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Happy New Year from Southwestern Florida — where butterflies are alive and well and flowers are blooming as if it were Spring.

Today's pictures were taken on January 2 at Manatee Park. This County Park is a five-minute drive from the Canal Cottage and is even closer to the nearest neighborhood supermarket. When we first get back home, we spend even more time than usual buying food — restocking for the season. (A few canned goods are pretty much the only food we can leave here over the summer.) So it's fun to tag a walk in the park onto yet another shopping trip.

There are no manatees swimming near Manatee Park right now. It was an unusually warm December, so these endangered aquatic animals are still happily disbursed — swimming out in the Caloosahatchie River. (They'll bunch in here when the weather and river water turn cooler… the water at this park is warmer because it is near a power plant.)

But there were lots of butterflies. I saw many more kinds than I show here, but most of them wouldn't hold still for a picture.

New Year's Resolution: get more butterfly pictures this season — and learn more of their names! (I think I need to get to the park earlier in the morning — before the butterflies warm up.)

Tufted duck

These birds were all photographed at a stream behind another supermarket where we occasionally shop.

The muscovy and tufted ducks are probably domesticated varieties that are living out in the "wild." But I think they've been wild in this area for generations … so I hope they qualify for Stewart's meme. (That's an Ibis at the bottom right of course — ubiquitous in this area and certainly wild!)

Linking this post to OUR WORLD on Tuesday (thank you to the team: Lady Fi, Gattina, Arija, Sandy, Sylvia, and Jenn); and to MOSAIC MONDAY (thank you Judith) and to NATURE NOTES (thank you Michelle) and to WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY (thank you Stewart).

January 3, 2016

MORE FROM OUR PALM BEACH VISIT

A couple of Ibis guard the waters from a Boardwalk railing (fence?). The sign (below right) might lead you to expect to be climbing a steep mountain soon.

But we are used to flat-land Florida by now and the sign couldn't fool us. Even at our advanced ages, we managed to hike up this "elevation" without even using the rail (and without even breathing hard). We did 'perspire' a little, but that was because of the heat, not the exertion. Seriously, note the handrail on the left of the bottom picture – I didn't notice any elevation gain then and I don't see it here! It's all relative I guess - we are from the Pacific Northwest where a change in elevation usually means more than "climbing" a few steps higher than sea level.

Two Sandhill Cranes browse the fence-line near a boardwalk at Wellington.

We watched from poolside as the Christmas full moon rose. These aren't the best moon shots I've ever taken — the tiki lights at the Palm Beach hotel pool bar and the city lights in the distance were a little distracting. But it was a beautiful evening! Sometimes I still have to pinch myself to believe that it is the end of December and we can actually sit outside late into the evening enjoying dinner al fresco.

LINKING this post to SIGNS SIGNS; ">GOOD FENCES; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and SATURDAY CRITTERS.

Thank you to all of the hosts for providing these wonderful sharing opportunities.

December 30, 2015

SOUTH FLORIDA GETAWAY

Our Christmas getaway was a combination of City activities and wildlife-watching. I guess we both have split personalities, because this is exactly the kind of mini-vacation that makes us both happy.

This is the view from the 12th Floor of our Hotel in Palm Beach. We always have fun exploring different areas in our part-time home State and this was a new part of for us.

We ate a lot of delicious food — and I was too busy enjoying it to remember to take a single picture. (I laughed at the recent cartoon where the waiter is asking his customers if something is wrong with their food because they haven't taken a picture of it yet. –

Just one more example of how different life is in the 21st Century.)

At any rate, pictures or not, we had a great time enjoying the City and the food and the hotel amenities.

But we really had a lot of fun finding the birding spots in the area. (And that part of the trip was definitely the most picture-worthy.)

Here are some we saw. None were brand-new, but all were first-time-this-season. (It is always good to see old friends when we get back to our Winter home.)

Tri-colored Herons in various poses.

Usually when we see Sandhill Cranes they are standing out in the middle of a big flat field and so it is hard to show how really large these birds are. Here, the tree provided a better visual. (These guys are around 4 feet tall.)

We saw all of the birds in this post at Peaceful Waters Sanctuary in Wellington. Here a pair of Common Gallinules enjoy their aptly-named home.

Linking to: OUR WORLD on Tuesday; NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY; and WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY.

Many thanks to the hosts of all of these fun sharing and learning opportunities.

December 27, 2015

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

(These are repeat pictures, because we're still recovering from our cross-country trip — and just enjoying the weather and friends here on the Canal — fun, but not picture-worthy just yet! There will be plenty of opportunities for nature and pictures after the Holidays! )

LIGHTHOUSE, SANIBEL ISLAND

The weather is a little different, but the spirit is the same.

Whatever pulls your sleigh, we wish you all the joys of the Holiday season!

Linking to OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY. Thank you to Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy, Arija, Gattina, and Jenn (the OWT team).

December 21, 2015

WE’RE BACK!

We're home for the Winter!

In spite of slow areas like this, it was a fast cross-country trip (for us) as we made the 3,750 mile trip in ten days.

In fact, it was actually the kind of road-trip that makes people say they hate road-trips. Nothing but driving, eating, and sleeping. (We didn't exactly hate it, because we are a couple of those weird people who just like to go places – but of course traveling is more fun when you stop and explore along the way.)

There was a lot of country like that above – not much to look at but sky, sagebrush, and lots of long-distance truckers and fellow travelers.

But the boredom was punctuated by moments of joy.

And we amused ourselves by reminiscing about times we've spent in every state we crossed. We've visited pretty much every one of the points of interest on this route. But this time, we were in a hurry to get back to our winter home.

It's a big country out there — these desert scenes in the middle of our trip really point out how much space there is out there. Lots of room, but not much water.

It's good to be home!

(And we don't think we'll go anywhere at all —- for at least a week or two!)

Linking to: OUR WORLD on Tuesday (very late — I must be trying to be the last entry); WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY and SCENIC WEEKENDS.

Thank you to all of the hosts.

December 15, 2015

BIRDS OF ANOTHER COLOR (part 2)

We see White Ibis very frequently when we're in Florida — in our RV Park, on street corners, in yards everywhere as well as in the parks where we walk.

When I first saw these dark-colored Ibis (by themselves) around town, I thought they were another variety. But then I looked them up and decided they were first-year juvenile white ibis.

Here is one in a family group (on the street in the RV Resort where we live when we are in Florida.) Seems fairly clear that he belongs to the clan.

LINKING TO: SATURDAY CRITTERS (thanks to Eileen); RATHER B-BIRDING (thank you Anni) and WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY (thank you Stewart)

July 24, 2015

CREATURES OF THE (NOT SO) DEEP

From the wetlands near where our RV is parked at Fern Ridge Shores come these creatures seen the first week after we arrived earlier this month:

It's actually only one creature from several angles. The River Otter (or maybe we should call it a Lake Otter here) was swimming back and forth, front and back, until he finally settled on the perfect green shoot to chew on for breakfast:

From the National Wildlife Organization website: River Otters are playful semi-aquatic mammals … They can thrive in any water habitat, such as ponds, marshes, lakes, rivers, estuaries and marshes—in cold, warm or even high elevation areas—as long as the habitat provides adequate food …. An adult is around three and a half feet long and weighs between 11 and 30 pounds. They eat fish, aquatic vegetation, and even small water creatures.

Below are some different waters. And a definitely different aquatic mammal. (From the end of June — the last week we were in Florida.):

The water at the end of our Canal was at low tide and fairly shallow one morning . It was mesmerizing to watch the colors swirl around but I wondered what was stirring things up. And then …

… I spotted a nose just edging out of the water. I actually counted three manatees that morning. Manatees like warm water and they come into the river in the winter because it is warmer than out in the Gulf. But usually by May, they have gone out into the Gulf. We don't know why this year was different since we saw them all the way through June.

Sometimes all you see is bubbles — these guys can stay under water for ages.

Manatees (Sea Cows) are related to the elephant. They are ten to twelve feet long and weigh 1500 to 1800 pounds. They are herbivores whose diet consists of sea grass and aquatic vegetation. There are several good websites dedicated to this oddly fascinating creature. Here is one good place.

This post will be linked to: SATURDAY CRITTERS (thank you to Eileen); to OUR WORLD on TUESDAY (thank you to Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy, Arija, Gattina, and Jennifer); to NATURE NOTES (thanks to Michelle); to MOSAIC MONDAY (thank you Judith); and to WEDNESDAY WATERS (thank you to Gemma).

July 17, 2015

CRANES OF ANOTHER COLOR

We saw these Sandhill Cranes along a country road last month (yes, still blogging from Florida although in real-life we are across the country).

We were surprised to see them wearing brown!

Last summer we saw brown Sandhill Cranes in Alaska — on the Kenai Peninsula. Until then we had thought they were always grayish white.

I posted a couple of the above picture to a Florida birding site on FaceBook and people thought the brownish ones were first-year juveniles. All of the ones we saw in Alaska were a richer red-brown color (picture below):

I found the following information about Sandhills on the National Wildlife Federation website:

Although the feathers are gray, sometimes they can have a reddish-brown appearance. The reason for the change in color is that sandhill cranes preen themselves by rubbing mud on their feathers. The mud can be brown or red. The red mud comes from iron rich environments.

LINKING TO: WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY (thank you to Stewart) and to RATHER B' BIRDING (thanks to Anni).

July 14, 2015

TREASURES FROM THE SEA

We are back in the Pacific Northwest now, but haven't yet had a chance to check on the Pacific Ocean. (I'm pretty sure it is still there – it always seems to get along just fine without us.)

These pictures are from the other Coast – taken on our last trip to the Gulf while we were in Florida.

I put the picture part of this post together while we were still at the Canal Cottage, but didn't have time to post them before we closed things up for the season.

We don't bring shells home any more (from either Coast). We live in small spaces and it would be very easy to fill up every available surface with these treasures.

So we take only pictures. (And on the beach, we don't even leave footprints.)

I spent some time trying to find names for some of these shells — instead of doing whatever I was supposed to be doing. But I didn't have much luck. Either there were no matches at all (like of the one above) or there were too many — several that looked quite similar.

So please enjoy – as we do — just for the beauty and the wonder!

Thank you to the hosts of the following four wonderful sharing opportunities: Laura's I HEART MACRO; Gemma's MONDAY MACRO; Judith's MOSAIC MONDAY and OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY (because we're still too busy getting caught up here on this coast). (OWT is hosted by the team of Lady Fi, Gattina, Arija, Sandy, Sylvia, and Jenn.)

July 12, 2015

PILEATED WOODPECKER

We're not in Florida any longer, but the blog hasn't caught up yet.

Even though it was super hot the last week we were in the Canal Cottage — and even though we were really busy closing things up for the season — I still walked early every morning before it got too hot. And there were still great photo-ops.

One day, I caught this handsome Pileated Woodpecker hanging out (literally) in a carrotwood tree.

That tree is an invasive species for the area (this link). When we first came to Fort Myers we saw them everywhere. Now most of them have been removed. But I still think it is quite a pretty tree.

The canal streets in our RV Park in Florida are out-and-back walks. No round trip because the streets end at the entrance to the River. This carrot tree is in a yard on the lower end of one of those streets. I took the top picture going up and the bottom two coming back. Just before sunrise, the sky was flat white (as in the top picture), but a few minutes later, on the return walk, the blue was beginning to show.

A couple of days later I saw a different Pileated hopping along a road in the Park. I think this one might be a female because the red stripe on the cheek isn't so obvious. It was rather unusual to see one of these birds on the ground and I was a little worried. She was gone when I passed this spot again, so I hope she flew up to where she belongs.

Red-bellied woodpecker

There are still a few more un-blogged photos from Florida — of birds and other subjects.

A good thing too, because we are busy catching up and getting organized on this side of the country.

Good times, but not necessarily good photo ops.

They will come eventually!

I will be linking this post to these memes later: Eileen's SATURDAY CRITTERS; Anni's I'D RATHER B'BIRDING; Michelle's NATURE NOTES; and Monica's TREES AND BUSHES. Thank you for hosting ladies!!

July 9, 2015

Category: Florida