Goodbye snowbirds, see you next year!

Now that the snowbirds have started to head back home, there is a lot less traffic to maneuver.  We went to our favorite part of the beach this morning and found even more erosion than we'd previously seen.  In some areas, the sand has disappeared all the way up to the vegetation in the yards of the beach front homes.   Normally, we would be walking on the higher level of sand.  This doesn't bode well for the sea turtle nests this year.  Hopefully, we won't have to weather another hurricane before the sand can be replenished.

There were plenty of brown pelicans fishing in the clear water.  This one waved hello!

The osprey below had a precarious nest across the top of a tree.  They aren't known for their neat and tidy nests, though!

We drove through Ding even though it wasn't at low tide.  We saw a couple of birds.  This osprey was busy with his bath.

As sometimes happens, I found better photos back at home!  Our neighbor let me take some photos from her upper deck, so that I could get some closeups of the osprey nest.  There are 2 babies this year.

The little orange-eyed babies are starting to lose their fuzzy down and getting some feathers.

This male anhinga appears to be sitting on the nest, but the pretty egg isn't underneath him.  I hope it isn't because it is not viable.  Last year, there was an anhinga nest and a couple of yellow-crowned night heron nests on this limb out over the water.  This year, it just appears to be this one nest so far.  We've seen the yellow-crowned night herons in the tree, so hopefully there will be a nest soon.

This mallard duck is the king of the yard most days.  He has a harem of several females that he chases around.

These next two photos were taken from my back deck.  The swallow-tailed kite was in a tree a couple of houses away, across the lake.  I watched her preen her feathers.

And then . . . she had a gentleman caller!

Coyote!

My cat was sitting on my desk early this morning, very focused on something outside the window. I looked out the window and two ducks were in the driveway, standing very still. I thought that was odd since they constantly waddle around. Suddenly, a coyote came running around the side of the house and the ducks scattered and flew. He trotted on across the street into the woods. But, then another one came around the house not in any particular hurry. I ran downstairs, grabbed my camera, and opened the front door. He turned and looked at me just before going into the woods. And, oh, what a look!!

In the same vein with pictures that are just snapshots and not great photos, a couple of days ago there were 10 swallow-tailed kites hovering overhead.  I'd never seen that many at once.  They were too high up to get good photos, though.  I love watching these birds soar around.

I was able to get 7 of them in this one pic (just to prove I really saw them!)  

This bobcat came through the back yard last night and the wildlife cam caught him.  My yard seems to be the Sanibel Zoo!

Walking with Sanibel-Captiva Audubon Society

We went on a walk through the Bailey Tract with the San-Cap Audubon Society early this morning.  We saw oodles of Easter Bunnies (aka marsh hares) and many beautiful birds.

While we were waiting to get started, we were treated to "pink in the sky" when a Roseate Spoonbill did a fly-by for us.

Always a big hit with bird watchers is the Black-Necked Stilt with their very long pink legs!

When breakfast is on the bottom . . . well, it's bottoms up!

The number of Easter bunnies that we saw was well into double digits!

It was also a day to keep your eyes on the sky!

And a few pics from my yard . . .

Foggy morning turned into beautiful day!

We started out at the Bailey Tract on a foggy morning.  It didn't take long for the sun to burn through.  The fog made for some interesting photos, though!  Many of the birds are decked out in their mating plumage.  The Anhinga below has the beautiful turquoise blue ring around her eyes.

This marsh hare was fairly far away.  It was so big that we did not think it was a rabbit until I zoomed in on the pic.

The fog over the little pond was almost haunting looking.

We saw a lot of marsh hares with their tiny little ears!

I love the concept of "If I close my eyes and get very still, then you can't see me"!

The sun finally started coming through.

I believe this is a Little Blue Heron in the white phase.

Ospreys always look so mad at me!!

We swung by the beach to pick up shells and find more birds!

The Gulf was so calm this morning.  This fisherman appeared so peaceful out in the calm water.

The next photos were from a couple of days ago in our back yard.

The osprey appear to be nesting and guarding their nest in my neighbor's backyard!

These two little squirrels were running around like crazy and playing all over the yard.  I'm amazed I caught any photos of them.