Merry Christmas!

Christmas Hoodies!

Every year we get a visit from some hooded merganser ducks  at a local pond who generally show up a week or two before Christmas. We didn’t have a chance to look for them until this afternoon and sure enough, there they were, Mr. and Mrs. Hoodie!

It was nice to see this cute couple still keeping the Christmas tradition alive. 🙂

Christmas Hoodies

Christmas Hoodies

Woody Drops In

A young wood stork dropped in on some of his friends in the salt marsh on a recent afternoon.

Some friends; they didn’t seem to be at all impressed with Woody’s arrival. In fact they actually appeared more bored than usual…(if that’s possible)

Woody Drops in on Friends

Woody Drops in on Friends

Woody Drops in on Friends

Woody Drops in on Friends

Grey Day, But Not For Everyone

Looking up all I could see was a dull grey sky and assumed that was how it would be for everyone.

But when I saw this osprey gliding above me, I realized that from his view, the world must be full of all sorts of colorful and interesting sights.

Grey Day For An Osprey

Shake It Off

On a recent afternoon I was interested in watching this egret’s drying off technique. He seemed compelled to get himself all in a twist to make sure every last drop of water went flying off.

Looked to me like it worked fine but what do I know? 🙂

Shaking It Off

Shaking It Off

Shaking It Off

Practicing…

Earlier this week, trying out your best standing on one leg routine seemed to be all the rage over at the salt marsh.

I’m giving the win on this one to the egret.

The ibis gets points for effort, but didn’t have the technique down perfectly.

The great blue heron looks like he ‘thinks’ he should win, if only factoring in his coolness factor.

But the egret had the most style I thought and deserves the first place prize.

Practicing

Practicising

Practicing

Just Cruisin’ The Salt Marsh

This afternoon we were watching a brown pelican as it took a leisurely glide back and forth across the salt marsh.

The pelican would occasionally hop up and jump at a fish but mostly he was just taking it slow.

A great blue heron paid no attention to the pelican as it cruised on by, which surprised me a bit because I doubt that heron has seen a lot of pelicans lately.

Pelican Cruising The Salt Marsh

Pelican Cruising The Salt Marsh

Pelican Cruising The Salt Marsh

Muddy Ibis

A white ibis knocks back a small fish it just plucked out of the water in the salt marsh among the oyster beds yesterday afternoon.

Whenever I see one of these guys looking all filthy I can’t figure out how the bright white egrets manage to stay so clean while the ibis often get covered in marsh mud.

Oh well, the ibis are fun and unusual bird and I always enjoy watching them at ‘work’.

Muddy Ibis Fishing in the Salt Marsh