tunnel cut into the middle of it! I bet I could live in there! We took so many pictures, yes, yes.

Once again those trees, yes, those trees! They were so big, that if my parents and I joined hands, we still couldn't hug the tree. We took a bus back and we made it just in time for the last bus at 5:30. At 5:34PM we came back from Mariposa Grove of Big Trees.

It was time for dinner. The food was not that great. My dad took portobello mushroom, and my mom took the garden salad. I took spaghetti (of course food from home could be mistaken for ambrosia). We came back from the dinner, and took a shower. Then we fell asleep.

Day 2:

The day began with a pancake, very very large pancakes, yes, yes. Then, the fun started. (Sing song voice) We drove into Yosemite valley! Too bad Wawona is not in the valley. My favorite part of the drive was when we were at Tunnel View (there was a tunnel right in front of us) where there was the perfect, most amazing view of my BFF, HALF DOME! (or Domy for short). Domy is the most famous rock in Yosemite!

We parked in the day use parking, and took a shuttle to the Valley Visitor Center. I got my Junior Ranger packet there. Then we took a shuttle to the Mirror Lake trailhead. We only did a little bit of the walk, just enough to get to Mirror Lake. We were expecting a reflection of Half Dome there, but we didn't see it and had to turn back as we didn't have enough time 'cos we had to go to lunch.

Terrible lunch, yes, yes. We had lunch at Yosemite Lodge. I had this bad Ziti that left an after taste in my mouth for a real long time. Then from the lodge, we boarded the shuttle for the Glacier Point tour.  We learned about Bear safety, different types of pine trees, and saw many famous landmarks of Yosemite. We got to the top, WE GOT THE MOST BEAUTIFUL VIEW EVER! WE SAW HALF DOME, NEVADA AND VERNAL FALLS AND MORE FROM GLACIER POINT! A lovely spot to have your picture taken with all the view is a little jutting rock, that I like to call "Domy Mountain".

Half Dome, Nevada and Vernal Fall from Glacier Point

Then we hiked down the 4 mile hike. Little did I know that I had terrible shoes. The 4 mile hike has a very "creative" name. In reality the hike is almost 5 miles long.  Thanks to my shoes I was slipping a lot. Along the way we stopped in a place called Union Point where we had a beautiful view of the valley, and thanks to luck we saw a lizard that John Muir wrote a whole paragraph about. The lizard was very beautiful bluish-green.

BluishGreen lizard at Union Point

When we finally got down it was 6PM, and we had to take a little walk to the nearest shuttle stop through the swinging bridge. By the time we got there, my feet were aching!

We had dinner once again at Yosemite Lodge where I actually got root beer and better food this time (I had black bean soup with oyster crackers.Oyster crackers are not made out of Oysters.) Then we took a shuttle back to the day use parking, and drove back to Wawona Hotel, had a good shower, and then slept.

Day 3:

I woke up to the sound of my dad snoring, yes, yes. We got ready and ate breakfast in our room and once again went to the valley.

We hiked up the Mist Trail from Stop 16 (Happy Isles). The Mist trail led us to Vernal and Nevada falls. The hike to Vernal falls meant I had to go through a slippery staircase of uneven steps, while getting sprayed by the Vernal falls with a cliff on one side, and wasn't allowed to bend down (so that I won't get dizzy). Very scary, yes, yes. But the Vernal fall was very pretty with a rainbow sparkling with it. It was such a relief when I got to the top of Vernal Falls.

Uneven slippery steps to Vernal Fall

Nevada Fall

Then we took the same Mist Trail from the top of Vernal Falls to the top of Nevada Falls. The last part was very steep with uneven steps, but I didn't get sprayed and the stairs weren't wet (thank goodness!). The really bad news was we missed lunch, so we had to have lunch with our snacks as the main course at the top of Nevada falls. There was a cute little squirrel right in front of us!

There was a separate trail back to the valley called the John Muir Trail. I decided to hike back the John Muir trail as it was easier although longer than the Mist trail. Along the John Muir trail I found a map.I was wondering where I was, so I asked my mom. She told me I was at Clark Point. I was wondering how she knew when there was a big sign on the map that said I was at Clark Point!

After we came back from the John Muir Trail, I had a late "lunch" at the Village Grill where I got a grilled cheese sandwich which I really liked along with a slushy and some French fries.

I got a souvenir from the shop - a stuffed owl, that I've named Sugar Pine after a pine tree seen in Yosemite. Sugar Pine is way too fat and big for her wing size.

Sugar Pine

Then we took a walk to see the Lower Yosemite Falls. Very pretty falls, yes, yes. There were many signs that said don't clamber around on rocks, but many people were still clambering around rocks. After we came back from Lower Yosemite Falls we were to have dinner at Curry Village. On our way there we met somebody who had spotted a crazy guy doing tightrope walking over the Upper Yosemite Falls.

We went off and had a pizza for myself with pineapple on top,  while my mom had some good tofu and my dad had a good salad and a couple of slices of pizza.

Then we returned to Wawona Hotel, had a good shower and a good night's sleep.

Day 4:

Today we woke up to the relaxing thought of "today will be take-it-easy day".  We started off with breakfast of some french toast for me, regular toast for mom, and a regular continental breakfast for dad. The French toast was a bit salty for a French toast(unless it is supposed to be like that and I've just had my mom's version).

My 10 Junior Ranger Badges, yes, yes

We left to the visitor center to get my Junior Ranger Badge (I've been doing my packet over the trip). There was a long queue to get my badge, yes, yes. While my mom was waiting in line, I explored the visitor center and learned an Ahwahneechee legend (Go to Yosemite to learn it). After I got my badge, I went to Degnan's Deli (in singsong voice). Degnan's deli had a caprese sandwich and I liked every bite of it without the mozzarella. This was one of the places where I got good food in Yosemite.

After lunch, we left for the Mirror Lake trailhead (talk about a "take-it-easy" day!). This time though we finished the entire 5 mile loop. Very flat trail and we got the best view of Half-Dome and I could imagine touching it, my best friend ever! We couldn't see the reflection of Half dome though as it was very breezy and the water was rippling.

We then stopped at Sentinel Bridge going on the shuttle. We got another perfect view of Half Dome

Half Dome taken by me - @ Sentinel Bridge

from there, and I learned a few tricks about my mom's camera and I took tons of pictures.  We also saw a common merganser in the Merced river as the Sentinel Bridge is right across the Merced river.

After that we went to Curry village to eat. But Curry village does not have any curry. It was simply named after Mother Curry. Once again I ate pizza but topped it with all kinds of vegetables and no pineapples, very very yummy.

In the end I wanted to do shuttle surfing, getting off at whatever stops we wanted to and exploring. But we didn't have enough time for that, so my mom was so wonderful (as usual), and suggested an amazing compromise of still going to stop  21, heading back to 1, but instead of getting off at 1, we went all around once again and back to 1. From stop 21 I got a very good view of Half Dome, and at every stop I thanked the stop for giving us a wonderful time and experience.

We returned Wawona for a nice shower and a good night sleep.

Day 5:

Today is the sad day. I woke up, and had breakfast of kid sized pancakes. Then we checked out and left for home. I was the one who DJed on the iPod and I went alphabetically.  We were to head to Rajdhani (a restaurant in Cerritos) for lunch. Due to the traffic in LA, Rajdhani closed by the time we got there. I decided we could go to another place called Udupi Palace. I saved our lives, yes, yes.
We soon arrived home.

I then became domesick. :( I still am...

 

Going TERNanas

The Terns have arrived! (See blogpost "Saving the California Least Tern - in my view"). Before the actual Ternwatching, we had a "class" in the Audubon Office (It was still under construction, sort of). We learned exactly what to do and how to record data on these charts. We had to sign up for dates and times to ternwatch. Ternwatching is where you go to this particular site in Mission Bay and count how many terns there are and specially LOOK FOR PREDATORS! Some predators are like the Western Gull, Caspian Tern. Main ones are raptors like Peregrine Falcon. They eat the chicks themselves. Other predators eat eggs. Remember that the California Least Terns are endangered.

To get ready we had to

• Drive to the Audubon Office
• Pick up the gear bag for our site
• Drive to the site
• And start watching the Terns

 Last Sunday, we got ready and the site we went to was Mariner's Point. That was where we plucked the filaree. I had no idea! We parked our car and went over a Berm and started our tern watching. The gear bag contained

• Clipboard and pen with Predator Charts
• A field guide
• Binoculars

The View from the Berm

I wasn't expecting to see so many terns! They were probably like 70 of them. Whenever they fly up in the air it was either because of a predator or they need to go fishing. Although the osprey is not a predator, the terns are still not familiar with it. So they fly up. Other reactions are

• Mobbing the predator
• Staying silent
• No reaction

The terns were actually nesting there and I saw one in its nest. The thing is once they land, you can see them, but immediately you lose them because they can easily camouflage with the sand. Surprisingly here and there you can see their little black heads.

The predators I saw were Egrets, Western Gulls (one was actually nesting so close - we think so, because it was carrying lots of nesting material), Caspian Terns and their orange beaks. Other birds we saw were Pelicans, Cormorants, Osprey, Elegant Tern and Sparrows.

The weather just picked up and it was so windy! So I left the top of the berm. I collected shells while my mom was keeping an eye. I told my mom to call me when there was strange behaviors.

Next week we are supposed to keep an eye out for Crows, Ravens who take eggs and stash them a lot at a time, and also Peregrine Falcon and Kestrels. We also should keep an eye on the gull and its nest.

This was one of the best experiences I had with Bird watching! I'll keep writing updates on my other ternwatches.

P.S: i brought my own binoculars instead of using theirs
P.P.S: How many times have I used the word terns in this post?
P.P.P.S: Think of the title and let me know your comments

The "THE JUNGLE" jungle lodge - Ecuador!

Day 0:

TeleferiQo cable car

                 We woke up and got ready and left for LAX airport. After some time we boarded. We are now on the plane to Houston, Texas and then we will take a flight to Quito ("Kie Thoe"), Ecuador. From Quito we are going to the Amazon rainforest by stopping in Coca! We will: canoe, do our thing, meet tribes, hike and more!

Day 1: (Reached Ecuador)

              We are staying in Holiday Inn Express at Quito. We ate breakfast after we got ready. I ate a "cheese inside bread" sandwich. I had great (really sour) orange juice. FRESH SQUEEZED!!! Then we went on a tour.We saw church, after church, after church in old town Quito. There is also a modern Quito. We saw a Bishop bless people (The town had graffiti everywhere, there were cobblestone roads and the buildings looked old), We then went to trams TeleferiQo.  We had a ride, lunch on the top, and another ride down.

Walking on the equator

I GOT MY HIGHEST SCORE IN FRUIT NINJA WHEN WAITING IN LINE TO GO TO THE TOP AND MOM COULD NOT BEAT IT!!!!!From TeleferiQo, we went to Equator Museum and did experiments. I stood on the Equator. Then we went to a tribal kitchen and saw...REALLY REALLY CUTE GUINEA PIGS!!! They are my favorite animals now.


My parents (at the hotel) were super hungry (so was I). So we decided to eat in "Spaghetti" restaurant. Mom thought they could get the food delivered. Dad thought we could go by taxi. In the morning I actually spotted "Spaghetti" right next to our hotel. So i interfered and led my parents (hungry ones at that) to Spaghetti! Mom/Dad thought I saved the day! Oh, we ate icecream, I played in the park and went to bed.

Day 2:

     

     We started at the hotel and ate breakfast. Then we left for the airport and left for Coca by Aerogal aeroplane.  Scary flight with too many dips and turns. My ears hurt and got clogged in the end. They got better at Coca airport. We went to a boat dock and...SAW A SQUIRREL MONKEY!!!!! I then took a 2 hour boat ride and hiked and took a canoe. In the boat we had a burrito, vegan cake and juice for lunch. We, after all that reached La Selva Jungle Lodge or The "The Jungle" Jungle lodge. We found out our room had a tub and a hammock!!

Our Suite

Then we had an evening activity (canoeing around and looking for birds). We found a kingfisher, ani, anhinga, hoatzin (stinky turkey), and lesser kiskadee. We even found a howler monkey and a spider skin. Then we had a 4 course dinner with mousse. After that, sleep.

Day 3:

                I first ate pancakes for breakfast and then we hiked to a butterfly farm where we saw caterpillars and .... butterflies!!! A tiger butterfly landed on me!! It was creepy! Oh, and ... I COULDN'T GET IT OFF OF ME!!!!!

Caught in a storm in the lake!

After we got it off, I went back to the caterpillars. Then we took a walk. We saw a tamarin monkey, a screech owl and more. When we came back, my dad and I went eco-fishing where we let the fish go after we catch it. We didn't catch anything. It was so fun. Then we went on a boat ride (evening), and saw a PYGMY MARMOSET MONKEY!!!!!!!! Then when we went exploring, we had turned back because it was pouring rain. We got dinner at the lodge and then comfortable sleep time.

Day 4:

Caught a Piranha!

                 First we ate breakfast and then walked to the watchtower. We saw a falcon, a kite and more. Then we took a hike. We saw some more tamarin monkeys, heard oropendula and more.Then we came back and ate lunch. We went on a boat ride and saw hoatzins in a nest, and a swimming anhinga. Then we took a night walk and saw a scary tarantula, glass frog and a cute mouse opossum. Then we came back, ate dinner and went to bed.

Oh! I forgot to mention, we caught a piranha during fishing! we let the fish go after that.

Day 5:

               Today is DAD's BIRTHDAY! I planned a birthday cake surprise! I worked with Patty our guide. The activities(for dad) was a birthday treasure hunt, I made. Then we ate breakfast and left for our first nature activity. We went to the Napo river by hiking and canoeing. Then we took a boat ride to clay licks. Parrots come there to lick clay. Bunch of parrots came. More came to the top (canopy) like always. They were slowly coming to the lick and making sure it is safe. Then one by one parrots started licking. Soon hundreds were there. Then we left the clay licks and we went to a community (tribe).
We visited part of the Sani community. We walked around, saw a school and its kids, saw a Yucca plant, bananas, palm, and sugarcane (we got to see them harvesting Yucca). After all that, we bought souvenirs and ate "lunch". Then I made chocolate. We took it back to the lodge. After, we ate lunch as in lunch, lunch. Then we tried fishing. No luck but lots of tugs. Then on a boat we went and saw two pygmy marmoset monkeys! Then we took a night boat ride and saw a frog.

We went back for dinner. I brought the chocolate. I gave it to the kitchen and wrote my dad's name down. Soon the whole cake came in and everyone sang "Happy Birthday". It was his first birthday cake EVER!!! He was embarrassed! Then we went to bed.

Day 6 (Saddest day of my life - almost - in 2014):

We went back to Coca the way we came to La Selva (See Day 2). Then we took a plane to Quito airport. Flight to Houston was 12 hours away. So we took a taxi...to...OTAVALO MARKET!!! I took a lot of pics, bought a painting, and a traditional Quechua community dress (costume). I did this with a lot of bargaining! Then we went back and went to the Quito "Airport Center". We got dinner there and ice cream and chocolates. Then we went back and took a flight to Houston, Texas.

Top favorite things:

• All animals (especially pygmy marmoset, hoatzins in the nest, call of the oropendula, Howler Monkeys)
• The company there
• The Hammock and Tub in my lodge room
• The guide (Patti)
• Catching the Piranha during fishing
• Fishing
• TeleferiQo tram
• Guinea pigs in Equator Museum
• The whole Otavalo market and costumes and things i bought
• Pancakes everyday
• All Desserts
• Planning the Birthday cake surprise for my dad

Butterfly landed on me!

Top Funny Things:

• Seeing my dad get embarrassed with his Birthday cake
• My friend Darcy saying "Stinky Turkey" (Another way to call Hoatzin) all the time
• The butterfly landing on me
• Leading my parents to Spaghetti restaurant
• My dad taking too many pictures of one thing

Top Curious Things:

• Graffiti everywhere in Quito
•  The Quito airport is actually outside Quito
• Waking up to the Howler Monkey Noise
• The Tarantula nest we saw on the night walk
• And that's it!

Saving the California Least Tern - In my view

I have learned about the California Least Tern and I want to share facts and what I did to save it.

The Audubon Society asked many people to volunteer to help the California Least Tern. My parents and I volunteered to help. We were meant to pull out a non-native plant called the Filaree from the Tern nesting grounds. They offered us gloves but I didn't want any because I wanted to get my hands dirty and I liked that feeling.  I did this in Mission Bay. I picked about at least 3 big buckets with my family. They needed help finding good plants within the Filaree. Good plants were Coastal Wooly and Lotus (which is all I remember).

The California Tern is endangered. They are ground nesters and that is why they have more predators. Their predators are hawks and you could say people. Tern eggs are sand colored. Predators could eat the eggs if they were exposed by the green Filaree. Another thing is, since the Filaree can grow so tall, the Terns won't be able to see their predators coming their way.

I felt really proud that I did my part (and I felt hungry). Every little bit counts!

Another thing I did at a different time was pull out trash (with gloves of course!). It was in a special location in Chula Vista at Sweetwater Marsh. There was a lot of water in the marsh and so I saw a bunch of coots, shorebirds, and while picking up trash, I saw two Royal Terns!!! I not only did this for the terns, but also for the Snowy Plover because the chicks run to the marsh on instinct. We picked out specifically plastic (also a bunch of thermocol) so that Terns and Plovers don't eat them and don't get stuck in them. The trash got here by people throwing trash into the water and the trash washes up on the shore because the tide comes in.

I learned a lot about the Tern.

I felt really glad that I did my part even though I stayed for only 1 hour for the trash pick up. Now I am waiting for the Terns to arrive, and then I will go Tern watching and I will tell you my results.

My Offer - A Poem

How may I brighten up your day?

Can I move trouble away?

Your blanket, may I lighten?

Your belt, may I tighten?

I have forgotten to ask!

May I fasten your mask?

May I set the table?

Call me when you're unable

To freshen your time makes me say "Yay!"

I've chosen to light up your day