A chilly start this morning with warmth in my heart as I looked forward to a morning of birding. A pretty good sized group gathered up behind the Sanibel Chamber of Commerce where the Pond Apple Trail begins. This trail has been going through quite a bit of transformation and I feel that it is one of the best kept secret - perhaps not for long now.
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| A map showing the habitat within the trail - leading to the water overlook. Soon this trail will connect to some other properties and will expand the trail past the Bailey Homestead property....this is exciting. |
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| A few members of the group -(I believe we had close to 50 people today). Here we were all trying to see if we could spot the Bald Eagles behind the Dairy Queen - since a couple chicks have been reported, we figured that one of the adult was sitting in the nest and couldn't be seen from down below. |
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| After seeing/hearing a few warblers and woodpeckers, we made our way to the water retention ponds and there we spotted several Killdeers - always fun to watch and listen to. |
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| Across the water pond, some keen eyes spotted the Wilson Snipe - he stayed put without batting an eyelash....that I could see anyway. |
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| A lonely Woodstork trying to stay warm. |
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| A Cattle Egret was sandwiched into some vegetation and basking in the sun - his friend was busy eating nearby. |
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| One of the many resident gators. |
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| A Little Blue Heron - this one is immature and within two years will become totally blue. |
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| An Anhinga getting ready to get back in the water. |
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| A Great Egret - feeling at ease and fishing while we watched. |
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| Some of the folks in the front portion of the group - were fortunate to witness this pair mating....us folks in the back got to see this. |
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| I'd say that they make a fine pair, don't you? |
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| On our way back - Turkey Vultures could be seen in numbers - some in a thermal, others resting on the snag. |
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| Time to leave. We got back to our car and decided to try the Bennett's Roast coffee house with a donut to die for...yum. We sat outside and basked in the sun while enjoying this sinfully delicious treat, from my seat I was hearing the Bald Eagle and the Red Shouldered Hawks while watching Turkey Vultures in a thermal....not a bad day at all. |
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| My E-Bird List for today - with 34 species http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S16502475 |
You sure do not let grass grow under your feet. Lol. You did take some really nice shots. I love the lttle blue haron.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice outing! I do not see the Snipes often so they would be a great sighting for me. Love the hawk shots, very cool seeing the two close together. Basking in the sun sounds awesome, much nicer than waiting for another snow storm to show up. Have a great day and week ahead!
ReplyDeleteThank you ladies.
ReplyDelete