Definition - twitch - to seek out a rare bird based on a telephone or internet message (hotline) system.

We twitched successfully this cool and foggy morning in Apalachicola, Florida. A fellow birdbrain, no birder, reported a current sighting of a tropical kingbird at Water and I Streets on January 20. We saw the message on the 21st, but had other plans for yesterday. Chuck reviewed the literature and decided that while it was possible we might find this bird in south Texas, it was by no means certain. So, we decided to make the forty mile trek this morning. The weather forecast was poor. Fog, cloudy, and a chance of showers. We might as well be in the car, and the coastal road looked interesting.

When does a nemesis bird cease to be? When it is spotted! The red-cockaded woodpecker was a nemesis bird for Anne. Chuck had seen it as a youth. For the past five years we have increasingly tried to find this bird when we were within its range. We failed in N. and S. Carolina and south Florida. We were in luck last evening in the Apalachicola National Forest which supposedly has more of these birds than anyother place. Hurrah.

Of course once a nemisis bird is defeated it is no more. We found another pair this morning in the Ochlocknee State Park where we are staying.

We got our exercise this morning, first jogging, then hiking and birding all morning, and then paddling the lovely Wakula River this afternoon. This 75 million gallon per day stream is fed by a large spring and is clear and a constant 72 degrees F. We saw mostly the usual critters, osprey, egrets, alligators, and turtles. This morning's walk was more rewarding with, besides the woodpecker, a great horned owl and a group of pileated woodpeckers.

Mom and Dad Woods lead a family aquacize class. Bob, Cathy, MH, Kristy and Margaret take it easy while the rest of us do real work.