Close shave for Tropical Birding
With The Biggest Week in American Birding over we had a lie in this morning as the rain came down. After a late breakfast at our regular haunt of Dianna’s, where they bring hot tea with cold milk on the side even before we have sat down! We braved the wet and birded around Magee Marsh, exploring the Bird Centre that we had driven past everyday to reach the boardwalk. A nice building with displays and information about the wildlife and history of the area. Outside in the rain we had good views of Ruby-throated Hummingbird in the garden. We took a circular trail but the weather was not tempting many birds to show. Magnolia Warbler, American Redstart and Eastern Kingbird were the best of a short list. Cold and damp we headed for another favourite watering-hole at Blackberry Corners for hot chocolate and cakes – so good on a wet day.
We then headed back towards Port Clinton on highway two. As we passed the trailer camp where our friends from Tropical Birding are staying we noticed a plume of smoke and two fire-engines at the site. We joked “What have TB done now?”
Then we suddenly thought what if it was their trailer?! We did a quick “u” turn and tore back. We could not believe our eyes when we drove down to the guys' trailer, it was totally gutted by a horrendous fire! We shouted to the firemen to see if anyone had been hurt and thankfully no-one had been inside when the fire broke out. The guys were sheltering in a nearby trailer and we hurried over to see them. As you would expect they were in a state of shock and struggling to come to terms with the fire. Like us they had had a morning off from birding and gone to a nearby Amusement park to ride the roller coasters. Just as they had arrived they got a call to say their trailer was on fire. Of course all their belongings including passports, binoculars, cameras, and laptops, the whole lot had been destroyed. The fire-fighters could not pin-point the cause of the blaze yet and had sent for an investigation team to help decide the cause. A shocking thing to happen but at least no-one was injured, the speed at which the fire had spread and the total destruction that followed was frightening, thank god no-one was inside.