Sanibel Island

Last week-ish, Ru and I drove to the west coast...

To have a look around the areas we're interested in living...

We ended up on Sanibel Island,

At Bowman's Beach...

We barely made it onto the causeway,

When we stopped on a narrow strip of beach 

To eat lunch...

And watch the shore birds...

An osprey dove into the water right in front of us...

No camera in hand of course...

But I did capture the black-bellied plover, above...

 

And a great egret...

 

Once at Bowman's Beach,

I gleefully strolled down the shore

Looking for seashells

And watching the feathered friends...

Like the sandwich terns, above

(Black bills w/ yellow tips)...

 

And this royal tern...

(All birds are in their winter plumage)...

 

The scenery was pleasant...

 

Walking back to the car, at the bridge

Over a waterway off of the ocean...

We watched two 'silver' gals

Canoeing at a brisk clip...

(Mom, you can do it!)

Long Key Natural Area

...Ok I missed a couple photos taken

At Tree Tops Park...

I got a better photo of a N. mockingbird...

This one didn't mind posing...

A gentle reminder (above) that...

We're not in "Kansas" anymore...

The park has this nice stand of live oaks...

To the left is a narrow 'stream'...

To the right is a man-made pond...

Several people were arriving to fish...

The pickerel weed grows in swampy areas...

After visiting Tree Tops,

We happened upon Long Key Natural Area...

(Not Long Key State Park)

A real nice, 124 acre nature 'preserve'...

Including a pond with soft shell turtles...

And pretty white pond lilies...

And what appeared to be giant swallowtails,

That wouldn't pose for the camera...

Leaving the park, we watched an osprey

Land on this branch...

I have since seen several osprey

Along I-75 while driving thru

The Big Cypress Nat'l Preserve...

Also in barren tree tops near the osprey,

Was this imm. anhinga...

At first I thought it was a cormorant...

I'm really hoping to get a good shot

Of a female anhinga eventually... (has yellow coloring)...

Also saw many of those along the BCNP...

And belted kingfishers...

And hawks...not sure what kind.

Swamp Creatures

Florida has what's called The Great Florida Birding Trail...

I haven't visited any of the sites on the trail yet...

(Thanks for the good tip, Bob!)...

But nature parks are in abundance...

And we've visited a couple in the past week...

 

So far the parks have been well-maintained,

And small, like Tree Tops Park.

We walked to the end of the boardwalk,

And after we walked away, this

Little Blue Heron landed by the covered sitting area,

So I crept back to get photos.

It posed nicely...

 

Swamp lilies were growing in the...swamp...

Kind of shocking to see lilies in this setting!

 

These berries are truly this color...

The beautyberry...common...

And stunning...

 

A distant common moorhen was paddling about in the swamp...

 

A great egret was carefully fishing...

A very common bird in FL...

 

Many white peacock butterflies were flitting, also common here...

...And a floating red-bellied turtle was hanging out.

More Florida 101

Finally, some subject matter for the camera lens...

Nothing extraordinary

For Florida...

But exciting to this newcomer...

We've spotted flocks of Ibises,

Flying toward the Everglades at dusk...

But a couple mornings ago,

My BIL yelled at me

To check out the birds

Walking down the street!

I grabbed the camera and

Got some shots

Of the wandering Ibises

Two houses down...

The palm warbler is real common this time of year...

But not easy to get a decent shot of...

The brown anole is really abundant;

These cute little backyard buggars

Stand guard around BIL's pool...

Pool Patrol, I call it...they're looking for bug snacks...

 Naturally the one bird I'm real familiar with, is the only bird I saw

at a really nice, sort of local rec. park yesterday...

The great egret.

The Halloween pennant dragonfly, probably real common...

...but so far I'm seeing waaay more of the...

Zebra long wing butterfly...

it's super abundant here!

A Little Florida 101

Since I haven't been out and about with the camera yet,

I'll have to post what I find around the house...

Can you believe my bird field guide books are packed away??

Yesterday, two small green parrot-type birds shot by

About two houses down...

Gone before I could inhale...

(I do realize they're probably escaped pets)...

Today I'm shuffling around like a 130 year old,

Dang back muscle spasm, OY!

So...a few things very common around Florida...

(a.k.a. Toto, I think we're not in Kansas anymore)...

Palm trees, of course! They're everywhere....

These black, distinct-songed birds...very common I'm sure...

Were squawking at ea other...a couple?

Also distinctly-shaped tail but no ID yet...

(Update: I got my field guides out of storage...

These are male boat-tailed grackles,

Uber-common here...

The females are a pretty brown color.)

 

Backyard pools...very, very common...too bad it's too 'cold' even for me

to enjoy a dip in, (the water temp., not the ambient temp.!)

...but it's nice to look at.

Well well, my first bird photo and what is it?? The Florida state bird...a Northern Mocking Bird!
A lifer, of course...and I haven't even begun to warm up yet.  :o)

First Days in Florida

Here it is finally...

My FIRST post for my new Blog...

a.k.a. Finding My Florida (in my Fifties)...

Ru and I landed in Panama City Beach,

In the Florida panhandle on Friday

And spent the night in a beachy hotel room w/ a balcony,

Right at the beach...

With a pool and lots of lounge chairs

Between the hotel and white silky sand...

 

The bird wildlife is beyond crazy awesome in Florida...

I just wish I could get more photos besides the one below

Of pelicans flying overhead...

I know, I know...patience!!

We spent Sat. and Sun. w/ good friends and their family near Orlando...

Monday, Halloween, we arrived in the (general) Miami area...

Checked into our hotel where we'll stay 3 days...

Before moving in temporarily (two? three months?) w/ my BIL...

After we unloaded our suitcases,

We asked the Garmin,

"Where's the nearest Pollo Tropical?!"

Beg, beg, BEG!!

We snarfed...

And I do mean SNARFED!

our yummy Cuban fast food down...

It's been six years since I first/last ate at PT...

Where else can you get delicious fast CUBAN food

But in Florida?! Gotta love it!

By the way...
Besides the several, un ID'd (ARG!) water birds
Seen all over the place...
While we were stopped at an intersection
What should flit down and land on a street light...
But an Osprey!
In the middle of city life.

Florida?! Gotta love it!