Stolen moments

It's been a bit since I posted, actually the last time I blogged was on the morning of my husband having a health episode. Life seems to have a mind of its own and I can honestly say that it is quite beyond my ability to control or fix for that matter. In any event - I am not here to gather sympathy but rather to say that I was able to steal some precious moments for myself and I chose the beach as my peaceful getaway.
I took a long walk along Bowman's Beach and took advantage of those lovely early morning hours and it was just what I needed, come along and enjoy those short respite with me.....

The birds were certainly not in great numbers but the few that I did see brightened my day - the Ruddy Turnstone always has a striking appearance.

Since it is Sea Turtle season I can't really be surprised when I come across a crawl however it always lighten me up and makes me smile.....

and another - this one a quick turnaround....Loggerhead Sea Turtle judging from the alternating gait.

The Sanderlings were stealing the show though with their bright summer plumage

And unfortunately that was all the time that I had - it was short but very sweet. On my way back across the little bridge I ended up with another encounter....

A mother Manatee with her young one...how sweet is that!

 

Gulfside Park in Sanibel

I purposely took time away from the hustle bustle that the island has been experiencing with the spring break which of course brought in a lot of folks to enjoy our beautiful beaches and weather - I took an early beach walk and was totally entertained by the birds and distracted by the shells - what a great way to start the day!

I arrived just before sunrise and was able to capture the sun as it started to peek up from behind those buildings across the way.

Here's something that I don't see too often - an Octopi, unfortunately it expired.

A Ruddy Turnstone in its perfect environment.

An Eastern Willet

A Snowy Egret in the beginning stages of breeding plumage - its lores and feet are more orange and will turn even brighter to almost red.

A Lesser Black-backed Gull - they look so sharp with their 'tuxedo' and bright white shirt on.

The Sanderlings were feeding in quite a frenzy.

This one caught a small shrimp.

The perfect clam size for this Ruddy Turnstone.

A Black-bellied Plover.

And of course Gulfside Park wouldn't be right without its Plover enclosure.

I saw a total of 5 Snowy Plovers, two of which were banded.....

soon they will be mating and that's a good thing.

Sanibel West

A visit to the west end of the island today proved to be a rewarding and exciting experience....come along and see....

As we braved the gusty winds we marveled at the fact that the birds were able to stand still in the face of such power - heck, we had trouble walking and we are a lot bigger.

We directed our attention to the bird's features - this Caspian Tern for example and the difference that sets them apart from the Royal Tern....

the bill size/color/shape and I also noticed how the black cap reaches the edge of the bill on the Caspian - not so with the Royal.

As we looked back - we could see the blowing sand that we had felt on our skin - the salt air is very thick too, making our glasses/binos unclear to see through.

A bunch of Red Knots were hunkered down together - it's a group effort to shield one another.

The Snowy Plovers were not in large numbers but they too managed to find a clump of grass to shield them from the gusty winds.

When the wind increased even more, we decided to go to Blind Pass and perhaps catch sight of Northern Gannetts - instead we were greeted by the Sanibel Stoopers looking for shells....it looked like so much fun that we actually joined them for a while - had a blast doing it.

We then visited the pass and found this large group of Willet....

and mixed in were some Sanderlings and Ruddy Turnstones

and when we looked closely - we noticed some different plumage in the group....which turned out to be a couple Marbled Godwits

A few Dunlins were in the mix too...

and a few young Brown Pelicans.

Our last sighting was a Snowy Egret which was quite busy chasing bugs that were invisible from our human eyes - we enjoyed watching this bird as it crouched down low with quiet agility.....wishing we could do it too.

New year - new beginning

A new year has begun on so many different levels for me and a lot of it has been challenging. One of those moments happened when my computer and monitor died after serving me well for 7 years, but I thought "fear not" I had religiously backed up all my photos. Though when I went to retrieve them I sadly realized that it had stopped backing up 1.5 years ago. I realize that I could have checked it along the way - so my bad - and for that I feel a lump in my throat especially when I think about those life birds that were captured but more importantly my grandson's sweet face. Gulp, it is hard to let go and start all over again.

So, brushing up and moving on - I'm working with a new PC - a challenge in itself, but at last - my camera is still working and I was able to download my photo editor Picasa to get my photos ready for this blog...so without further ado....come along and visit the Lighthouse area of Sanibel....

I arrived just in time to see the sun rise along with the Black Skimmers

A Snowy Egret slowly waking up to this new day

The Brown Pelicans on the other hand were already hard at work taking advantage of all those school of fishes that were present this morning.

This Ring-billed Gull had a mourning call, I wish I understood Gull talk.

The same call was going on when another Gull joined in

In the meantime I almost missed these Ruddy Turnstone by my feet - they blend so well with their surroundings.

I came to the conclusion that this Gull likes to gather attention and why not - it's worthy of many looks.

A Great Egret was quite comfortable on the railing of the new fishing Pier.

A live Lightning Whelk was on the edge of the gulf and slowly making its way back in.

This fishing vessel had me chuckle when I noticed its given name....how appropriate!

"Maybe there's a Brown Pelican's vessel out there".

More Egrets!

And our regulars - the White Ibis with their baby blue eyes.

I bet that Snowy is thinking about those Sand Fleas that the Ibis are consuming.

Ha! Look who arrived! A Lesser Black-backed Gull.

And then in the blink of an eye - an Osprey swooped down to gather some nesting material...

something nice and soft for those new chicks....now, that's something to look forward to for the new year.