A Belted Kingfisher

Walking along Wulfert Point this morning I had the pleasure of being with a Belted Kingfisher.

This is the only photo she granted me with the light in my back - and I find it quite interesting how the feathers seem grey here when in fact they appear to be blue - as can be seen in the following photos.

This is one of the few instances where the female has more colors than the male - such as the rufous breast bands.

This specie has just arrived a couple of weeks ago and will spend the winter here.

It is most often heard before it is seen and it does prefer to keep its distance.

I was pleased to be in her company.

 

A beach morning walk along Sanibel shore

An early rising brought me to the beach and as always I was pleased with my encounters. Come along and see....

A couple Dragonflies were spinning around before they landed by my feet, I watched for a bit before they flew off again.

 I'm not quite sure what that was about, so you be the judge. 
I was then drawn to a 'shell' art - just beautiful to see this gratitude message with the shorebirds on top.

Then, the sunrise in all its glory - nature is beautiful just as it is.

A small group of Sandwich Terns - take a look at their bill and see how it looks as if they dipped it in mustard - of course the last one on the right has yet to reach that stage since he's still maturing.

A little pool within the sandy beach was a perfect spot for this Snowy Egret's breakfast.

It was hard to peel away from the Snowy at first but I soon was distracted by the Black-bellied Plover and the Sanderling.

Shortly after I went to the Lighthouse to check things out - a walk along the dirt trail provided good viewing of a Skipper.

Isn't it amazing how they look when we can see the details up close - I didn't realize how 'hairy looking' this guy was.

I then went near the pier and saw this Loggerhead Sea Turtle - well, what's left of it. It most likely suffered from propeller injuries and then became food for the sea life.

The turtle was reported and will be removed from the beach after detailed information is taken and recorded with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Take a look at this back limb -isn't it just incredible that they can create a perfect cylinder chamber to deposit their eggs in with such a large flipper? Isn't nature just amazing?

On the other side of the Pier, a dark morph of the Reddish Egret with Snowy Egrets - all seemingly waiting for a hand out from the fisherman.

A Willet was nearby - a one leg willet.

On my way back to the car, I heard and saw several Eastern Kingbird - I though he looked a little scruffy - so, he cleaned up his act ....

"How's that!"

Sweet Saturday

The sun is back and I am grateful .....and..... I can finally venture out and do some birding. Today's agenda: Meet up with Dottie and go to Six Miles Cypress Slough - sounds like a good plan.

One of our first sighting was by the parking lot - a Yellow-throated Warbler - now, that's a sweet bird to feast your eyes on.

 Then we were granted great views of a few Carolina Wren - singing and jumping/flying to/fro branches.

 We also saw and heard several Blue-gray Gnatcatchers - talk about fast little bullets, they sure are very entertaining.

After a bit we headed back south and before parting ways Dottie mentioned some of the ducks that recently landed near the Golf Course at Shell Point - we opted to check them out.

I like to see ducks and I am excited that soon more will make their way back for the winter and we'll get to enjoy them again.

 There was a nice bunch, we counted 27 Mottled Ducks, 2 Mallards and 1 Blue-winged Teal, they all shared a common area.

 Mottled Ducks have been mixing with other ducks and it's the reason why some of them look really different from others.

There were small bodies of water in low lying areas and I guess we can be thankful for the rain.

The ducks were really feeling ducky about all of this - so much so that they couldn't decide which side to settle on, so they often traded sides with one another.

 After getting our fill with down we started heading out when we spotted some shorebirds in the grass fields...need to investigate!

 Dowitchers! We started watching them when all of a sudden they all took off with a couple of Killdeers in tow. We could only watch and wait.

 They flew several loops around, all together in beautiful harmony. They flew quietly except for the Killdeers

 They finally stopped flying and landed near the duck 'ponds'. I originally thought them to be Long-billed since they were found in fresh water however because we are so close to 'shore' and the fact that their shape is slightly different makes them Short-billed Dowitcher.

See - isn't great that we've had all this rain lately? It certainly provided for many creatures in need. Thanks for reading - here is my E-bird list for the Slough and for the Shell Point area.

 

Lac Superior, Canada

A visit to see my family was way over due and of course the icing on the cake was to observe some of the wildlife, the rain kept getting in the way but what I did see was quite rewarding.

Just a few feet from the back deck I was able to observe a Hairy Woodpecker - how awesome is that!

A Blue Jay stayed close by - some injury kept him from flying away.

This was quite a highlight for me - a Black-capped Chickadee - and how I loved their song and quick movements!

These little Chipmunks were quite precious.

An American Goldfinch - probably getting fat for the long journey south.

Several Sparrows were spotted, a Chipping Sparrow took the time to pose.

Ha! This one looked familiar - An American  Robin on top surrounded by pine cones.

A pine forest ready for hikers.

A White-throated Sparrow.

A male (whisker) 'yellow-shafted' Northern Flicker showing off his yellow accents.

A fawn was seen following his deer mom.

Another Chipping Sparrow.

A Red-breasted Merganser, by himself on a big lake with not another duck in sight.

This setting was the back yard of the charming B&B that we stayed in - "La Petite Douceur" was charming and homey, the hosts....Francine & Daniel....extremely accomodating and the breakfasts were to die for. If you are ever in this area, I highly recommend a stay with them.

 Another White-throated Sparrow.

This one was a nice surprise - a female Black-throated Blue Warbler.

 Sadly the week went by too quickly, however many happy memories will be treasured for years to come.