Lots of fun everywhere on the 4th of July

It doesn’t matter where you are, the Fourth of July will be celebrated near you in Walton County. The fun kicks off early with parades, then continues with barbecue cook-offs, music, water slides, pony rides, mullet toss competition, Air Force fly-overs and fireworks. Check out some of the places with water fun, it’s gonna be a firecracker out there!

Independence Day celebrations

Freeport

Freeport 4th of July Festival – Freeport Regional Sports Complex

10:00 a.m. – Parade begins at the Freeport Middle School, winds it’s way through town down East Bay Loop and on to the Sports Complex Read More…

Posted under Beaches, Outdoor Family Fun, Parks

Learn about the hunters in the sky

Tuesday, June 30 at 6 p.m.

Come and join an exciting indoor interpretive on the birds that deserve respect.  Learn about owls, ospreys, hawks, and more interesting hunters in the sky.

Park at the Day-Use area off Hwy 30A and take a short walk to the clubhouse.  A $2.00 park entrance fee is required.  Park at the Day-Use area off Hwy 30A.
For more information about Topsail Hill Preserve, go to www.floridastateparks.org/topsailhill
Outside tours canceled during severe weather. Call 267-0299 for more information.

Posted under Birding, Nature, Outdoor Family Fun, Parks

Joe Wyat prepares for release of hawk

Story and photos courtesy Crystal Bay Development

When a family accidentally struck a young Broadwing Hawk on CR6 near Freeport on July 17, they immediately rushed the injured bird to Lisa Miller at the Wildlife Rehabilitators Partnership of Northwest Florida in Niceville.  Miller x-rayed the Hawk and found it had a fracture in a bone that corresponds to the forearm in humans.

Miller called in veterinarian Lydia Staggs of Bayside Animal Hospital in Racetrack Road, Fort Walton Beach.  Staggs, who also works Gulf World and at the Emergency Veterinary Hospital in Niceville, operated on the Hawk and saved it’s flight abilities.  Staggs, a resident of Hammock Bay, treated the Hawk pro bono.

Miller, worked with Joe Wyatt, Hammock Bay’s resident naturalist to rehabilitate the bird until it was ready for release.

“It left its travel cage easily and immediately flew off strongly into the local woodland,”  Wyatt commented.

Posted under Nature, Trails/Hiking