Nest and Beach Update

First, some good news!  Our beaches are so much better, for the time being, at least!  The smell is pretty much gone and there are few, if any, dead fish.  The red tide still affected our breathing during our walk today, but not too bad.  The city has collected over 267 "tons" of dead sea life from Sanibel beaches since July 30th.  Yes, you read that correctly.  It is so sad and upsetting.  Hopefully, we are on the downside of this horrible red tide.

The only birds we saw at the beach were these three pelicans.

Next good news . . . the Tri-Colored Heron baby chick is still doing well and growing!  He was hiding his face when we got there, but just before we left, he turned so that I could get one shot of his face.  And he is still styling the mohawk!

Walking back down the Indigo Trail to our car, I was focusing on taking a pic of this little marsh hare and walked right beside a snake.  "After" I walked by, my husband pointed it out!

A bunch of these little fiddler crabs skirted away as we walked near.  They are about the size of my thumb.  This one stood his ground in an aggressive stance.  You could almost hear him saying, "Come a little closer with that camera, lady!  See this big claw?!!"  I guess he won, because we were the ones to get out of his way!

Next, we took a drive through Ding.  All the dead fish that were caught under the trees at the water's edge had been cleaned out.  No dead fish were floating in the water.  The birds actually seemed alert and active today.  

This beautiful Little Green Heron flew into a tree right beside me.

This little juvenile Yellow Crowned Night Heron posed so patiently for me.

Now for the sad news.  My neighbor called me yesterday afternoon to say that the new Anhinga chick could be seen in the nest.  I went out and took a few pics.  I was looking forward to having a front row seat to watch it grow.  A few hours later, the male and the female were nowhere to be seen and the nest was empty.  We can only surmise that the chick fell from the nest into the water.