Nest Update and more . . .
Last Saturday morning, I took a couple of pics of the Tri-Colored Heron chick. It was branching out on a limb near the nest, as they do when they get a little older. I had not posted the pics yet and went back this morning to get some more. The person who works at the Ding entrance gate said that mid-week, the baby chick was gone. It wasn't old enough to fly yet, so whatever happened is not good. We walked down to the nest anyway, but the chick was indeed gone. He told us that Ding volunteers said the parent bird was there mid-week and very upset.
It was great to see all the other wildlife today, especially since the city just announced that 403 "tons" of dead sea life from red tide has now been collected on Sanibel beaches. To see fish jumping in the water at Ding and the birds being active was very heartwarming. That certainly wasn't the case two weeks ago.
Here are the pics of the Tri-Colored Heron chick from last weekend.
It was quite overcast and cloudy for our drive through Ding. I didn't expect to see much wildlife, only to be very surprised at all the birds, a gator, and even manatees!
I had fun watching several Snowy Egrets bullying all the other birds. They make a honking sound and fluff out their feathers as they chase any other bird away. (And yes, I took far too many pics of them!)
Notice the transmitter sticking up from the back of the Reddish Egret below.
He strutted right over to another Reddish Egret and they did a little Do-Si-Do dance.
If you click on the photo below and enlarge it, you'll see a transmitter on the other Reddish Egret, also.
Got a little wave from a Manatee. There was a lady that had been watching the manatees closely and said she thought there were at least 8 in the water. Some of the manatees were adults and some young ones.
The most I got to see of them were their noses sticking out of the water. It started to rain, so I needed to get my camera out of the rain. I would have loved to stay and hopefully see more of these large creatures that have made it through the red tide so far. Many manatees have not survived it. The average adult manatee is about 10 ft. long and weighs between 800 and 1200 pounds.
As we left Ding, we saw this large gator, but only his head.
A few days ago, this hawk chased all the doves from the telephone wires as I walked by. They all managed to get away that day. I think it is a Red-Shouldered Hawk since they are more common than the Cooper's Hawk around here. But the two look very much the same to me!
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.
Bird Nest and Red Tide Update
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.