Best Not To Wake Him…

Yesterday afternoon I had to admit I was a bit impressed when I saw the size of this guy who was out sunbathing with two of his friends. Just look at that head, it’s huge! This had to be a 12 footer, I couldn’t fit any more in my lens than you see here. There were two other alligators behind and to the side of the sleeping giant, and one of them was quite large but not this large. The third smaller one was half in the water staying out of the way but no one seemed interested in any power moves, this day was all about the sun and warming themselves up nicely.

Cormorant-1 Pelican-0

We were over at the salt marsh this afternoon and there wasn’t a lot of activity, but there was some. At one point a cormorant caught himself a good size fish, which is somewhat unusual, they tend to come up with shrimp, eels, and small fish.
The cormorant’s huge prize was instantly noticed by a brown pelican fishing nearby who dove over in a frenzied attempt to purloin the fish. The pelican was denied however, as the cormorant wasted no time in swallowing the fish which resulted in one sadly disappointed pelican.

Pelicans At Work

Yesterday we went over by the salt marsh during low tide and found a group of brown pelicans fishing all together in one small area. There were 6-7 juveniles and one adult with the youngsters doing most of the work it seemed. The adult wasn’t pleased and was constantly trying to boss the kid around which included chasing and biting tail feathers. As you can see, it didn’t stop anyone from scooping up the seafood delicacies and having a good time as well. I’m sure this continued on for a good while after we left, so another long day at the office!

The Alligators Are Waking Up

As the days start warming up our alligator friends have begun to wake up and become mildly active. We went over to the swamp area last week and found two taking some sun while a third positioned himself for a stroll over to the marsh pond. Mrs. Anhinga was also spotted enjoying some sun as well. Spring is on the way!

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.

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