A Full-time Life

Category: Florida exploring

PALM ISLAND FLORIDA by boat

I'm posting about a boat-trip again — but this week closer to real time, in a (much) smaller boat, and (much) closer to home than the cruise ship trip I posted about last week (and earlier). We traveled to Cape Haze/Palm Island toward the end of February.

This is Palm Island Marina where we spent a mid-week long weekend recently. (And if you know what a mid-week long weekend is, you are probably just as retired as we are.) We were a flotilla of three from our RV Park, cruising down the Caloosahatchee River and then across Charlotte Bay to Cape Haze — about a 60-mile boat trip. It is a beautiful Marina facility with a good restaurant, outdoor kitchen/coffee facilities, swimming pool and hot tub. And a water taxi that ferries you across to a private island where the only form of land transportation allowed is golf cart. There's a good restaurant there too and a few of the requisite beach shops (souvenirs = nah ….. ice cream = oh yes).

This is how we collect shells these days.

On docking overnight at the Marina, we received a guest pass that allowed us to use the private beach over on the island — we beach-walked first and then rented a golf cart to access some of the more remote corners. (And enjoyed looking at the private vacation homes and condos as we tooled along.)

Ibis Tree

The more remote private area that we golf-carted to is called 'Shark's Tooth Beach' and we found a few of those teeth (I did keep a couple of those — they are small.) That is also where I spotted a dead tree that, from a distance, looked like it had white flowers growing on it. This is the view as I got closer. The Ibis were not disturbed at all.

A little while after I walked past the tree, I looked up from my shell collecting and saw that the time for resting in the tree was over — now it was time to eat.

We saw several of these big old guys — the Gopher Tortoise is on the endangered list in Florida, but they appear to be doing well on this island. And that is undoubtedly because there are no cars, which are definitely not a friend to these slow-movers.

I think that these are Willets in winter plumage. But shore-bird ID is always hard for me. In any case, like all shorebirds, they were fun to watch as they raced up and down the tide edge looking for things to eat.

A long-shot across from Shark's Tooth to where some people were enjoying the sand and waves. I include it mostly because I love the way it shows the colors of the water. The river where we live is usually muddy looking (the tourist brochures call it 'tea' or 'coffee-colored'.) It's from tannin and polluted discharge from Lake Okechobee. So it is nice to see water that is actually the "color of water" as it should be.

Grateful for good friends, beautiful scenery, warm weather —

and for the time to enjoy all of that.

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities: THANK YOU to all of the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; OUR WORLD on Tuesday; NATURE NOTES; ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS; WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY; Wednesday AROUND THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B'BIRDING.

March 4, 2018
VISITING THE SWAMPS AND SLOUGHS



We've had company …. and we took them to the swamps and the sloughs. Whoever said we weren't great hosts? Our brother and sister-in-law are visiting from Spokane (the Eastern half of Washington State) where they left frigid temperatures and deep snow. So we've had a great time showing off our Florida sunshine.

In addition to getting warm again (at least for a while), they really wanted to see alligators — and we knew just where to go. And of course we saw lots of beautiful Florida birds too.

Egret keeping an eye on a fellow denizen of Big Cypress Swamp

Anhinga

Birds of Prey

Osprey, CaraCara, and Red Shouldered Hawk (I'm sure about the first two — I think on the hawk)



Green Heron — trying to hide as he preens

Still in hiding!

X

Little Blue Heron

And some more shots of what our company wanted to see!

(And of course I know nobody would believe we were actually in SW Florida until I posted my annual alligator pictures.)

Not a lot of words this week because we're still busy seeing the beauty and fun of our area through new eyes. It is so good to see family! Thanks for coming Rik and Lyn!

And thank you also to the link hosts who give us an opportunity to share with virtual friends even when we don't have company in real life:

SHARING this week with: MOSAIC MONDAY; OUR WORLD Tuesday; NATURE NOTES; ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS; WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY; Wednesday AROUND THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B'BIRDING.

February 18, 2018
TRAVELING, CLOSER TO HOME



Today's pictures are from two recent overnight trips… one by boat, one by car. We are fortunate to have so many interesting destinations near our winter home.



I'm convinced that Southwest Florida is blessed with some of the most beautiful skies in the world. The above pictures were taken on our New Year's Eve boat trip. We stayed two nights (on the boat) at Salty Sam's Marina on Estero Island. There were fireworks on the beach at midnight … but honestly, they couldn't rival the earlier sunset.



Earlier in the month we traveled by car to the Crystal River and visited Homasassa State Park. A large population of flamingos calls the Park home.

Amazing to observe these beautiful birds from the boardwalk … Wonderful whether they were awake or asleep — and whether standing on one leg or two! It really was usually on one, just like picture books and cartoons always show them.

Skipping back to the start of this post (or ahead in time) to our New Year's boat trip. We had a pleasant boat ride getting there and a lovely time while docked at the Marina. This picture (above)  is the OH! Zone — our boat — across from a somewhat larger one. The boat behind ours belongs to friends from our RV resort … we traveled with two other couples.  It was great to spend the Holiday with our boating friends in this beautiful location … and definitely a time to give thanks for our mild winter weather.

Pictures from the Marina – in the center is a sailboat mast decorated for the Christmas Holidays … it must have been quite a feat to climb up that high with those lights! The third boat on this trip is in the lower right photo.

I've been posting for a couple of months about our recent longer trip on a bigger boat to get home this season — and here in blog-land we haven't even made it through the Panama Canal yet, so there will be more cruise posts to come. But in real time we're happily at home in our corner of the world collecting more memories. And we're more than grateful that we can do that.

Thank you to the hosts of these sharing opportunities: OUR WORLD on Tuesday; ALL SEASONS; MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; THROUGH MY LENS; WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY; Wednesday AROUND THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B'BIRDING.

January 21, 2018
CRYSTAL RIVER FLORIDA



It’s really true that we are at home in the Sunshine State for the season – and I'm taking a break from posting about our sea-to-sea journey to get here in order to show some "natural Florida." These pictures were all taken on last week’s car excursion to the Crystal River area. It's a couple hundred miles from our 'Canal Cottage'.



There were a LOT of wood ducks on the river! I was so excited. This beautiful duck had been on my birding wish list for a long time . A couple of years ago, I finally did see one in Oregon and then another off in the distance near Fort Myers — but both were very long-distance views. So then my wish-list changed from 'see a wood duck' to 'get a good picture of a wood duck.'

This is the way we spotted them at first — and I was pretty happy just to witness this interesting vignette. Mr and Mrs Wood Duck were swimming along with a mallard — which seems huge in comparison. We watched the trio for a while and then walked on — and that was when I spotted some more of these ducks up closer. While we were watching them (the first picture here was taken then) the trio came along again going the other way. They seemed happy to be together — we spotted them a few more times as we explored. Kind of made us wonder what that was all about.

We saw tons of other birds – including pretty much every species of Heron known in these parts. Here are a few of them. I'll probably post more pictures of at least some of these guys again — and I will definitely be showing pictures later of some other amazing birds we saw at Homosassa State Park during this trip …..

…. but today's post is really all about the Wood Duck. I feel like I can definitely check this bird off my wish list now, because I honestly don't think I could possibly get any better pictures of one. But I’ll certainly never get tired of seeing these beautiful birds and I hope we get to see them again.

Grateful for the opportunity to see these wonderful birds and thankful to be where it's warm and sunny this time of year. Thank you for visiting our FullTime-Life. Special thanks to the hosts of these sharing opportunities: SATURDAY CRITTERS; NATURE NOTES; ALL SEASONS; OUR WORLD on Tuesday; THROUGH MY LENS; WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY;  Wednesday AROUND THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY; and RATHER B'BIRDING.

December 29, 2017
BABY BLUE’S LUNCH

We've seen hundreds of Great Blue Herons and I've probably photographed nearly that many — but it doesn't have to be a new bird to make me happy. Especially when we get to observe behavior we haven't seen before.

We saw and heard this little screaming match going on up in the greenery at Wakodahatchee. I was glad we tore our eyes away from the nesting storks (here) and looked up, because these herons unknowingly let us witness a great show.    Just a slice of daily life for the birds, but a new learning experience for these bird observers.

Baby Great Blue Heron was hungry. And he let the parent (could be either mom or dad) know by tapping the adult's gullet.

Ouch!

This little one had obviously been around long enough to know where dinner comes from: The adult swallows the fish and then regurgitates it back up into the babies beak.

After about half an hour, the adult bird finally gave in and (rather roughly it seemed) gave the kid its meal. I wonder if making the baby wait a while is the beginning of the weaning process. It would be interesting to watch the whole process from hatch to fledge the way I've been able to do with the Bald Eagles that nest nearer to us.

Here are some other Wakodahatchee birds showing off their fine feathers:

(L): Snowy Egret, Boat-Tailed Grackle; (C): Green Heron preening; (R): Little Blue Heron; Green Heron

These are the last pictures from our last overnight excursion this Florida season and I'm linking  them with the following sharing opportunities:

OUR WORLD on Tuesday; NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY; ALL SEASONS; WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY; SATURDAY CRITTERS; RATHER B'BIRDING; and THROUGH MY LENS

Thank you to all of the hosts.

May 28, 2017
CATCHING UP



The time for our late Spring cross-country migration is approaching. And that means it's time to clean up the odd little corners around here — time for using up, straightening, giving away, or throwing out. We're going through the refrigerator/freezer …the clothes closets … the filing cabinets … the junk drawers … and, look, even the photo archives. Here are some picture memories that almost didn't get shared, but that I certainly didn't want to throw out.

Because I only post once a week these days, usually on Saturday or Sunday, one of my favorite sharing sites, SkyWatch Friday, has gotten a little neglected. But I still gaze up and take pictures. Above is a collection of evening sky and moon shots from throughout the season.

This is the last picture I took of 'our' local eaglet before he left home for life's adventures in the big wide wonderful world. According to the folks at the Eagle Cam website, E9  was last seen on May 2nd. (This picture is from late April.) Harriet and M-15 did a good job of teaching their offspring all the Eagle lessons they could. Everyone hopes they'll enjoy their quiet season safely and come back next winter to begin the parenting process anew.

These pictures are from a visit to Sarasota's Mote Aquarium. We stopped there on our way home from one of our overnight exploring trips. And there were so many bird pictures from that trip that the fish didn't have a chance to make it into the post. The Aquarium is home to over a hundred marine species — these are some of the more photogenic inhabitants (or at least those who live in some of the better-lighted tanks).

The Aquarium is the informal science education branch of Mote Marine Laboratory (see more here). Mote scientists are noted for their work on saving coral reefs and for shark research. The huge shark tank was impressive, but not easy to photograph.

So all three of the above photo groups are memories from the past months here in Florida. But as we clean up and plan for our travels next month, daily life here at Upriver goes on.

It's a different and quieter world now that most of our neighbors have already left. When I swim these days, it's almost always a private pool – and, oh my goodness, is that pool lovely when it's 90 degrees outside!

But it's only the quiet season as far as people are concerned — the birds and the flowering trees are either noisy or flamboyant (or both).

We see (and hear) Pileated woodpeckers often and the smaller Red-bellied woodpeckers are often spotted on morning walks. The Royal Poinciana tree which blossoms this time of year is actually also known as the Flamboyant Tree. And it really is.

We still have a few more weeks to enjoy the quiet (or different kind of noise) — and maybe even time for another close-to-home adventure before we close up the Cottage. So I hope to post another time or two from here.

These memories are linked to the following sharing opportunities: Thank you to all of the generous hosts.

OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; ALL SEASONS; WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY; WEDNESDAY WATERS; THROUGH MY LENS; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B' BIRDING.

May 21, 2017
THE BABIES THE STORKS BROUGHT



Happy Mother's Day!

Grown-up Wood Storks aren't the loveliest birds in the world …



"… but they're so cute when they're little."

Look at those big feet!

All of the storks in this post were seen on the same day at Wakodahatchee Wetlands. It was a very active and busy rookery. And that's really wonderful news because our native Florida wood stork has been endangered for some time due to ongoing drought conditions during what is supposed to be the rainy season in Florida (summer). In dry conditions, there are storks around, but they don't breed.

We were surprised that there were babies at so many stages of development (we saw nests of even newer babies, but those didn't show well in the pictures). There's a little cattle egret photo-bombing the stork portrait in the bottom right picture. Herons, egrets, and anhingas seemed happy to share this wetland real estate with the hundreds of storks.



Guano Happens.

All my bird books said that Wood Storks have long black legs. I went on line to see why these, especially the younger ones, had grayish white ones. When I found out, I was kind of sorry I'd done the research (see photo caption). But I learned that the birds may do this on purpose because it cools them down in terribly hot weather.

While the Wood Storks were definitely the stars of the show at Wakodahatchee, we enjoyed watching the supporting players as well. Below are a few more of them (there are others in the previous post, Part one of this excursion):

Little Blue Heron, Purple Marten, Great Egret, Cattle Egret, Great Blue Herons with Anhinga in background; and an unknown (to me) perching bird that kept showing up everywhere.

Wakodatchee Wetlands in Del Ray Beach and nearby Green Cay were created as part of the water filtration system for Palm Beach County. The water and plantings make them  great places for birds and wildlife. And that would be true whether people visited or not.   The County deserves praise and thanks for the wetlands and for the amenities that make them an oasis for bird-watchers and nature lovers as well as for the wildlife.

LINKING this week to: SATURDAY CRITTERS; RATHER B'BIRDING; ALL SEASONS; NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY; OUR WORLD on Tuesday; and WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY. Many thanks to each of the generous hosts.

May 12, 2017
GREEN CAY and WAKODAHATCHEE WETLANDS , part one



It seems like it's either no birds or nothing but birds around FullTime-Life these days. Last  week it was 'nothing but' (at least as far as pictures go). Only, oh my gosh, there was a whole lot of different kinds of 'nothing but' – and I still can't stop smiling.

Green Heron

We spent a few days last week RoadTrek camping in Fort Lauderdale. We went mid-week — the retired people version of a long weekend away. We found some great restaurants (grown-up camping means eating most meals out). But we were there mostly to go birding and we visited two amazing wetland areas:    Wakodahatchee and Green Cay.

Whistling Ducks

Both places are created wetlands for Palm Beach County. In addition to their practical purposes, these areas provide wonderful habitat for birds. The boardwalks in both places were well-maintained and optimal for viewing .

Little Blue Heron

Even after weeding the pictures down to a somewhat manageable number, I couldn't even begin to choose favorites — and nor could I show even one of each variety we saw in one post. That is why I already know that this is only Part I from  this excursion.

Common Gallinules

Common Gallinules are — well — common in every wetlands we've ever visited. But seeing the babies or juveniles (like the ones on the top and bottom corners) was a first. All we saw at first was this dot of red looking like it was rolling through the marsh grass. It took a while to see the rest of the baby bird.   These water birds (they're not ducks)  are sometimes known as Marsh Hens.

Least Terns

There were birds everywhere — even on the roof of this shelter (which we welcomed — it was a hot day).

Glossy Ibis

The practical purpose of the wetlands is to filter and clean treated waste water. Purple pickerel weed and other plants serve as natural filters — and they also make wonderful habitat for water birds. It was a little hard to get decent pictures because the grasses and reeds tended to obscure the birds' faces. It took some time and patience, but it was worth it.

There will be more un-obscured faces from both places in another post. These are shared with the following:

ALL SEASONS; NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY; OUR WORLD on TUESDAY; WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY; WEDNESDAY WATERS; and THROUGH MY LENS .

Huge thanks to each of the hosts for the opportunities they provide.

May 7, 2017
MAY DAY 2017



May Day is for giving away flowers.

When I was little we made May Day construction paper cornucopias and arranged jammed some garden flowers into them. The tradition was to hang these baskets on neighbors' doorknobs, ring the bell and then run and hide. I don't think the run-away part carried on to the next generation, but our kids used to take flowers to neighbors to celebrate the day.    And Bill and I always took bouquets from the garden to our work.

We don't garden any longer and anyway most of our close neighbors here have already left for the summer season…. but here is a virtual arrangement for you — our virtual neighbors.

These certainly are not the same Spring flowers we (and our kids) enjoyed when we lived in the Pacific Northwest. But they are good examples of the more tropical blooms we see here on Florida's Gulf Coast this time of year.

    No rhododendrons, no lilacs, no tulips ….. but Plan B flowers are good too!

All of the flowers today are from our April visit to Naples Botanical Gardens. I was fascinated by the purple centers on those daisy-like flowers and the blue-green tendrils on the vine in the center. An unreal color — but occurring naturally (no photo enhancement on any of these pictures).

I'm pretty sure the sign really says "Dancing Tree", but I'd like to pretend the lizard's foot  is covering an "F" instead and it it means that he is Dancing Free… as all lizards should.

Here is one more of the origami sculptures at the Gardens (there are more here at this earlier post). This one is doing a lovely job of pointing out the beautiful blue Florida sky.    (Which is a definite advantage to spending April and May here.)

Linking this week to: NATURE NOTES; ALL SEASONS; MOSAIC MONDAY; MACRO MONDAY; OUR WORLD on Tuesday; THROUGH MY LENS; FLORAL BLISS; SIGNS SIGNS; WEDNESDAY WATERS; and SKYWATCH FRIDAY. THANK YOU to all of the hosts.

April 29, 2017
BIRD BRAINS



On a recent mini-roadtrip to Cortez Florida, on the Gulf of Mexico, we did what we almost always do when we go away — watched beautiful birds and observed their behavior.

This handsome Great Blue Heron patiently waited for prey to swim by.



More birds looking for their next meal. The Little Blue Heron walked along the shore hunting; Ibis (in breeding colors) searched for and caught small fish; and the always opportunistic gulls were probably hoping for a handout from the photographer.



Shortly after we returned from that trip, my sister sent an e-mail linking to a review of this book. I've always thought birds are smarter than usually credited and was happy to find the book at our Library. I'd just started reading it when we went away on another short road-trip.

On our way home, we found a bird that definitely didn't qualify as a subject for the book.   We were driving our RoadTrek camper van just outside Sarasota when a car in the next lane beeped and made the universal gesture that something was wrong with our car. Slightly panicked, I rolled down the window and the fellow shouted "You have a bird living in your air-conditioner … I think it may be trapped."

Poor thing!

We pulled in at the very next driveway and there the poor mockingbird was — trapped for sure in our roof A/C unit and growing more and more frantic. She'd apparently flown in through the wider opening at the bottom, but couldn't see it once she was inside.    We had camped in the van the night before and run the A/C, so we knew the bird hadn't been there very long. She must have flown in while we were making a short pit-stop just a few minutes earlier. (In fact we were still sipping our iced coffees.)

Luckily, the driveway happened to be to a parking lot for an AutoZone. And this auto parts/repair store had the right tools to loosen the heavy bolts holding the unit. This employee started the work — he was tall enough not to need a ladder. But even with the A/C unit lifted partly up, the frantic bird was still afraid to fly out. After about 20 minutes, the store manager came out wearing gloves and was finally able to reach in and catch the bird. Which quickly flew back the way we'd come.   Definitely not a good example of the genius of birds, but I hope she was at least smart enough to have learned a lesson.

The manager tightened the bolts again, just laughed about the whole thing, and didn't charge us at all for the time. Bill said that AutoZone had always been his first choice when he needed car parts and service – and it certainly is now.

The picture below is a different mockingbird (maybe smarter, maybe luckier, definitely happier.)

Linking to the following sharing opportunities: OUR WORLD on Tuesday; NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY; ALL SEASONS; WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY; WEDNESDAY WATERS; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B' BIRDING. Thank you to all of the hosts.

April 23, 2017