Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island

 On our trip, we went to the Wildlife Refuge.  We started in the Education Center and go ourselves a giant squid plush.  There were models of animals that life in Florida on the Gulf Coast. For example, this is a picture of a model of a manatee which lives everywhere around southern Florida.  

This is a photo of an osprey.  They live along the East Coast. He was in the mangrove forest so he could find fish.  He was very far away on a dead tree.

This is a cormorant, a type sea bird that hunts fish and swims like a pro.

I spotted a horseshoe crab.  This one was small.  Did you know that they were around when the dinosaurs lived?  They are very common in New Jersey, too!

This is a type of crab known as a mangrove tree crab.  This little guy goes into the trees to hide from bird predators.  

This is a periwinkle snail.  He likes to hang out in the trees.  He is not like a ground snail.  He is very, very small.

Remember the picture we showed you earlier?  This is a better picture. This osprey is flying so it is easier to sea.  We know it is a raptor because of its hooked beak, sharp claws, and how it uses its wings to soar more than flap.

I spotted a Little Blue Heron.  You can tell it is a little blue heron because it is little and blue.  Blue is one of my personal favorite colors.

After the wildlife refuge, we decided to go to McDonald's and Target.  We got Minecraft stuff and took it with us for a walk on the fishing pier at Time Square.  

Here you can see how big the giant squid is.  You can see the wolf, the sheep, the chest with a chicken inside, and ocelot, and Steve with a wooden sword.

This is a brown pelican.  They are related to the white pelican.  They use their big beak to scoop up ginormous schools of fish.  They are one of the biggest seabirds in the world.