A Pink and White Kind of Day

White Pelicans and a pretty Roseate Spoonbill were the center of attention along Wildlife Drive when we drove through Ding Darling early this morning.

Hey, what are you guys looking at down there? Can I see, too?

Ewww! I stepped on something yuckkkkkyyyy!!!!

Throwing back a shrimp for breakfast!

A quick stop by the Bailey Tract only found a Tri-Colored Heron and a Little Blue Heron.

Ding Low Tide

It has been almost a month since my last post. Between traveling and inclement weather, I haven’t been able to get any photos to share. I’ll start out with a couple of photos that I have taken around my home.

Did you know that the Northern Mockingbird is the state bird of Florida? I just found that out today, so I thought I’d pass it along. The one below sits on top of a bougainvillea plant in our yard quite often.

It’s unusual to have a brown pelican land in our neighborhood. The one below visited my neighbor’s backyard for quite a while one day.

There was a very low tide at around 10 am this morning at Ding. It exposed more of the land under the water at Ding than we had personally ever seen. If it were allowed, you could have walked across from Wildlife Drive to the tree line, but I think it would have been a very boggy trek!!

Large shrimp were on the brunch menu today!

And down the hatch!

The great blue heron below was a long distance away, but how can you pass up getting a pic of a GBH grabbing such a big fish?

Even the Osprey below got lucky with breakfast!

The starfish and horseshoe crab in the photos below were in shallow water under the observation deck along Wildlife Drive.

Now, for the not so good news. It appears that the eagles that I’ve been watching were not successful with their nesting this year. They tended the nest for at least a month, but then they were gone. One of them occasionally comes back and sits in the nest for a while, before flying away, again.

Below, I caught a photo of a hawk sitting in the tree above the eagle nest looking down on the eagle that appeared to still be nesting at the time. This was taken a few weeks ago.

A few days ago, I saw a juvenile eagle visiting the nest. It stayed for a while, pulling at the sticks in the nest and poking around the nest, in general. The photo isn’t very clear, but thought I’d share.

Today, an eagle was visiting the nest, but it didn’t stay long.

On another note, I hope that the city finds out who killed the tree with the nest in it and why. These Australian Pines are invasive and it is perfectly ok to kill and remove them. But, not so much, if it has an eagle’s nest in it.

Great Blue Heron Beauty

Our trip through Ding was a bit sparse on the photos until we were almost to the end of Wildlife Drive. We came upon a beautiful Great Blue Heron, with mating plumage, posing on a rock a few feet from the drive. He, or she, seemed to understand the beauty it was displaying to all of the photographers who were snapping away.

Looking as good standing on one foot as standing on two.

We only saw one white pelican and it was tucked in and ready for a nap.

There has constantly been at least one eagle on the nest for a few weeks. I haven’t seen any behavior that looks as if they are feeding a hatchling yet. We hope they are sitting on a viable egg, though. One of the eagles was in a nearby tree (which is also newly dead) keeping watch over the nest.

When I was taking the eagle photos, a flock of white pelicans flew high overhead.

The osprey nest in our neighbor’s back yard is looking promising for future chicks. The male is sitting on the nest and the female on the perch.

Gotta love the looks an osprey can give.

Ding trip and Eagle Update

We didn’t see a lot on our drive through Ding this morning. Even so, it is rare to drive through and not see something that is photo worthy. My husband spotted this Little Blue Heron in its white phase along the drive.

It’s easy to see why the Anhinga is also called a snake bird.

I love the looks an Osprey can give you.

I had reported how the crows were seen picking around in the Eagle nest on 12/7/19. After several more days, an eagle began staying in the nest and performing nesting behavior chores. Here’s hoping they actually have an egg and that it will be viable this year. If you look at the photo below and the photo I posted on 12/7, you will see that the tree holding the nest is apparently dying. The difference in just 3 weeks is startling. You can see the eagle below holding its mouth open and panting to stay cool. There’s no longer a shade canopy over the nest. We’ve reported the tree condition to SCCF and they are checking into what may be happening to the tree.