Elnor Islands patience is to be admired. Decades of debris rest on her feet and still she smiles. Before Saturday’s clean up Elnor hoisted a spoonbill to the top of the roost to welcome the volunteers who endured the mud and muck on her shores to help make her shine. The circling osprey kept a watchful eye over the crew as did the brown pelican that swam just beyond the shore. We are committed to “Bringing Back the Birds” to Elnor and you can help.Nature is calling…can you hear it? It’s a magical sound that can’t be heard when swimming in the thoughts of every day life… it’s a sense. It can’t been seen in the news or on this laptop screen… it has to be experienced. It can’t be touched through the glass of a car or the window at home… it must be caressed with your feet and fondled with your hands. What is nature saying to you today, are you listening?

1. bob dowling Says:
   December 30th, 2008 at 10:28 pm

   Thanks Kurt and Family for your tireless efforts and dedication to the restoration of Clam Bayou and now Elnor Island and other locations around the tampa bay area.
   I felt your spirit today as my daughter Annie and I kayak fished the outback salt marshes where the Homosassa River empty’s into the Gulf of Mexico. Our guide took us to where he said “the wild life watches you instead of you watching the wildlife”. There we were observed by a curious bald eagle that circled above Annie a couple of times then landed at the top of a dead cabbage palm tree. He stayed with us about 20 minutes before moving on. As we pondered that encounter Annie spotted 3 dolphins in the 18 inches of water with the top 1/3 of their bodies exposed thrashing around a school of mullet. They cornered the mullet against a natural rock wall formation and began to feed with a great ruccus splashing water 15 feet up into the air, natures food chain operation in high gear!
   These magic moments occur daily along, which should be considered, our most treasured asset, the Gulf Coastal waters and estuarys of the West Coast of
   Florida. So, as I said, I thought of your spirit and all the many things you have done to re-establish the Clam Bayou to it’s full potential of the restoration of a natural eco-system that was almost destroyed by man’s storm water run off pollution and trash. All I can say is thank you! All I can do is to continue to volunteer on clean-ups and spread word of your great work. Sincerely, Bob Dowling