Return of Red Tide (and White Pelicans)

Our drive through Ding Darling was overcast with misty rain today. Even more dreary than the weather, was smelling and seeing all the large dead fish floating in the water. It signals the return of red tide to the waters at Ding. These are the big fish that the wood storks, egrets, and other birds were feasting on last week. It is so sad to see the return of red tide, again.

One of the first clues (other than the smell) were all the buzzards on the sand bar on the left side of the drive. They just stood there waiting for the dead fish to float nearby. This is the area that is usually covered with the big white pelicans this time of year.

All those things floating on the water are large dead fish. They were everywhere and starting to pile up under the trees.

Speaking of white pelicans, we did see quite a few on the right hand side of the drive. There didn’t seem to be quite as many dead fish on that side.

Wood Storks and much more - Part 2

As promised, here is the balance of my photos of the last two weeks. Thank you for coming back to finish looking at them!

I’ll caption this first one “How to curtsy when you are a wood stork”

The snowy egrets and their disagreements are so funny!

The next two photos are of birds in the trees behind our home.

It was fun to watch the eagles work on the nest. This one had a long stick and wanted it on the opposite side of the two sections of the tree. He maneuvered it around and after a few tries made it between and posts and placed where he wanted it. The nest is looking much more level now.

They look quite pleased with themselves, don’t you think?

Wood Storks and much more - Part 1

If you follow my blog, then you may have noticed that it has been a couple of weeks since my last post. My Internet connection has been mostly unusable for over a week, but it was finally fixed yesterday. Since I have many photos from last weekend and this weekend, I’ll spare you a lengthy post by doing this in two parts, one today and one tomorrow.

We were treated to wood storks, roseate spoonbills, and other birds at Ding yesterday. This was the first time I had seen more than 10 wood storks in one location at Ding.

It makes me very happy to see the birds feeding on such large fish after all the problems from red tide last year.

I watched a little dust-up that turned out to be over a nice sized fish.

Another great egret joined in.

The wood stork grabbed the fish first and moved away to eat the prize.

I love this young wood stork with the funny little crown of feathers and light colored beak.

Peek-a-boo

This is the same tree where we’ve seen a belted kingfisher in the past.

Hey, Lady! A little help here . . .

Gulp. And just like that, on the way down the hatch!

If you made it this far today, thank you so much for looking at my photos. Look for another post tomorrow with more photos of wood storks, eagles, egrets, and more.

Rainy Morning

Heavy rains all morning nixed a trip through Ding. But, here are a few photos I took during the week. I’d taken a bike ride down to the bay and saw an osprey sitting in a tree and shaking off water. Look at those impressive talons.

When she flew away, she kept her eye on me.

I mean, really kept her eye on me!

Someone had painted shells and left on the benches by the bay for others to enjoy while looking out at the water. I love this island!

There are some of the coolest mailboxes on the island. Here are a couple in and near my neighborhood.

Grackles are the strangest looking birds, especially those eyes.. Doesn’t this look like something out of a horror movie? Especially in the top of this tree in our yard.