A Full-time Life

Category: Florida

  • PAIR-a-DUCKS

     

    Last week I posted City Ducks.  Here are a few duck couples that are (I think anyway) luckier in their living quarters.

     

    2015-05-052

     

     Tufted duck couple in a country pond — North Fort Myers.

     

    P1000590-001

     This Mallard Couple hangs out near Fort Myers Yacht Basin.  They greet us every time we stop.  But they're off and away as soon as they see there are no handouts. 

     

    2015-05-053

     Mismatched couple in the same pond area as the tufted ducks above.  I can't ID either.

       

    MALLARDS

     

     Another Mallard Couple — an old photo, not sure where this was taken.  

    We are away on a boat trip, and have limited computer time and access … will catch up with all comments and blogs when we get home.

     

     

    P1000709

     

     

    And that's the end — that's all I've got this week.

     

    Linked to:   Annie's RATHER B-BIRDING;  Stewart's WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY;  and Eileen's SATURDAY CRITTERS.

    Thank you all for hosting!!!

  • RANDOM PHOTOS FROM A RANDOM EXCURSION

    Although the travel planner of the house had an ultimate goal in mind for last month's excursion, getting there was random (just the way we like to travel, whether our road-trips are long or short).   So these are random pictures from what turned out to be three distinct parts to the trip.   (And also for a random assortment of mid-week memes — we may have limited internet access the rest of this week.)

    First of all, we drove through the Big Cypress National Preserve stopping to walk about a little and take a few pictures (earlier post here).  

     

    P1010072

     

    This old building stands at a pullout spot on the edge of the park.  It seems like it ought to have a story.   But there is no information; it has looked exactly the same as long as we've been coming to the Everglades area.

     

      2015-05-244

     

    For Signs Signs (one of two)

    The smallest Post Office in the United States stands nearby.  I don't know who the woman and baby in the bottom picture are; they photo-bombed the picture, but I left them in because it shows how small the building really is.

    From there, we decided to explore Key Largo.  An earlier post  (here) had a few pictures from the nice hotel we found when we got there.  

      2015-05-246

    For Wednesday Waters

    Here are a few more shots from the lovely Key Largo beach.

    The next morning, we headed to the goal for this trip — the big City of Miami.  We'd driven by a couple of times, but never spent any time in the City.   We had booked an apartment hotel downtown.  It was a great location — once we checked in we never drove the car again until we left — we were able to walk or take public transportation everywhere we wanted to go.

      We had a great time in the City,  eating  excellent Ethnic Food, marveling at the Architecture  and people-watching.      Oddly however, my camera mostly seems to come out only when there are birds and animals around.  

     

      2015-05-245

    ForWild Bird Wednesday and   Good Fences

     

    Our hotel was on a residential block that dead-ended at Biscayne Bay …. and dozens of ducks seemed to be making their home in neighborhood yards.  Every time we left the apartment or returned,  we were accompanied by a few neighbor families who waddled right along with us.  

     

      P1010174

     A neighbor (of the human variety) told us that the ducks usual flight pattern had been disrupted by the building of high rise condo towers, so they now just lived between this neighborhood and the water.   The young ones don't  know any different.   Being an urban duck is just normal for them.

    Below is the only picture I took when we visited a waterfront shopping area.  (To get there, we hopped on a free tram on our corner and then onto the free monorail/people-mover … like what Airports have between terminals.  Excellent public transportation!  Wish we had something like that where we live.)

     

    P1010168

     For Signs Signs

    If you don't have any customers for your Face-Painting wagon, just paint your own face!

     

    P1010170

     

    Satisfied with a job well done!

     ***                

    Thank you to Stewart for WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY; Gemma for WEDNESDAY WATERS;  Lesley for SIGNS SIGNS;  and Theresa for GOOD FENCES.

  • JUST LIKE WE DID IN KEY LARGO

        Note:  Last Saturday, I somehow ended up with two posts I wanted to link to Saturday Critters.  This is the one I didn't link then.  I apologize if every one of you has already read it.  But it has a couple of such great critters in it that I thought it deserved a place on Eileen's great linkup party.  

     

    We stayed overnight in Key Largo last month.

     

    P1010130

     We spent some time exploring the Florida Keys a couple of years ago, but somehow missed stopping at this one made famous in movie and song.  

     

    Collages

     

    The bartender at the hotel's palapa bar had a charming assistant.   Like every smart bartender, she drank only non-alcoholic beverages (that is a glass of cranberry juice). 

     

    P1010113-001

     

    I spotted this guy having a snooze in the landscaping.  (He's not as big as he looks here.)

     

    P1010139

     

    Of course the Keys are always all about the sunset.  I took a million pictures and will undoubtedly share more on a future post.  But here is one more for now.

     

    ****

    Linking to:  OUR WORLD  on TUESDAY (thank you to Lady Fi,  Sandy, Sylvia, Arija, Gattina, and Jenn); MOSAIC MONDAY (thank you Judith)  and   SATURDAY CRITTERS (thank you Eileen).

  • CREATURES FROM THE CYPRESS SWAMPS

     We spotted this Florida Soft-shelled Turtle beside the road in Big Cypress National Preserve (on the edge of the Everglades).

      P1010077-002

     

     

     This is the largest soft-shelled turtle in America.  (They can get up to 30 inches long and weigh as much as 40 pounds.   This one was about 24 inches. These turtles spend most of their time in the water, coming out only to bask in the sun or to lay eggs.  

       P1010078-001

     

     

    We watched this one from the car for a while and when it turned around to go back into the swamp, I stepped out of the car to see if I could tell where she was going.

     

    P1010084

     

     She disappeared but when I looked down I saw a few different reptiles.

     

    P1010081

     There were eight alligators in this "gater-hole."  They like to congregate.

     

    P1010096

     A little ways farther on, we saw this Black Vulture doing a happy dance in the middle of the road.   His friends had started their picnic without him:

     

     

    P1010097

     

     

     LINKING TO:   SATURDAY CRITTERS (thank you Eileen);  to I'D RATHER B-BIRDING (thank you Annie);    and to NATURE NOTES (thank you Michelle).

  • BEAUTY BEFORE THE BEAST (of a Thunderstorm)

     

    Late afternoon or early evening thunderstorms are fairly common this time of year.    The skies leading up to a storm can be dramatic.

     

      P1000976-001

     

     The pictures below were taken in a ten-minute period as the sky changed rapidly.   The one above is a minute before the storm (just time to dash in the back door).

     

     

    2015-05-1611

     

     LINKING TO SKYWATCH FRIDAY (thank you to Yogi, Sylvia, and Sandy) and to SCENIC WEEKENDS (thank you to Gemma).

  • CHASING WOODPECKERS

     

    For a couple of weeks earlier this month my morning walks were all about chasing Woodpeckers.  We had at least three different kinds right here in the Park.    

     

    P1010054

    Red-headed Woodpecker

     

     The red-heads are my favorites.

    All of these birds are pretty camera shy.  I felt really lucky to get a few halfway decent shots.  Mostly they fly as soon as I aim the camera.

     

    2015-05-169

    Pileated Woodpecker

     

    I hear the Pileated oftener than I see it.  I'm not great at bird songs (or calls) but this one is unmistakable.  These were taken at a distance (from our yard across the canal actually).  This model for the cartoon Woody Woodpecker is much larger than the other two types here.  (My bird book says 17" for this one, and 10" for the other two.)

         

    2015-05-1610

    Red-bellied Woodpecker

     The Red-bellied like to drum on the light posts.  This post is on another street in the Park, but   one year we had one who loved the post near us on the street side of the cottage.   It certainly was a noisier morning alarm than the soft mockingbird song we're used to.   I worried that the bird had some mental problems thinking he could get bugs from a metal post.  But then I read that the more noise they make the more attractive they are to the female of the species.  

       

    2015-05-1615

    Red-headed Woodpecker

     

     It took quite a while to record my favorite red-head's progress up this electric pole.  (I don't necessarily get an hour's worth of exercise when I walk for an hour before breakfast.)  He just seemed to be climbing for the joy of it.  I never really saw him pecking at the post at all. 

     

    P1010057-002

     

     

    He seemed happy that he made it to the top of the pole.  

    Maybe he just wanted to be king of the castle.

    ***********

  • SPRING RE-RUNS, 2015

     

    Royal Poinciana trees are in bloom this month in Southwest Florida.  The blossoms looked gorgeous on a blue-sky morning early this week.

     

      P1010014-001

     

    They are such beautiful trees — I know  I've blogged about them every year since we've lived here, but really these trees are lovely enough to deserve a repeat.  

      

    P1000966

     

    The Night-Blooming Cactus is another late Spring flower around these parts.  And once more, the flower and the picture are this year's, but I have posted other pictures of this beauty in previous years.

     

     

      2015-05-168

     

     Here are a few more shots of the Poinciana.  Its beauty makes up for a lot of the more usual Spring flowers that we miss by being in Florida this season.   Even the seed pods of this tree are incredible — they're about a foot long.  There are a couple still hanging on in the picture on the lower left.  

    I've often said that Southwest Florida flowers are almost all the showy type.  No shrinking violets (or daffodils or tulips) here.   And in fact, another name for the Royal Poinciana is "Flamboyant Tree."      A fitting name for this show-off.  

     

     

    Linking to:  TODAY'S FLOWERS (thank you Denise); I HEART MACRO (thanks to Laura); and MONDAY MACRO (thank you Gemma).  

  • ALL QUIET ON THE WEST CANAL

     

      P1000992

    It's been a quiet week at the Canal Cottage.    Most of our fellow snowbirds have migrated back to their  summer homes.

      P1010035

     

    Quiet that is unless you count the noise of our latest projects.    Bill has just finished rebuilding the boat dock which was falling apart.  It looks good.  

      P1010041

     

    (The sign on the dock post isn't as appropriate as it used to be.  Before the rebuild, we  were in danger of landing in the Canal along with the whole dock every time we stepped on or off the boat.)  

       P1010012-002

    It's a good time to work on projects just because it is so quiet.   (And that's part of the reason we stay later in the season.)    As with most of our projects over the years, I don't do a lot — but I  hang around in case an extra hand is needed.  I'm pretty good on the dummy end of the tape measure.

     

     

    This post is linked to OUR WORLD on Tuesday and to WEDNESDAY WATERS.

    Thank you to the hosts:  Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy, Gattina, Arija, and Jenn at OWT

    and Gemma  at Wednesday Waters, a new meme for me.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • BIRDS ON SPRING MORNINGS

    Scroll for SIGNS and FENCES. They are down there.

    Because it is spring — and because it is quieter in the park now — I'm seeing many more birds on morning walks.

    It was a great start for the day when I caught this Blue Jay contemplating   a bounty of acorns fallen from some of the live oak trees around the park.

    2015-05-164

     

     Although a typical bird for many in the US, this Jay is very different from those we see in Oregon and I have wanted to get a picture of one for a long time.   

    While the Jay was a first time sighting (here in the RV park), mockingbirds are much more common.  They are everywhere…   

         

    2015-05-165

     

     On fences ….

      

    P1000980-001

     … on lamp posts …   

     

    P1010026-001

     

    And on signs*.     (And, sometimes, even in trees.)

     

    They are such a cheerful little bird.  I don't get tired of seeing (and hearing) them. Lately, fledglings have been testing their wings and learning to navigate.  Some mornings I see what are probably the parent birds chasing crows and grackles away from the little ones.  

     

    * That sign is one of our most (UN)favorite kinds.   We call them CYA signs — in this case it is there so that if any of us residents get hit by a car if we venture outside of the park, the management will be able to say 'we warned you.'      We live dangerously and often dare to walk past it!  

     

     

    LINKING THIS POST to:   MOSAIC MONDAY (thank you Judith);  NATURE NOTES (thank you Michelle); WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY (thank you Stewart);  GOOD FENCES (thank you Theresa);  and SIGNS SIGNS (thanks to Lesley).  

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • BOATING TO THE BEACH

    P1000902-002

     

     The aqua blue Fort Myers Beach bridge just shouts 'it's Florida'!  I always love seeing it, especially from the boat!   These are some pictures from our April  trip to the beach.      

     

    P1000859

     

    On our way to the beach, we passed this boat that is powered by those solar panels.  

    Here is some information about the boat from the website shown on the sign. The boat had just ended its trip over the Intercoastal Waterway.  

     

    "ReThink Energy Florida is joining the solar-powered “Ship of Imagination”, the Archimedes in its Cruise Aid for a Sustainable Florida, a grassroots effort to raise public awareness about important energy issues in the Sunshine state. The Archimedes is the world’s largest solar powered concrete boat and a mobile demonstration platform for renewable and sustainable technology. It is on a historic passage, navigating the entire “Intracoastal Waterway” of Florida powered exclusively by solar energy."

     

    There is a lot of good information about  ReThink Florida  on the website given on the SIGN.  Worth a visit.

     Below are a few of the more conventional boats we saw:

    2015-04-194

     

    I always look for unique boat names to add to my "collection."  These were the best from this trip.  These were all docked at the same marina where we stayed.

    (And I think they also kind of count as SIGNS).  

    2015-04-195

     

     There were three boats on this trip and none of the six of us were 'lie around on the beach' people.  (Fort Myers beach itself is rather 'touristy' … and it isn't great for birding or shelling.)   So instead of hanging around there we took the free beach trolley up to Lover's Key State Park and walked around — that was where we saw all the pelicans that I posted about earlier.   But before we hopped on the bus, we did  walk on the beach for a little while — and at least I stuck my toes in the Gulf.  (Bill and most of the others preferred to look at the water from the pier above or from the boardwalk.)    

       P1000915

     

     

    The two boats on the right are our friends.   We were bringing up the rear of our little flotilla as we headed home after a beautiful mid-week getaway. 

     

    LINKING TO:  SIGNS SIGNS (thank you Lesley); to SKYWATCH FRIDAY (thanks to Yogi, Sylvia, and Sandy); and to SCENIC WEEKENDS (thank you Gemma).