It’s a couple of weeks short of 2 years since we moved from Sanibel Island, inland to Fort Myers. We were very fortunate to be unaffected through the devastation of Ian. But, even five months later we have friends who are still struggling to recover their homes and businesses on the island. The Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge is working hard with recovery efforts so that it can open to the public once again.

In the meantime, I’ve taken some photos from my yard and from a quick trip through Six Mile Cypress Slough. First, the photos from my yard, beginning with a Great Blue Heron.

I caught a quick shot as he flew away.

We always have a couple of Common Gallinules behind our house. These had a couple of cute little chicks recently.

This was the first time I’d seen any Killdeer in our yard. We were treated to a pair of them one day.

Another bird I had not previously seen in our neighborhood is a Royal Tern. I watched the one below dip down into our lake and come up with a fish. He flew around trying to find a place to land to have dinner.

I watched this Cormorant as he fished for his lunch.

A pair of eyes, that were connected to a large body, watched me from across the lake.

We had a particularly foggy morning and that means that a lot of spider webs show up!

There is almost always an Ibis in the yard. (Thus, the nickname Yard Chicken.)

We had a nice walk through Six Mile Cypress Slough, but there wasn’t much wildlife out. The air was so still that it made for some nice reflections.

The only wildlife we saw was a turtle, a squirrel and a cardinal. Maybe next time!