Some unexpected bonus time came my way this morning - so, what's a girl to do!! Aha! Go birding, of course.
I made my way into the Bailey Tract - first sighting....
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| The Mottled Duck family - I'm glad to see that most of the ducks are still around. |
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| Across the way - an adult Little Blue Heron and a Tricolored Heron - they were watching a gator swim away. |
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| A White Peacock butterfly landed right in front of me and sat still, sweet! After a bit, I followed my ears to the Island Inn Road - at first I thought it was kids imitating distant sirens only to realized that it was a family of Coyotes! Sorry, no pics....maybe next time. |
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| At this point I decided to step into the Sanibel Garden Preserve - a Black-Crowned Night Heron was silently fishing in a dark corner. |
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| As I'm rounding the corner - things starts to heat up some....a juvenile Little Blue Heron (above) and an immature Little Blue Heron (below). |
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| A whole family of Tricolored Heron - unusual sighting, for sure. |
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| As I continued forward - white birds became a dime a dozen - Great Egret (above) and Snowy Egret (below). |
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| The water levels seemed to be just right for the waders and the fish were plentiful. Bird happy, fish....not so much. |
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| Down the hatch. |
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| Above my head, a family of Swallow-tailed Kites were whistling while swooping and gliding gracefully. |
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| A young Mockingbird seemed to enjoy the aerial display as well. |
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| This was a great morning and the heat is telling me it's time to return home....I chose this shady trail within the Bailey Tract to take me back.... |
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| The End. |
Hi France!
ReplyDeleteI call that last picture "Duck Butts!" We were on the north end of Siesta Key yesterday. The Royal Terns
do not nest there, but once the chicks can fly, the adults bring them there to flock together on the sand while the parents continue to fish and feed the fledglings. I noticed a behavior I hadn't seen before--a
Great Egret hung at the edge of the group, and when a parent Tern came in with a fish for it's young,
the Egret made a big show of charging with wings outstretched and stole the fish from the adult Tern!
I noticed today the Terns were gathering out on the sandbar, father away from where the Egrets were
hanging out. I had never seen pirating behavior by Egrets before--that seems more like a Heron thing!
We also have fist -year (white) and second- year (checkerboard) Little Blue Herons here on Phillippi Creek in Sarasota. Very interesting plumage!
Bird On-
Patch
On our shores - along the Sanibel Island's Gulf of Mexico - the Snowy Egrets, mostly, can be seen hanging by the fishermen and waiting to be fed - some are braver and will perch on the bait bucket and try to eat some before being ousted out....those Egrets are evolving and learning where their next meal is at.
DeleteGreat captures and blog! I initially noticed your "bird eating fish" shots. So does the heron really manage that (a goldfish?) big fish down its long/skinny neck entirely okay?? Does the fish put up a good fight, if eaten, is it swallowed wriggling all the way as well?!
ReplyDelete-Kyle
Reply: Mexicankyle35@gmail.com
From what I've seen, by the time the Great Egret swallows the fish (head first), they don't seem to be wriggling much. Often times I've been amazed at the size they can manage down the hatch without choking.
Delete