Morning River Otter Visit!

My husband and I were looking at the pics from the last 24 hours of the wildlife cam this morning.  The last photos on the cam, just before he pulled the memory card, were of a river otter.  We were looking at the photos and my husband looked out the window and saw the otter walking along the street in front of our house.  I ran downstairs, grabbed my camera, and went outside in my pajamas!  I managed to get a few pics after she crossed the street and before she went into the woods.  The otter appears to be a nursing mama otter.  You can see the wildlife cam pics by clicking on the Wildlife Cam tab above.

They have such a distinctive run!

Memorial Day Weekend!

Beautiful blue skies and high temps ushered in Memorial Day weekend on Sanibel Island this year.  Remembering all those who have served this great country, especially those who have given their lives.

We started out the morning with a visit from a small gator in the lake behind our home.  My husband saw two gators and came to tell me to bring the camera.  But, this guy was the only one that hung around for a photo op. 

I believe this is one of the young osprey that has flown the nest.  His eyes appear to still be a little orange.

The next two photos captured a cloud of some sort of insect.  I have no idea what they were, but the sun hit them just right to capture the photo.  It was sort of mesmerizing watching them swirl around. 

We took a nice long walk on the beach this morning.  I'm sure it became much more crowded as the day went on, but it was nice and quiet for our walk.  The water was beautiful and we found lots of live shells and also several without critters in them to bring home!

This pen shell had a sponge attached to it.  I thought it was interesting!

I almost always come home from the beach with at least one bird pic!  This Snowy Egret was fishing in the shade of a big tree at the water's edge.

I love the blues and greens of the water.

Sunday morning walk on the beach!

It was a beautiful morning for a walk on the beach.  We saw a few birds and got a look at the beach erosion which has gotten surprisingly worse recently.  I have a photo from today and from a year ago to compare.

This Yellow-Crowned Night Heron surprised me when he flew by!

There's almost always an opportunity to get an Osprey photo at the beach since they are usually out fishing!

Bad hair days are the worst, right?

Almost didn't see this little guy.  He was all covered in sand.

I've never seen the drop from the erosion be quite this steep during my time on Sanibel!

The first photo below was today.  The next photo was about a year ago when our grandson was visiting.  Taken in almost the same spot, the difference is striking!

And then back to where we left our shoes and beach bag to see a crow rummaging for shiny objects!

Backyard Zoo!

It has been a beautiful Saturday on Sanibel Island with low humidity and a nice cool breeze!  It's a welcome respite after several unusually hot and humid days for this time of year!  I didn't even have to leave my yard to get photos today.  Well, I did go up on my next door neighbor's deck to get a little closer to the Osprey nest.

The babies are not so little any more!  Two of them were looking over the side (orange eyes) and one of the adults was in the nest (yellow eyes on the right).

This is probably the biggest Yellow Rat Snake we've seen in our yard.  He looked about 4 or 5 feet long.

Snakes are best when moving "away" from me!!

This juvenile Yellow-Crowned Night Heron landed right in front of us for a photo op!

A female Anhinga was grooming herself on a branch over the water.  I love the turquoise eyes!

The long neck gives them the nickname of Snakebird.  In the water, they look like a snake as they swim around looking for fish.

Our Frangipani trees are in full bloom.  I love the sweet smell they have.  So pretty against the blue skies today!