A morning at the Slough

This morning Elaine and I headed for the Six Mile Cypress Slough - a wonderfully peaceful boardwalk that takes you through a gentle forest that often provides delightful surprises and today was no exception, come along and see.....

But first it is customary to peruse the parking lot area - this squirrel sure made us smile.

And this was before finding this rock within the butterfly garden - the little note attached to it said to either keep it, leave it there or move it elsewhere - pass the 'smile' around - I know just where to put it.

Shortly after entering the boardwalk we found this juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron....

look how well it blends in.

A very colorful Green Heron made a quick appearance too.

An adult Black-crowned Night Heron was spotted drinking some water.

A male Anhinga was busy preening its plumage....

notice how bright the eyes are and how lush his plumes are....it's breeding time!

The slough wouldn't be the slough without its ever expanding Woodpecker families....

A male Pileated was quite busy finding insects to eat while the youngster watched.

We were looking at the Snail Eggs when a Gator decided to pass by

It made us smile to see it as the Great Egret looked on.

A Red-Shouldered Hawk gave us good looks...

while the Tufted Titmouse carried on with their melodies.

This turned out to be another swell morning and it is now time for us to leave and make room for all the folks coming through the boardwalk.

Baby it's cold outside!

Brrr...it is 40 degrees in S.W. Florida this morning with a wind chill making it feel like 33, so what's a girl to do but bundle up and go for a drive....it's tru the Wildlife Drive of Ding Darling we go....

Apparently I wasn't the only one feeling chilly this morning.....this Great Egret felt it too

and it wasn't long before it retreated under the mangroves and away from that gusty wind.

The Reddish Egret seemed to be the boldest one of them all - right out there in the open....hunger wins.

Several Night Herons were seeking shelters just like this Black-crowned was. After exiting the Wildlife Drive I opted to go to Captiva Island....

Same scenario here - the Willets sought shelter behind the breakers

They were most likely as cold as I was except that I decided to move to warm up.....and warm up I did as I walked the Captiva beach and exercised my "Sanibel Stoop" - a common term around here which refers to people's position while looking for seashells. On my way out with my prized possessions I noticed that the Willets were still in their little crook and crannies...."stay warm little fellows".

And, folks, these are now part of my new 2017 shell collection.

Shark eyes, Common Nutmeg, Lightning Whelk, Cone, Jewel Box, Scallop,

Banded Tulips,

Turbans,

Shark eye, Moon Shell and my prize pieces.....

Junonia and Lion's Paw - I will treasure these as they are extremely difficult to find in one piece - perhaps this year will be the lucky one.

 

Christmas gifts

And so this is Christmas....another beautiful day in sunny paradise on earth - I am blessed to be living in such a beautiful island that happens to be my home in this day in time and so today I took a few short excursion to BE with this beautiful world.

I went to the Lighthouse point to observe the sun rise and watch as the wildlife became alive with a new day.

As always - I never regret getting up early in order to catch the beginning of a brand new day filled with new promises.

The Lighthouse in its Christmas glory.

I got back home for breakfast with my husband and I was glad to catch the perfume of the Orchid Tree as it drifted by - what a divine smell!

Later on, we made a quick visit to the Pond Apple Trail retention pond - I was surprised to be in the company of so many birds considering that it was mid-day.....and the fact that this Black-crowned Night Heron was out feeding.

I also noticed a few months old gator catching the rays.

This Snowy Egret strolled by - only a few feet away.

And then, this Green Heron stole the show for the day - right out in the open - giving us fantastic views. Holidays are different nowadays however nature is ever present and gives me much to reflect on.....peace on earth.

CBC for San-Cap Audubon group in Sanibel

I felt very excited to have been granted a new section for the Christmas Bird Count with the Sanibel-Captiva Audubon group - knowing the area and having two great birding friends to do it with made it even more delicious. Come along.....

The air was a bit crispy this morning however it made for a clear blue sky - and a Bald Eagle in it made it even more special. And off we entered the Pond Apple Trail - this particular trail turned out to be rather quiet this morning, that changed when we made our way around the retention ponds.

We enjoyed watching this Wood Stork working hard at getting ready to swallow its fresh catch.

Not too far away we marveled at the fact that there was a Ring-necked Duck occupying one of the ponds.

A Wren captured our attention for the longest time because it kept away from sight and at times providing small glimpse of parts of its body....

until it stayed long enough for us to study it and to finally be able to call it: Marsh Wren.

Another great sighting was 3 Black-crowned Night Heron with one staying out in the open while looking for some fish to eat.

One of many Green Herons.

An Osprey which seemed to have a lot more white on its head and body than we are used to seeing - Elaine had just attended a lecture the night before and she stated that we might have a Ridgeway Osprey - a sub-specie.

After documenting 4 hours of bird sighting for the Pond Apple Trail and the Shipley Trail, we made our way out and took a bit of time admiring this Great Pondhawk...

its head and thorax are bright green, its wings on the other hand are transparent....what's not to love! Overall I think we had a great morning, here is my E-Bird list that I turned in to the San-Cap Audubon for the Christmas Bird Count. I hope you get to go out and do your part.