Ding Darling is Open!

Ding Darling is finally opened - it has been a long time coming.. - it is beautiful and filled with life. The new paving makes for a very smooth ride, the new water structure has already brought about new changes and the wider road and the extra parking spots will help accomodate everyone.
This little Palm Warbler welcomed me back and sat for a bit before flitting about.

The Killdeers sat too for a while and then they took off with their usual "kill-deah" sounds.

Here's a common sight of Ding at low tide...Roseate Spoonbills, Little Blues and Snowys.

The mottled ducks are back too....

the White Pelican too....soon to be joined by many more. The White Pelican is a fresh water feeder and works with others to gather up their feed - as opposed to the Brown Pelican which is a diver feeder - often seen by the ocean side.

Dreamy, isn't it?

Blue Wing Teal

Roseate Spoonbills with a seagull.

The Spotted Sandpiper - wears it's name very well as it bobs (spot)  it's tail all the time.

Great Blue Heron

Great Egrets, Snowy, Tricolored and Juvenile Ibis.

The Stork! One of 20 that I saw that day.

More White Wonders....Great Egrets, Snowy, Juvenile Little Blues, White Ibis and Stork.

I returned to Ding Darling in the afternoon - and joined a group lead by Terry, a volunteer who shared her knowledge about photography. We boarded a tram and drove through the Wildlife Drive - it was mid afternoon and it was very bright and quite a challenge for taking photos of white birds - good opportunity to discuss those points.

Terry is very knowledgable and generous with her time and patience - it was fun and I walked away with some great tips that I look forward to put into practice.....as she said.....you get to be a good photographer by practicing and taking lots of photos and by golly....I'm working on it and loving it.

Gator was there to say farewell - till the next time.....check his smile out! I don't know about you but I  keep my distance at all times.

Tuesday's Treat

The early bird gets to see the bird yawn or perhaps this is a cranky seagull saying: What are you looking at?
Today marked the last day of my duties of Turtle Patrol until the next season rolls around - this also signals the trickle of the snowbirds and the wintering birds.....it's in the air, it's on the road already and I'm pretty sure that the migrants have all gone through by now because the lighthouse point has been very, very quiet the last 3 times that I was there.

I spotted different things - like this colorful Landlubber who loves to eat everything in sight - yet no other creatures will eat him.
The dainty dragonflies were buzzing about and blending in with their background - I got lucky with this guy when he landed on a lighter backdrop.

This is a moth that is hanging upside down and was at least 6 inches wide.

Then I drove home and made a u-turn when I saw the Bald Eagle behind the Dairy Queen, he was kind to let me take his photo, then silently took off.