Nice day for birds . . . and people!

We saw a few birds at Ding on our early morning drive through. This pretty Tri-colored Heron posed long enough for me to get some pics.

Why did the chicken, uh . . . I mean the Little Blue Heron, cross the road?

This male Anhinga was hanging out in a tree by the road, looking pretty with its mating plumage.

When your feet are big enough to ski and you don’t even need a boat . . .

I saw what I thought was a Tri-Colored Heron at the Bailey Tract and took a couple of pics. It wasn’t until I was home that i realized the colors were completely different from the Tri-Colored Heron above. I guess I’d never seen a juvenile Tri-Colored Heron with the brown and rust colors instead of the blue and purple colors.

Back in our neighborhood, these two ospreys are always on the nest in the mornings. I’m not sure if they have a successful nest. I hope so, though.

Kite Boarder by the Causeway

Wild On Sanibel is not only about photos of wildlife. I also like to share the wild beauty of the island. Along those same lines, kite boarding fascinates me and is “wild”, in my opinion! We woke up to a very windy day, so I brought my camera along when we went off island to run errands. On the way back, this kite boarder was already out enjoying the wind.

He caught quite a bit of air several times while we were watching.

Pond Apple Trail and more

We rode our bikes through Pond Apple Trail and then over to the new Jordan Marsh Water Quality Treatment Park (which needs a much shorter name, by the way). I had a chance to get a few photos in both places.

The Great Blue Heron below was one of the tallest ones I’ve seen. Maybe he just seemed so tall since was he wasn’t standing in water. They can grow to 4 1/2 feet tall and I think he was every bit of it! He had some mating plumage going on, too.

The blue ring around the eye of this Anhinga is part of their breeding plumage.

The blue ring wasn’t as bright on the eye of this Anhinga.

At the water treatment park, we saw this cute little family of ducks. Mom kept the babies safely in the weeds, so that getting photos of them was a difficult task.

I think that the next two Anhingas are juveniles. The first one is for sure.

And then back home where I was able to stand on my back deck to get this photo of a male osprey.

And from the same spot I saw these two Great Crested Flycatchers playing in the trees.

Beautiful day for birds and a gator

We had a chilly start to the morning today . . . well, ok, it was chilly for Southwest Florida at the end of March! We saw a few birds and a couple of gators on our trip through the Ding Refuge and the Bailey Tract. When I get to see Roseate Spoonbills, I call that a successful trip, especially if I can get photos of them flying toward me!

There were several spoonbills on the east side of the drive, so the birds were between the morning sun and where I was standing, making it difficult to get a good photo.

I love the turquoise eyes of the cormorant during their mating season.

The bump on the white pelican’s beak is an indication of the breeding season for both the male and female. They shed the bump by the end of the breeding season.

At the Bailey Tract, this Great Egret was dunking for breakfast.

Success!!

Gulp! Down the hatch!

I was so intent on getting the photos of the Great Egret that we didn’t see the small 4 to 5 foot gator at our feet. He was hiding in the tall grass.

Then, he slipped into the water and gave us a warning look.