Migrating Monarchs and Fiddler Crabs

Saint Marks, a wildlife refuge, serves as the last fueling station for the Monarch butterflies before they head to Mexico for the winter. It's just up the road from here. We packed our lunches, gathered our friends, and hoped we arrived at Saint Marks with the butterflies. The butterflies were dripping off the salt bushes, fluttering around us, and visiting with other butterflies landing for a snack.
The warm sunshine and cool breeze mingled together tempting alligators to sun in the long grasses, birds to visit the shallow waters for snacks, and fiddler crabs to scurry sideways in mass. 
Amelia recorded the birds and identified them all for us. Along with our crew, sweet friends Anna, Sarah, and Caleb followed the fiddler crab armies down the beach laughing, squealing, and delighting in their silly antics. 
They didn't want to leave. It was a remembering day. Dancing, digging, wading, walking, frolicking, collecting, sampling, squealing, hiding, observing, seeing, hearing, and testing. We came for the butterflies. And they were magnificent, but if you asked the children, that was just the icing on the cake.







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