BIRDS AT CELEBRATION LAKE ONE

[Reminder: click on the photo to enlarge]



Great egret and tri-colored heron

Osprey, just after picking up a fish

Limpkin.  Found only in Florida

White ibis (top), little blue heron (bottom), glossy ibis (right)

Glossy ibis.  Looks black from a distance, but more colorful up close.

Little blue heron (my favorite)

At town center, anhinga drying wings near a fisherman

2011 Thurs. Jan. 27

Lunch here, then we went to Celebration to Starbucks for coffee and scone. We walked around lake 1, then went to the library. For supper, went back to Celebration to Market Street Café, one of our favorites. Linda had a salad, I had mushroom soup, and we shared a chicken pot pie, because they are huge. It was all very good. The pot pie had lots of big chunks of chicken in it. We were surprised at how many people were walking around after dark on a cool night. We did a little packing, since we have to move tomorrow to Cypress Palms, which is just down the road about a mile closer to Celebration.


FL WEATHER: High 64, low 43, breezy, mostly sunny.


FL NEWS: Teacher merit pay: 'What a difference a year makes':
Crafting a teacher merit-pay bill for Florida this spring is "not going to be like last time," a key state lawmaker promised today. State Sen. Steve Wise, whose education committee will devise a bill to be considered by the Florida Legislature, said he does not want a repeat of last year's fierce fight. The committee chairman said that in tackling what was one of the most divisive issues of the legislature's 2010 session, his committee will devise a "thoughtful" bill that aims to boost teacher quality by changing how teachers are evaluated and paid. Friday, the committee is hosting a six-hour workshop in Tallahassee so the public can give testimony on the controversial topic. "What a difference a year makes. I want to thank you for the openness," said Andy Ford, president of the Florida Education Association, speaking at this morning's meeting. Last year, the Legislature adopted a sweeping merit-pay bill that would have scrapped traditional teacher pay plans in favor of a system that tied their compensation mostly to student performance on standardized tests. The statewide teachers union called the bill "radical legislation" and decried the way it was created. Former Gov. Charlie Crist, whose office was bombarded with letters and calls in opposition to Senate Bill 6, vetoed the legislation in April, calling it "significantly flawed" and complaining it had "sped through" the legislature with little time for input from educators. Florida won $700 million in the federal grant competition in part by agreeing to devise merit pay plans. But those plans give each district more leeway to set up their own systems and, while they must use data from student tests scores, they do not rely on them as heavily as was outlined in the vetoed bill.