Hot Summer Day

The little Black-Necked Stilt chicks at the Bailey Tract are growing. They are so cute. It takes a little more effort to find wildlife on these hot summer days. I caught some pretty good reflections in the still water.

We saw this juvenile Yellow-Crowned Night Heron on the drive through Ding. It was a quiet morning on Wildlife Drive yesterday.

Love this look . . .

This guy was in our yard this afternoon. He was only about 3 feet long and wasn’t the least bit afraid of me, which allowed me to get closer than I really wanted!

The wildlife cam in our backyard caught a series of photos of an ibis following a fairly big green iguana while trying to get his tail, as if he thought it were a snake. For fun, I stitched the photos together in reverse order so that it looks like the Ibis is pulling the Iguana backwards.

Ding, Bailey Tract, and a Slough visit

I visited Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve in Fort Myers with a good friend this week. It is a fascinating place to visit, but we didn’t see very much wildlife. I look forward to going back in the fall when there will be more birds and other wildlife. I didn’t realize that I would need a shorter lens to take photos of the Slough (pronounced slew). I was able to get one photo where I could get far enough away with my long lens.

We saw a Pileated Woodpecker and a turtle sunning itself on a log.

I believe the turtle is a yellow-bellied slider turtle. But, I’m not sure.

Our drive through Ding this morning didn’t produce many photos either. We saw a few Roseate Spoonbills and I always have to stop and take a few pics of them.

We stopped by the Bailey Tract. I saw a couple of dragonflies that stayed in one spot long enough to get pics.

We saw a couple of adult Black-Necked Stilts. They were staying within sight of a chick that was looking for food along the edge of the shallow water.

The young Black-Necked Stilt was almost too far away. But, how do you pass up getting photos of such a cute little mini-me.

Heat of Summer

First, something new on my website. If you look at the top of the page, I’ve added a tab called Store. I have chosen a few of my photos to print on metal and made them available for purchase. Several people have encouraged me to sell my photos. So, we’ll see how it goes. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

With the hot and humid (or rainy) days, the opportunity for good photos isn’t as easy to come by in the summer. We did get to take a walk on the beach last weekend before the rains hit this week.

There is usually an egret playing in the edge of water, looking for food.

There were many brown pelicans in the air, the water and the trees.

Speaking of brown pelicans in trees, there were two big trees weighted down with them.

Below is a closer look at one section of the tree.

The osprey below was in a palm tree next to the pelican loaded pine tree. The look on his face seems to say, “Can you believe all those pelicans in one tree?!”

Today was very overcast with a lot of glare, which is not the best light for photos. We watched the brown pelicans and the roseate spoonbills along Wildlife Drive at Ding. But, they seemed to be tucked in for naps, so I took a few pics and we moved on.

One more brown pelican joined the crowd.

We came upon a little blue heron that is in the process of going from the white phase to the beautiful blue it will become. I think they are really striking in this phase.

We saw this regal Great Egret below before leaving the refuge.

Then, a quick stop by the Bailey Tract and we saw another little blue heron in the transition from white to blue.

We saw one black-necked stilt. It was very shy, but I managed to get a couple of photos before heading back home.

Brown Pelicans and Roseate Spoonbills

The nests along the boardwalk are pretty much empty. We saw a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron chick hanging around a couple of the nests. The Tri-Colored Heron nest was empty. It’s worrisome since just a week ago, the chick didn’t look old enough to fly from the nest. Although, I read that they leave the nest at 35 days. So, maybe the chick is just fine and out on its own.

The Yellow-Crowned Night Heron adult below was near one of the nests.

We saw plenty of Roseate Spoonbills and Brown Pelicans along Wildlife Drive.

I love the black on the edges on the wings of the very young Roseate Spoonbills.

An Osprey came in for a landing, splashed in the water, took off, and came back several times.

We were treated to a pretty nice rainbow as we were getting back into the car.

A young bright Green Iguana crossed Wildlife Drive in front of us before we left.