Titusville - We visit Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge

The few birds there were, were still beautiful

When they were looking for a site to launch satellites from, they wanted a launch over water so not to endanger populated areas. Launching to the east was a requirement since the rotation of the Earth in that direction added to the rocket's velocity and allowed bigger payloads. Cape Canaveral was the natural choice and they bought all the land nearby. However, they did not need all the land for launching rockets and thus was born the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge.

I think he's drying his feathers

Whenever we're in Titusville, we always take a drive through Blackpoint Wildlife Drive. It's through the heart of the stopover point of birds headed north or south. Of course, this time of the year, they are headed south and it's usually full of migrating birds, but not today. I think the weather has been so warm that the birds are still up north. Perhaps that will change over the next few weeks. We will try again next weekend.

The yellow flowers were all over

Meanwhile, I need to talk to the mechanic next door about once again replacing the aft oil seal on my Volvo D2-55 diesel. It seems to go every 2000 hours. That will occupy me this coming week as we get ready to leave Fleetwing for two months while we return to New York for the holidays.