Pelicans at Bowman

After birding most of the weekend - Elaine and I decided to hit the beach for some shelling - HA! sometimes the best plans are meant to be broken.....instead I bring you Brown Pelicans....

To be perfectly honest I have to admit that I didn't use to pay attention to the Pelicans until I developed a passion for birding and now....

every time I see them I notice their intricate differences....the young ones are all brown and..

the older they get the more colorful they become.

And look how flexible that pouch is!

I also noticed today that their eyes are a different color as they age

a perfect example right here.

"What are you looking at?" it seems to say.

A mere few others were sighted - this White Ibis is just begging for admiration and why not!

And the Plovers are pairing up - soon they'll be sitting on eggs.

Three Wilson Plovers - can you see them all?

Pretty tricky wasn't it?

Well, I hope you enjoyed our sightings....come back later for more :)

Banded birds at the beach

It's officially the start of the Snowy Plover nesting season - so, off I go to the Gulfside Park beach to check things out.

Some of the Snowy Plovers have been banded, this particular lady got her blings as an adult in 2009 in Sanibel.

This little fellow was banded just recently on the East End of Sanibel.

This area of the beach had 8 Snowy Plover, this one is not banded.

Another banded Snowy Plover - this one got its bands last month around the Lighthouse of Sanibel.

My friend Elaine is admiring this beach art which was done on the edge of the roped off area for the Snowy Plovers.

Nearby - a Lesser Black-backed Gull is spotted.

No wonder Sanibel is known as the seashell capital of the world.

Within the shells - treasure can be found such as this Spider crab which looked comical with its two barnacles on its back.

A Red Knot! It liked to hang out with the Willets.

Kites are not my favorite since they look like a predator to the beach birds - but this one, being a sea turtle, I make an exception.

Then we saw some Sanderlings that were also banded....

the only information I have so far is that Sanderlings are banded in Canada - who knew that they came from my country! Oh Canada!

All in all, I'd say it was a great day revisiting the Snowy Plover - I look forward to another season with the hopes of successful fledglings.

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.