|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
COVID-19 Refuge Status
During the closing of Refuge and DDWS offices, staff are all working remotely and staying employed. To reach DDWS staff, phone 239-472-1100 ext. 232 - or
email. Although the Refuge Nature Store has closed, the
store's e-commerce site is offering a limited stock for shipment anywhere in the U.S. Check daily as the store staff add more items daily.
Keep updated on developments on our
COVID-19 web page. In the meantime, we urge you to #StayHome as much as possible and maintain social distance when you must go out.
|
Keep an Eye on Nature
Visit our
Wildlife Web Cams page to get an eyeful of nature during pandemic quarantining. We are adding new links every week. Watch eagle parents, ospreys, waterfowl, peregrine falcon eggs, and wild scenery across the nation to get your daily prescription of nature watching.
Speaking of nature prescriptions, the
Frontiers of Psychology website
, which deals in environmental psychology, prescribes a "nature pill" of 20 to 30 minutes a day outdoors to reduce symptoms of stress, including high blood pressure, heart rate, and stress hormone levels.
|
|
Support Your Local Food Bank
In these uncertain, lean times, many millions of people have lost their jobs and need support. Please consider supporting your local food banks.
Locally, see the links below for Sanibel and Ft. Myers, all of whom are accepting donations.
Check out
Feeding America to find out the food bank of a network of 200 closest to you.
|
|
Don't Forget Our Discover Ding App
If you're out exploring Wildlife Drive, remember to download our free
Discover Ding app to play the game while in your car or social-distancing outside. Share your sightings and keep socially connected with others. Also, remember to wash your hands before and after using Refuge facilities, wear a mask, and stay home if you're not feeling well.
|
|
|
We've Missed You!
Click on the
link
to enjoy a little video we put together to say hello and let you know we miss you. Roll it! (You know we're all about the bathroom humor.)
|
|
#DingatHome
A Different Kind of Mask
To keep kids engaged and learning during their stays at home, the "Ding" Education Team is constantly adding more activities, games, and crafts to our
#DingatHome page. With all the talk about wearing masks, we have designed some fun ones you can make at home, such as this Bobcat mask and a Florida Manatee mask.
Find templates for the masks you can color, cut out, and wear.
Or make a River Otter puppet, color an underwater beach scene, and work on the Snowy Plovers Activity Book, now that the birds are nesting on Sanibel beaches. Watch in coming weeks for new activities, including some of the
Earth Day Challenge activities
we added yesterday.
#DingatHome Fan
|
|
 |
|
Eli Gibbons of Illinois shows off some of his completed #DingatHome projects.
|
|
Last week, we received a thank-you note from Sandy Gibbons, who expressed gratitude for our
#DingatHome
projects. She wrote: "My son is super excited to show off some of the projects he's completed from your weekday sessions. My son is 5 and rarely sits still for long, but he loves your projects. He colored every page of the osprey coloring book. I couldn't believe it. In the picture he's wearing his manatee mask (and shirt), and displaying his gopher tortoise, osprey, snake, and wildlife drive worksheets."
A big thanks to the Gibbonses for sharing their happy news with us!
Every weekday at 10 a.m., the Education Team posts a new
Facebook video that takes visitors virtually on a nature adventure. Every day has a different theme, and on Tuesdays it's Tales on Tuesday. Watch
last week's video about Mollusks. Download the
mollusk activity sheet to reinforce the book that Ranger Toni Westland reads.
|
|
|
| Click the photo above to see a Brown Pelican at the Perry Tract featured on #DailyDoseofDing. |
|
The DDWS staff has been busy bringing the healing sunshine and beauty of the Refuge to the public through 30-second social media videos. Follow on
Facebook
t
o see our archive of #DailyDoseofDing, brief virtual visits to the Refuge for those who can't make it.
|
Support Those Who Support Us
The island business community needs us now, more than ever. We will be highlighting three local businesses each week that have provided support for conservation efforts at the Refuge through the years. They invested in the community and the Refuge, and we hope the community will do what they can to help them.
Over Easy Cafe' (OEC): Over Easy Café feeds the island like family. Owners Trasi Sharp and Liza Clouse live on Sanibel Island, where residents have become their extended family. During this challenging time, OEC is open daily 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. for curbside carry-out. It is offering 50% off to service industry workers. Place orders by phone (239-472-2625) or in person (630 Tarpon Bay Rd.). Full breakfast and lunch menus are available; check them out at overeasycafesanibel.com.
Seashells.com: Everybody's favorite little Sanibel shell shop is closed during lockdown, but its e-commerce website is fully stocked with seashells and craft supplies to pick up or have shipped. Need a new hobby while self-isolating? Have a look at the craft kits and supplies online. Owned and operated by a Sanibel family - one of whom volunteers for the Refuge's Monofilament Busters team - Seashells.com is happy to answer any of your shell questions by email.
Sanibel Bean: A household name for Sanibel Island, "The Bean," as it's affectionately known, is currently taking to-go orders for breakfast by phone (239-395-1919) or in person (1975 Periwinkle Way) daily from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Famous for its hot and iced coffees, it is also offering its full breakfast menu of food (no lunch at this time), which you can savor at sanibelbean.com. |
|
Just Added: Luxury Sun Scarf & Face Covering
The Nature Store has secured a limited quantity of luxury face and neck coverings and wanted to let our "Ding" family be the first to know. They are perfect for protection from the sun and being out in public. Wearable in multiple different ways, including as a face covering, the super soft and chic "buffs" come in three colors. They are available now on ShopDingDarling.com, but hurry, they're already going fast.
Binocs + Free Birding Guide
For a limited time only, receive a free copy of
The Stokes Essential Pocket Guide to the Birds of North America, a $15.00 value, with your purchase of Vortex Diamondback HD 8 x 32 Binoculars from the ShopDingDarling.com online store.
Let us help you put together the perfect care package, birthday, anniversary or just-because gift. Upon your request we can gift wrap and include a handwritten message of your choosing, simply specify the occasion and your message in notes when checking out online. Don't see what you're looking for online? Let one of our store managers assist you via
email. We appreciate your patience as we work remotely.
Remember, profits from all Nature Store sales go directly to the Refuge for educational programs and wildlife research.
|
Tarpon Tourney
In the meantime, we thank all of our
generous sponsors, who stand ready with their support and good faith.
|
|
GOING GREEN
Keep Kicking the Bottle
Pandemic and quarantine are not good excuses to revert to buying individually bottled water. Look into filtration systems for your water at home or dispensing coolers for big jugs of water that are used over and over again.
|
'America's Best-Kept Secret'
In each issue of "Ding" on the Wing, we showcase one of the more than 560 refuges across the U.S.A.
|
|
|
White-tailed Deer |
Location: 15,572 acres; 20 miles north of Yazoo City, Mississippi
Totemic Flora & Fauna: White-tailed Deer, Roseate Spoonbill
Visitor's Tips: Be sure to include the Alligator Slough boardwalk on your to-do list for beautiful views and opportunities to observe and photograph wildlife.
|
|
|
| Images courtesy of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service |
|
|
|
|
Roseate Spoonbills |
|
|
|
Photo credit: Rebecca Clemens
a Great Egret "inspecting the troops" |
|
Click
HERE to see this week's wildlife sightings.
|
|
|
| Photo credit: Eric Orkin |
|
Great Blue Herons certainly know how to strike a pose for the camera! What looks like "windswept hair" on their chest is actually a specialized group of feathers that continually grow and fray. The herons comb this "powder down" with a fringed claw on their middle toe, using the down like a washcloth to remove fish slime and other oils from their feathers as they preen.
T
o see more wildlife photos click on our social media links:
If you have taken any beautiful, interesting, or just plain goofy photos at the Refuge, send them to Development Officer
Sierra Hoisington
, for a chance to be featured in upcoming newsletters.
|
Endangered Species Day at the Refuge
- May 15, 2020
75th Anniversary Island "Spoonie" Island Scavenger Hunt Kick-off - June 1, 2020
"Ding" Grand Marshal in Fourth of July Parade - July 4, 2020
Clyde Butcher Book-Signing
-
August TBA
75th Anniversary "Ding:" The Man, The Art, The Stories Exhibition Opening
- October 20, 2020
75th Anniversary Proclamation at City Hall - November 3, 2020
Holiday Shopping Night - November 30, 2020
Official 75th
Anniversary Celebration
- December 1, 2020
Volunteer Training
- January 14, 2021
2021 Annual Fundraiser - February 10, 2021
Niki Butcher Photographic Exhibition - November 2021
|
These are just snapshots of some of the things taking place at your Wildlife Refuge. Please check our
website to learn more!
Sincerely,
"Ding" On The Wing composed by Chelle Koster Walton. Designed by April Arthur & April Boehnen.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
