Ding, Pond Apple Trail and Bailey Tract

We hit three good places to see wildlife on the island this weekend. While I didn’t get any great photos, I found several different species to photograph.

I heard something overhead on Pond Apple Trail. It took me a couple of minutes to actually see this big guy. He blended in pretty well.

We couldn’t see his tail, but his body was at least 3 ft. long. Since their tails are always long, I’d have to say he was at least 5 ft. or more.

This female Anhinga flew from a fence post to the top of a tree nearby just so I could get a better pic! ;-)

The little Anhinga below seemed fairly small. It made me think it might be a young one.

It wasn’t scared and seemed pleased to pose for a closeup!

When a butterfly lands on the ground in front of you, of course you take a photo.

We were on our bikes at Pond Apple Trail, when we looked up and saw 2 adult Eagles fly by and land in a tree probably about half of a mile away. Then, we saw two juvenile eagles flying around. By the time I could get my camera out of the backpack, these were the only pics I could get. And we were just too far away to get good photos! But, when you see 4 Bald Eagles at one time, you take pics anyway!!

The first pic is of the 2 juvenile eagles flying above the tree.

One of the juveniles landed awkwardly in the tree above the adults as the other one flew on out of our sight.

The Bailey Tract was closed for a few weeks for work to be done for marsh restoration. Now that it is open, hopefully we will start to see more wildlife returning after the weeks of disruption. We saw this pretty Tri-Colored Heron amongst the new plugs of marsh grass.

My husband spotted this small gator in the weeds/water along the side of the path.

Our drive through Ding yesterday morning was pretty uneventful. But, I snapped a couple of pics. You can see the transmitter on the back of this Reddish Egret.