The Spoonbills Have Arrived!

This past weekend we heard that about a dozen Roseate Spoonbills had arrived. Yesterday we decided to go have a look! We were excited to see several start right away with bathing, followed of course, by feeding. There were a mix of mature adult birds, along side several juveniles.

It was nice to see them as early as May this year. I can remember that in past years we wouldn’t see any until early July.

Great to see our fun and active pink friends around the salt marsh again!

Sunset View

Did a quick stop by the salt marsh today, late afternoon/early evening, and saw this bald eagle sitting in a tree surveying the scene. She (I think this was the female) seemed to be enjoying her view. Turning around looking behind me to the west, this was the scene… a group of wood storks and the setting sun. Not a particularly stunning sunset, but certainly had to be a pleasant enough view from her perch.

Some Routine Flights

We went over to the marsh pond Tuesday afternoon and were surprised to see a good sized crowd in attendance. There was quite a variety of birds out, and almost all of them were clumped into groups fishing. But a few would come flying in and that’s what 1 was waiting for! One spoonbill came in to join his friend, and a wood stork arrived soon after to join in with a larger group of other storks. An osprey spent awhile circling overhead, but I never saw it dive into the water so I guess he didn’t see anything he liked. There was also a good sized group of white pelicans, however they never came in close, so I only managed to get a quick shot of one small group that briefly broke away from the gang. The early afternoon light was terrible, so I didn’t stay long. I’ll have to try again maybe just before sunset. Early morning light is nicer, but I’m not an early morning person so that’s probably not going to happen! The two main disappointments were that I saw zero alligators, and I also fully expected to see the bald eagles out, but no luck there either. The alligators shouldn’t all be sleeping yet, so maybe next time...

Excited Heron!

This Tricolored heron seemed to be having a great time fishing for small fish and shrimp in a tidal pool along side the salt marsh.

The Day After…

After six days of thunderstorms, torrential rain and flooding from Debby, the sun came out and we went over to the marsh to check things out. There turned out to be significant activity, however not everyone was flying (or swimming) all over the place.

The first pic is a kind of a ‘Can You Spot The Alligator’ kind of deal. The next one is a drowsy looking little guy on the float in the salt marsh. Then we found a bigger dude relaxing along the edge of the marsh pond.

So that was some of the alligators out enjoying their day. We also saw spoonbills, an egret with a wriggling eel, a very excited tricolor heron fishing, and a few juvenile night herons among a good size crowd. More on them later!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everybody a very Merry Christmas…and may 2024 be a happy, healthy one filled with abundance and simple joys!

Morning Muckness

Went to check out the marsh pond and the swamp this morning. We received a report yesterday that some spoonbills had arrived and sure enough, at the far back edge of the pond we saw 8 fresh spoonbills cavorting about in all their pink glory. 

Well, since they were way too far off to be successfully photographed, this lone alligator hanging out in the marsh muck had to do for today.

It did not look like an extremely comfortable area in which to relax, but what do I know? Our gator friend might have loved it! 

 

Found A New Friend

The momma alligators in the swamp have been bringing their babies out for a few weeks now. Once they grow a tiny bit older, mom will leave them alone at times. 

This little guy found himself a comfy spot that had a ray of morning sun peeking through. It didn’t take long for his special secret to be discovered by one of the local turtles. The little gator didn’t mind at all though, in fact he seemed pleased to have already found himself a new friend. 

Most everyone appears happy that a small slice of Spring is beginning to show up! 

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