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Michael T. Barrett
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Mar
6
Another Day With The Eagles
Category: Birding, Life | Leave a Comment | 163 words | Print
Okay, so I didn’t get much done yesterday or today. I cracked a toe on my right foot (that darned footstool jumped out in front of me, really it did), and I didn’t feel like walking all over the backyard today, so we met some of the guys from our local camera club and went to West Point to make photos of the Bald Eagles.
The young one was learning how to model,
and the parent was looking for lunch.
We saw many other birds, including this Great Blue Heron who was learning to dance.
The Double Crested Cormorant offered us some lunch,
and after our siesta,
We hit the road and started the drive back home, but we didn’t get too far before we felt like we were being watched.
we made it home just before dark, thankful to have spent such a fun day with the guys enjoying some of God’s most magnificent creations. I hope you had a good day too!
Sphere: Related ContentFeb
26
Our Day At Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge
Category: Birding, Life | Leave a Comment | 1,034 words | Print
Yesterday was an incredible day.
Our middle son, who is 10, finished reading the entire Harry Potter series of books and as a reward for his dedication to reading, I offered him his choice of location for a day of birding. He chose the Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge.
We learned about Eufaula NWR from a friend of ours, Jim Enterkin, at a recent Sweetwater Camera Club meeting. Since the day he told us about all the birds he saw when he visited the refuge, the boys had been anxiously awaiting yesterday’s trip. It was only natural that we would invite Jim to make the trip with us, so he could see more birds too!
We departed at 6:00 in the morning and arrived for a quick stop at West Point Lake at 7:30 to see if we could spot a few Bald Eagles before continuing on to Eufaula. We were out of the truck no more than three minutes when Jim spotted one mature, and one immature Bald Eagle sitting in a tree. They called out to each other and then flew for a few minutes, landing in a tree directly across the river from us, making our stop a great start to a very incredible day. In fact, our photos show a second adult Bald Eagle sitting in the tree where they landed.
We were not in a good position to get ‘great’ photos, but it was an awesome sight. What a great start to an incredible day! After a quick bathroom break, in heated bathrooms nonetheless, we continued on to the wildlife refuge.
We were 10 minutes out from the refuge headquarters when we spotted another Bald Eagle flying over some water. Moments later, we arrived at the refuge headquarters to learn what birds had been sighted in the area. The ranger told us about other wildlife in the area, but the sighting of the Bald Eagle only pumped us all up for the adventure we were just beginning, so we didn’t pay much attention to the “other wildlife” part.
It didn’t take long to spot Eastern Bluebirds, American Robins, American Crows, Chipping Sparrows, a Purple Martin, an Eastern Phoebe, Northern Mockingbirds, Common Grackles, and a few Palm Warblers.
At the first pond we were able to view a solitary Canvasback, half a dozen killdeer, a dozen Ringnecked Ducks, and five Buffleheads. While we were observing the ducks, our youngest spotted something flying above the grass trying to stir something up. It turned out to be a Northern Harrier trying to rustle up some grub.
We spotted a total of six Northern Harriers in the area, along with a Red-Shouldered Hawk and a couple Red-Tailed Hawks. As we were observing two Northern Harrier’s in a tree, we had a couple little friends who kept popping up around the truck.
A total of five Yellow-Rumped Warbler’s were hanging out with us at that point in the wildlife refuge.
The roads were all dry and clear, but the “summer” routes were not open and won’t be opened until March 1st, so we were “forced” to walk part of the road in the Houston Unit. Jim told us that they had seen dozens of Great Egrets when he was at the same location just a few months ago, and just steps down the road, the egrets began to fly.
And boy, did they fly! We saw a total of 26 Great Egrets along with three Anhinga, 15 Great Blue Herons, numerous Northern Shovelers, Double-Crested Cormorants, hundreds of American Coots, several Common Moorhens, and quite a few Pied-Billed Grebes.
At one point a couple of Osprey decided to check us out as we walked back along the road. I love how they hover when they check out the water for their next meal.
The Osprey wasn’t the only bird that flew close to see what we were doing on their turf.
After visiting the Houston Unit, we decided to eat lunch in Eufaula, Alabama, and then venture over to the Bradley Unit on the Georgia side of the refuge.
We saw more Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Ring-Necked Ducks, Bufflehead, Wood Ducks, American Coots, and Common Moorhens.
Just moments after snapping this shot, we heard something rustling on the shore next to the road. We glanced down in time to see a 5.5-6 foot alligator go running into the water. It was 15 feet away from us. That’s when we remembered the “other wildlife” part of what the ranger had to say. She mentioned some rather large alligators sunning themselves on the banks of the water and on the side of the roadways.
As we walked back toward the truck, we joked with each other about not slowing down. None of us wanted to be the guy in back, in case that gator decided to give chase.
As I said when I started this post, it was an incredible day. I added five new birds to my life list, the boys added 6 to theirs, and we all had a great time, even after we took this final photo at the refuge.
Notice the “visitor” in the foreground of the photo. Do Great Blue Herons not see bumpy backed alligators if they hide their heads under some vegetation? Even though that gator was quite far away from us, it was large enough to make us rethink sticking around any longer. None of us were interested in tempting fate and becoming a dinner item at the Bradley Unit that day.
We still had a few hours to spare, so we drove down to the Walter F. George reservoir dam, but didn’t see too much while we were there except some deer, a lot of Ring Billed Gulls, Double Crested Cormorants, and a few barking Great Blue Herons.
It took us a little over three hours to get home and call an end to one of the best birding days any of us had seen in a long, long, time.
Of course, now that we’re all rested, we’re ready to head down there again. Soon. Very soon.
Sphere: Related ContentFeb
1
We took a quick ride over to Richards Lake in Carrollton yesterday to see what we could find in the water.
It turns out there was more there than we thought there might be. We spotted 18 different species of birds, one of which was the Ross’s Goose.
We also saw a couple Common Mergansers, but after a return trip today to confirm that sighting, we were unable to relocate them. When we spotted them on the lake they were ovre by the dam, and we were sitting in the truck on the road. The sun was reflecting off the water, and we could not get a verifiable photograph, although we did enjoy the view for several moments with the binoculars (until a car pulled up and quickly reminded me we were on the road).
On our return trip today we were greeted by a well-meaning but gruff security guard who actually tried to imply that the road crossing the lake (on which we were standing) was private property. Rather than get into a nasty argument with the guy, we left. We’ll head back over there in the next couple days to see if the Common Mergansers show up again.
While some birds avoid people at all costs, some, like that Great Blue Heron, were oblivious to our being there. We watched him for several minutes before we realized he was not a statue.
All in all, it was another great weekend. Now if I could just kick this headache that started tonight.
Sphere: Related ContentJan
30
Just a quick note to let you all know I am taking the day to relax and unwind. After the events of this past week, I really need to take a day to decompress, get my bearings, and charge my batteries. Literally.
As most of you who frequent my site already know, I enjoy keeping track of our elected officials and writing about politics is one of my favorite things to do. But you might not know that I have two other passions. Photography and birding. I know I have mentioned a birding trip here and there, and I have posted a few photographs when we’ve seen some bird that’s really cool.
So, it should come as no suprise that I have added a birding category to the site, as well as a few really good birding links. All of you people who follow my political rants will have to put up with a few birding posts from time to time, and you birders will have to deal with those political rants in-between all of my birding stories.
Okay, that’s it for tonight, except… What the heck is that bird sitting on the bouy?
Click on the image to enlarge it. I can’t figure out if it’s a Double Crested Cormorant with weird white coloring or some other bird. Okay, so my newbie-ness of birding is showing, but I don’t care. I can’t learn if I don’t ask questions, now help me out. What is it?
Sphere: Related ContentJan
29
A Visiting Angel From Way Up North
Category: Birding, Life | 10 Comments | 2,044 words | Print
On Monday, January 25th, just after 1pm, a gentleman from Columbus, Georgia spotted a possible Ivory Gull on the water at West Point Lake, in Troup County, Georgia. After hearing of his report, several birders were able to get to the lake in time to positively identify the bird before the sun went down.
Being relatively new to birding, I didn’t really understand the significance of this find until later the next evening. As I sat at my desk on Tuesday, I read update after update about the Ivory Gull from several different people, so I decided to see what all the hubbub was about. A few quick searches on the Internet made it clear why everyone and their brother was excited about seeing this bird, and rushing to get a glimpse of it, especially here in Georgia.
From Wikipedia:
The Ivory Gull Pagophila eburnea is a small gull, the only species in its genus. It breeds in the high arctic and has a circumpolar distribution through Greenland, northernmost North America, and Eurasia.
It migrates only short distances south in autumn, most of the population wintering in northern latitudes at the edge of the pack ice, although some birds reach more temperate areas.
From Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology:
A small white gull of the high Arctic, the Ivory Gull only rarely comes south of the Bering Sea or the Maritime Provinces. In fact, it rarely is found away from pack ice, spending the winter on the ice north of Newfoundland.
From the Audubon Society:
Ivory Gull counts in the Canadian Arctic have recorded losses of 80% over the last 20 years, and 13 breeding colonies have vanished. Between 1979 and 2001, Canada considered it a “species of concern.” In 2006, the bird’s listing was escalated to “endangered.” Over the same period, BirdLife International, on behalf of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), reclassified the Ivory Gull from a “species of least concern” to “near threatened.” Reports from several Inuit communities corroborate these negative trends.
I suddenly understood the importance of this sighting and decided to make the trip to West Point Lake sometime on Wednesday. It was a once in a lifetime chance to see a rare bird and I wanted to make sure that the avid birders of the family (our three boys) got a chance to see this magnificent rare bird before it flew back home.
I worked longer than I had expected on Wednesday, but we were able to observe the bird for three hours before it got dark. When we arrived I thought we might have trouble spotting the bird, but the Ivory Gull stood out among all of the other gulls in the area.
We spent time on the West Point Dam speaking to more experienced birders who had been watching the bird before we arrived. While we watched the bird from the dam, the Ivory Gull would fly from the boom area in front of the dam, up and over the top of the dam, and then fly down river around the bend. Ten to fifteen minutes later the bird could be seen flying back upstream, over the dam, and back into the boom area. We had an awesome time that first day, and I got some of the best photographs of a bird I have ever taken.
Several out of town (and out of state) birders were planning on coming from all over the place to see the bird. Because of our experiences the day before I decided to take Thursday off as an “educational” day for the boys. I figured we could get down there as early as possible to see the gull again and maybe view some of the other birds in the area.
When we arrived on Thursday morning there were half a dozen people already observing the bird, which was then located on a small strip of beach at the west end of the dam. The boys were able to observe the Ivory Gull with the naked eye, as well as the Forster’s Tern, the Common Loon, and the Common Goldeneye thanks to those in the group with scopes that offered the kids a look.
We quickly learned that the Ivory Gull’s behavior had changed dramatically from the three days before. We arrived around 9:30am and the bird had not flown to feed, or for any other reason, since the first birders arrived at sunup. In observing the bird the day before, it would fly every 30 to 45 minutes, regularly.
The Ivory Gull would stand occasionally, spin around once, and sit back down on the beach. It seemed rather lethargic, but it was quite responsive when other birds flew too close or the occasional beaver swam by.
The bird followed this same behavior most of the day. The first time it flew, sometime around the 1 o’clock hour, it flew because a beaver swam too close. When it flew, it landed out in the water past the boom, and sat there floating in the water for a long time. A boat stirred up the Double Crested Cormorants hanging out on the boom and they spooked the Ivory Gull, which flew back to the shore just east of the beach it had previously been resting on.
It didn’t take long before it flew from the rocks back to the beach itself, where it sat for most of the remainder of the day.
Many of us theorized about why it was lounging on the beach. Ideas ranged from “it’s resting up for it’s big flight home” to “if you were suddenly sitting in temperatures 60 degrees warmer than you were used too, what would you be doing”. Many of us were baffled and quite concerned at the bird’s behavior. As the day dragged on, we became more concerned.
The fourth, and final time, it flew for the day was around 6pm when it was flushed by another photographer who approached too close. The Ivory Gull flew from the beach out into the lake and then up and over the dam. We walked back down to the dam to see if we could locate it again, and in the process spotted a Bald Eagle in a tree on the west side of the river.
We kept an eye out for the return of the Ivory Gull while we ventured down to see of we could get a photo or two of the Bald Eagle before we lost what light was left in the sky. We got some good photos of the Bald Eagle as it flew back down river, and just minutes after it disappeared, we spotted the Ivory Gull circling, soaring, and diving to the water with the other gulls.
This is the last photo I got of the Ivory Gull in flight. The quality is poor because of the low light, it was 6:20pm according to the time stamp on the camera. (My camera was off an hour so the time stamp actually shows 7:20).
Watching the bird attempting to feed with the other birds got us quite worked up. At the time, we figured it may have been the heat of the day that kept the poor thing beached, and since the temperature was cooling as the sun went down he was feeling better.
Circumstances in the home office made it possible for us to visit the bird again today, Friday, January 29th. We made the trek down to West Point Lake again this morning arriving at 9:30.
We checked the boom area by the dam, to no avail. We scanned the waters out farther but had no luck. We arrived at the beach it had been resting on the day before and it wasn’t there either. Just moments after arriving, a nice woman stopped to let us know it was around the bend across the small inlet from where we were standing.
As we looked up, we could see a small snow-white speck on the beach across from us. We high-tailed it back to the truck and drove around to the road where a lot of other people were parked.
As we walked up we were not prepared for what we found. We were shocked.
The Ivory Gull was clearly in distress, and we could see it had additional injuries, including a broken wing, that it did not have at 6pm yesterday.
We spoke to other birders and a park ranger at the scene to find out the bird had not flown since daybreak. It had taken to the water once for a few minutes but had otherwise stayed on shore all morning. At one point it looked as if it was praying, which brought a tear to our eyes.
We had only planned to stay until 1pm today, as there was a cold front and storms moving in, but we felt we had to be there to do what we could for the bird. Another birder went to the store and brought some raw chicken to the shoreline, hoping the bird would be interested in eating. It wasn’t. The Ivory Gull seemed disoriented and its breathing was quite labored. It was clear the bird did not have long to live if it didn’t receive aid of some kind.
The ranger was under the impression that some birders had called a rehabilitation expert, and the birders were under the impression that the ranger had done the same thing, so it turned out that no one had been contacted until much later in the day.
It was much gloomier and colder today which made it much more difficult to get good photos, although photos were the last thing on my mind. More importantly, it was more difficult to keep three young boys happy and warm. As the day grew longer the temperature continued to drop. After much consternation on our part, we spoke to the ranger who did an outstanding job making sure the bird would be taken care of, and then we began the trek home.
This is the last photo I took of the Ivory Gull before we left.
We were less than 30 minutes from home when I received a call from another member of Georgia Birders Online (GABO) who had arranged for an avian veterinarian to treat the bird if we could get it transported up to Atlanta.
I told her we would start heading back down to the lake in case no one else was close to the lake, so we could assist in transporting the bird up to Atlanta. I didn’t have any contact numbers for the ranger (or anyone else still down there) so she was going to make some calls to see if anyone else was down there who could transport the bird.
The Ivory Gull graced us with its presence and allowed us, and hundreds of others, to enjoy its beauty for several days. The least we could do is take a couple hours out of our day to help save its life.
Less than 30 miles back down the road we received another call letting us know that the ranger and another birder were in the process of transporting the bird to a rehabilitation expert.
With a sigh of relief, we turned around and finished our journey home. Our relief, however, quickly turned to sadness when we walked in the door and learned that the bird, the most beautiful and graceful looking bird I have ever seen, had died.
On the way home we passed a sign in front of a church that read,
God grants us blessings to be a blessing to others.
I truly believe we were granted a blessing in being able to witness this beautiful bird, and I hope this post has revealed what an impact this bird has made on me and my family. We will never forget the past three days, and I hope you won’t either.
While my heart is filled with sadness that the attempt to save the Ivory Gull failed, I thank God for allowing us to see this tiny creation of His, to enjoy its beauty, and to realize once again that all life is fragile and precious.
Sphere: Related ContentJan
23
How To Spend A Saturday In Georgia
Category: Birding, Life | Leave a Comment | 570 words | Print
Today was an awesome day!
Believe it or not we all went to bed early and we all got up early. We usually have a few stragglers each day, so it was quite a shock when we were ready to head out the door by 9:30 this morning.
We began by venturing over to the Newman Wetland Center in Clayton County. Although the interpretive center is closed on Saturdays this time of year, the trail is still open (and free) so we hit the trail. All 1/2 mile of it. We spent a good 45 minutes strolling through the wetlands and got some good photos. It was a bit cold so we walked back to the truck after the first round to warm up a bit, then we hit the trail a second time. Three-quarters of the way around we were greeted by more than 300 red-winged blackbirds.
After spending a few minutes greeting all 300 of our new friends we decided to head down the road to the E.L. Huie ponds to see if we could see any waterfowl (which were strangely absent from the wetland center today).
When we pulled in the first pond held nothing but water. As we ventured down the dirt road around the ponds we came to the second pond, which had three Pied-Billed Grebes. That was it. We were very disheartened, but figured we would just complete the loop around the ponds and then head back to our neck of the woods.
As we passed the second pond, we saw the third pond and it was filled with Ring-Necked Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, and a very hungry Great Blue Heron.
The next two ponds were far from disappointing as well. We saw Northern Shovelers, Northern Pintails, Buffleheads, Gadwalls, Green-Winged Teals, and much more. We saw so many birds it took us another hour and a half to get our fill.
We decided we are definitely heading back to Clayton County in the not too distant future, to see what else might be visiting their excellent wetland areas. In the meantime, it was getting close to time to head home, so we decided to venture back over to Sweetwater Creek State Park, our “home base”.
When we want to get out of the house and watch birds (or let them watch us) we head over to SWCSP. It didn’t take long to realize we were being watched.
It seemed colder at the state park than we thought it was going to be. The wind was blowing in from across the lake making it for a chilly time scouting the water for migrating birds, so we stopped by the visitor center, and then we decided to call it a day.
We stopped by Lake Paradise for a quick check and saw our first real sighting at the lake, which turned out to be a Great Blue Heron.
All in all, it was a great day. It would have been nice if the wind died down a bit and if the sun had peeked through the clouds from time to time, but we had a great time.We’re definitely keeping Clayton County on our preferred birding hotspot list.
Have a great night!
Everybody needs to feel like they’re somebody…There’s no such thing as an unimportant person.
There’s so such thing as a nobody.
Everybody is somebody in the eyes of God.– Dr. Charles Stanley
Dec
13
What an awesome end to an awesome weekend. I uploaded some photos to my flickr page when we got home, and realized I screwed up the upload, so hopefully these will re-upload before this posts.
As reported last night, the kids set their alarms for 8:00 am and sure enough we were all up and ready to go by 9:00 am. We got to the park just after 10:00 and didn’t have to look far before we saw our first bird.
Within the first ten minutes of our arrival, we saw three hawks (Red-Shouldered) and the Bald Eagle. The day couldn’t have started any better.
The Blue Herons were flying back and forth all day, and a few of them came up close to pay us a personal visit.
We saw Bufflehead, Pied-Billed Grebes, Lesser Scaups, Yellow-Shafted Northen Flickers, Red-Breasted Morgansers, and the Horned Grebe. The Horned Grebe spent a lot of time out on the lake calling someone. No one answered, except us, but he wasn’t listening to a word we said.
For the past three years, up until today, we have only seen one Wood Duck at the lake at any one time. Today, we saw two. They flew in together, but one of them was camera shy and turned tail and flew all the way back to the other side of the lake when he saw us.
The American Coots were everywhere. Forty-three of them to be exact, and they made their presence known. Everytime we approached the lake, they swam to shore and made a stampede to our location. We think someone’s been feeding them. Three weeks ago they wanted nothing to do with us.
It didn’t feel like it, but we spent more than 7 hours at the park today. While many of the birds put on a spectacular show,
Many of them were just being butts about the whole thing.
Most people looked out their window today and saw a dark, foggy, dreary day. That’s too bad. They had no idea what they missed.
Have a great night!
Sphere: Related ContentDec
12
I’m too tired to post much tonight.
We hustled today to get out the door by 11 so we could head over to Sweetwater Creek State Park to do some birdwatching. It was a miserable day by most standards. It was cold, it started raining, it was gloomy looking all day.
The boys were excited to get back over to the park, we’ve been away for more than three weeks, so it was nice to pull in by the bait shop and see the resident geese and ducks.
We we’re there long before the youngest saw something white fly into the trees across the lake. He’s eight years old and he spots more birds than the rest of us combined.
Anyway, here’s what we saw:
I know this post is probably a little bit repetitive for some of you. If you have connected with me on Facebook then you’ve seen them already, but for those of you who haven’t you can see them at flickr.
We’re not sure if this is the same eagle we saw in October, but it sure was beautiful (and a lot closer than the one in October).
Now, I need to get to bed. It’s almost midnight and there’s talk that I will driving them back over to the park around 9am. We’ll see about that. We’ll definitely be back over at the park tomorrow, I’m just not sure how early it’s really going to be. With my luck, it will be 9am.
Until then,
Sphere: Related ContentThere is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.
Carl Sandburg
Oct
11
We had so much fun yesterday, and we were so intrigued by the sighting of the Bald Eagle, that we returned to Sweetwater Creek State Park today to see if the eagle was still in the area.
When we arrived at the park, we set up our picnic blanket and tripods on a small hill overlooking the lake, directly across from where we last saw it.
It didn’t take long before we realized we were the ones being watched. Soaring high above us, was the bald eagle.
Here’s some information about the bald eagle from Wikipedia.
The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is a bird of prey found in North America that is most recognizable as the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle. Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States and northern Mexico. It is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting.
The Bald Eagle is a large bird, with a body length of 70–102 centimeters (28–40 in), a wingspan of up to 2.44 m (96 in), and a mass of 2.5–7 kilograms (5.5–15 lb); females are about 25 percent larger than males. The adult Bald Eagle has a brown body with a white head and tail, and bright yellow irises, taloned feet, and a hooked beak; juveniles are completely brown except for the yellow feet. Males and females are identical in plumage coloration. Its diet consists mainly of fish, but it is an opportunistic feeder. It hunts fish by swooping down and snatching the fish out of the water with its talons. It is sexually mature at four years or five years of age. In the wild, Bald Eagles can live up to thirty years, and often survive longer in captivity. The Bald Eagle builds the largest nest of any North American bird, up to 4 meters (13 ft) deep, 2.5 meters (8.2 ft) wide, and one tonne (1.1 tons) in weight.
The species was on the brink of extinction in the continental United States (while flourishing in much of Alaska and Canada) late in the 20th century, but now has a stable population and has been officially removed from the U.S. federal government’s list of endangered species. The Bald Eagle was officially reclassified from “Endangered” to “Threatened” on July 12, 1995 by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. On July 6, 1999, a proposal was initiated “To Remove the Bald Eagle in the Lower 48 States From the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife.” It was de-listed on June 28, 2007.
We spent seven hours at the park watching the Bald Eagle and other birds, like the Great Blue Heron, the Belted Kingfisher, and others. It was a great ending to a wonderful weekend. You can see more photos of this eagle in my photo gallery which is linked at the top of this page.
Tomorrow is D day, as in Dentist day, so my post might be a bit late.
Sphere: Related ContentOct
10
We spent the day today over at Sweetwater Creek State Park. As you no doubt know by now, because I have mentioned it before, the boys and I are avid photographers and birders.
We started our day at the annual Sweetwater Camera Club annual BBQ, which was held, ironically, at Picnic Shelter #2 at the state park, just across the main road from one of our favorite birding locations.
We took Gidget with us, so she could meet everyone from the camera club, and after the picnic/bbq we ventured over to our favorite spot. On a normal Saturday we would see osprey, great blue herons, kingfishers, cormorants, geese, ducks, and an occasional hawk. This was no ordinary Saturday.
Soon after arriving, we thought we had spotted an osprey diving across the lake, but when it didn’t hit the water in typical osprey fashion, we took a closer look, and soon realized we were watching something truly magnificent (not saying osprey are not magnificent too).
This is the first bald eagle we have seen at Sweetwater Creek State Park, and we settled in at a spot across the lake from where it was perching on a tree.
It would fly out from the tree, dive down to the water to grab something to eat, and then fly back up into the tree.
When we got home this evening, we phoned in our sighting of the eagle to the rare bird hotline. Overall, we spent about five hours at the park today and we’re already charging our batteries so we can go back tomorrow.