It's Been a While . . .

Be sure to check out the tab at the top called “Wild in Florida”. These photos below were taken on Sanibel Island in January. Time has flown by and we haven’t had a chance to get back to Ding since then. I’ve posted some photos on the Florida tab that I’ve taken mostly around our home, in the meantime.

That day in January was a particularly humid day, which makes the spider webs show up!

Don’t forget to click on the “Wild in Florida” tab above. Thank you for looking at my photos. Maybe it won’t be so long before I post again!

Foggy December Birds

I was surprised when I realized that my last posting of Sanibel birds was in August. Time goes by way too fast these days! I met a couple of friends at Ding this past Thursday morning. The fog was so thick that we could hardly see the birds near the edge of Wildlife Drive. The fog didn’t lift until almost noon. It makes for grainy photos, but still interesting. Our first glimpse of the water is below. It didn’t get much better than this all morning!

There was one lone Reddish Egret and then he was later joined by a few more birds.

I think these are Willets with the Reddish Egret, but I’m not sure.

Then, a male and female Hooded Merganser showed up. While there are lots of sightings of them, this was the first time I’d seen them at Ding.

The Hooded Merganser pair eventually came closer so that I could get a somewhat clearer photo. I could only get a good shot of the male’s face, though. They are cool looking birds.

At this time of year, we would normally see hundreds of white pelicans. I guess the one below was the only one to brave the fog that morning!

This Little Blue Heron below has just a tiny bit of his white morph left on his chest. We could barely see him through the fog. He blended in with the background. He stuck his head up and we saw him.

Then, over to Pond Apple Trail. The fog was only a bit less dense. There were lots of Wood Storks to photograph.

The young Wood Stork below seemed to be looking for his mother.

“How about you? Are you my Mother?”

“No, I am NOT your Mother!!”

“Oooh! Hey, Lady, are you my Mother?”

In one little area at Pond Apple, we found a juvenile Black-Crowned Night Heron, a juvenile Iguana, and a juvenile Alligator. We named it the nursery!

This young gator was about 18 to 24” long.

If you would like to see some more pics that were taken from our back yard over the past couple of months, please click on the Wild In Florida tab at the top of the page.

More Pink Birds

It’s been a while since I’ve posted photos and I’ve missed it so much! We had a chance to go through Ding this weekend, and as usual for a summer morning, we were treated to Roseate Spoonbills along with some other birds.

The reddish egret below looks like he is on a mission to find breakfast.

Success!!

The caption for the next photo would be, “Ok, all of you photographers can get ready, because we are heading out.”

But, this guy can’t go until he has a bath!

Seriously, Dude, it’ll take a lot of work to get all that off!

These two had a bit of a dust up, but it was short lived.

Working on it!

Ok. Heads up everyone. I’m your traffic director today. Be ready for takeoff when I point to you.

Me first . . . I’m outta here!

Meanwhile . . . still working on it

Still working it . . .

This belted kingfisher was also looking for breakfast. Notice the little white spot in front of the eye.

The belted kingfisher came in front of all the photographers and hovered, looking for fish in the water below. See the white dot that looks like the kingfisher’s eye? With the mohawk hairdo and those white spots, it gives the kingfisher a spooky look.

We made a quick stop to walk along the beach. It was a very hot and humid day with the clouds building up early.

Lots of turtle nests in a row!

Pink birds on a Sunday morning

Our Sunday morning drive through Ding found lots of roseate spoonbills getting ready to fly. It’s been a while since I’ve posted photos, so I’ll double up and catch up with a bunch in this batch!

The spoonbill tends to signal when they are ready to fly, by putting their spoonbill in the air, maybe to check which direction the wind is blowing.

Now that you’ve gotten your fill of pink birds for the day, there were a few others to photograph along the drive.

I always have to smile when I see a yellow-crowned heron in this pose.

As we left the island, the view of the east end and the lighthouse was breathtaking with the blues and greens of the water.

I’ve been able to catch a few photos of birds and turtles at our home over the past week. A tri-colored heron visits our backyard fairly often.

Caption for the photo below:

“Mama, mama, wait up! I can’t swim as fast as you!”

A grackle built a nest in a palm tree by our front door. We were dive-bombed as we walked out the front door for a couple of weeks. At least the chicks leave the nest quickly!

Mom can’t believe she just fed this one and it’s still hungry!