We took a somber drive through Ding this morning.  There is such a pall hanging over the island these days.  The red tide is so very bad right now and it is affecting every part of the island.  There are thousands of fish, more than 100 big sea turtles, and other sea life washing up dead on the beach.  There have been many Goliath Grouper over 200 lbs. and tarpon over 100 lbs. that have been removed and buried.  Crews are working to remove as many of the dead sea life and animals as they can.  Even in Ding, there were dead fishing floating in the water and stacked up against the water's edge.  It is irritating to our eyes and breathing and the smell is pretty bad.  It's the worst we've seen since we started coming to Sanibel for vacations years ago.

The Tri-Colored Heron nest just had one chick today.  The volunteer at the Ding entrance told us that all 3 eggs hatched, but only one has made it to this point.  It was odd that we didn't see or hear either of the parents of this chick anywhere.  Maybe it was watching us from somewhere nearby, but we didn't see it.  I hope they are ok and haven't ingested toxic fish or are bringing them back to the nest.

This little guy has grown so much in the last couple of weeks!  He is still rocking his mohawk, though!

The water was exceptionally still at Ding today.  It allowed me to get several reflective photos.  Reddish Egrets are always a hoot to watch.  Their antics make for great pics.

Success and he still has ruffled feathers!

He seemed to understand that he was outsized by the Great Blue Heron and left him alone.

Oh, yeah, I'm big and bad!!

And back home, the male Anhinga was sitting on the nest.  I do not know if there are any babies yet.

While I was taking the photos of the Anhinga nest behind our house, this big Florida Softshell turtle kept poking his nose above water and checking out what I was up to.