CELEBRATION LAKE 1 AND LAKE CECILE AT STAR ISLAND

Racoon at edge of woods eating some of the millions of live oak tree acorns

 Anhinga drying its wings

The Sandhill Cranes are now nesting at the same place on Lake Cecile at Star Island.  Couldn't get mom to wake up enough for a picture. We took Ken and Nancy to see the area, and we walked down to the lake.

Dad is watching, while mom is on the nest.

2011 Tues.-Wed. Feb.1, 2
Tues. - Ken and Nancy came this afternoon. Sat around and talked, took a walk around the resort, supper here.
Wed. - Went to Celebration for morning break and (you guessed it) Starbucks for coffee and a treat. The Esgars joined us today! Then we walked around lake 2, followed by lunch at the Irish pub in Celebration, Shannon’s. After lunch we went to Disney’s Boardwalk, walked around, took the boat ride, and had ice cream at the Beach Club resort. Home for supper. Everyone is very tired from so much walking today.

FL WEATHER: Wed. Feb. 2 - High 83, low 65, very cloudy all day, but no rain.

FL NEWS: Killer whale trainers won't be in water for new SeaWorld show:
[Last year I posted several stories about the trainer who was drowned by a killer whale she was training.]
A new killer-whale show that SeaWorld Parks Entertainment will open this spring in its three U.S. marine parks will not include any in-water interaction between trainers and whales. Plans for the new show have been deeply influenced by the Feb. 24, 2010, death of SeaWorld Orlando trainer Dawn Brancheau, who was battered and drowned by a company killer whale, and by the months-long safety review that has followed the tragedy. The most significant adjustment: The new show has been designed for trainers to work exclusively from the stage, instead of in the water with the killer whales. SeaWorld hasn't let its trainers swim with the animals since Brancheau's death. It has said it will reinstitute such "water work" only if it can make sufficient safety improvements. "We are now staying out of the water. We don't know when or how that's going to change. So we said, 'Let's design this one to facilitate that and go in that direction,' " said Julie Scardina, SeaWorld Parks' curator of animal training. "One Ocean" will also have a more explicit conservation theme than "Believe" did, with images and messages that "revolve around the ocean, the environment, what people can do to make a difference," Scardina said. She said the new show will emphasize the individual personalities of each of the roughly two-dozen killer whales in SeaWorld's corporate collection. During the show, for instance, trainers will have some guests interact with the animals through the glass surrounding the show pool. Trainers will also have more latitude about what behaviors to use than they did during the tightly choreographed "Believe." "With the last show, we probably focused a little bit more on the fact that these are amazing performers. Now, we want to introduce them to the audience," Scardina said. "We want to bring them [guests] down to the glass and get close, and let people see that the older whales actually do teach the younger whales, that when they interact together they have fun." The new themes have been crafted following months of heavy criticism from animal-rights activists who say marine parks provide no genuine educational benefit and that keeping the world's largest marine predator in captivity is inhumane. Critics contend that Brancheau's death — and a similar death in December 2009 of an orca trainer at a Canary Islands marine park — were the result of killer whales enduring extreme stress in captive environments, a conclusion that SeaWorld vehemently disputes.