"Blursday"

Do you suffer from blursday? While I'd never heard the term before we had lunch with Bill and Lisa last Monday, it is most definitely going into my lexicon going forward.  Can it really be February 25 already? Apparently so; the days pass one to another with such regularity. Well, duh, of course they do! Bruce and I took a mini-trip this past week during which time I kept asking what day it was. 

But, before we get into the mini-trip,  I need to put some events down for posterity. First off, there are a few new green sprouts on our front tree which brings a sigh of relief to us both. 

Oh look a darling little bird perched in said tree! Speaking of which, there will be plenty in this post because, well, because we have seen a bunch! We took another trip out to the OWP in the late afternoon to take advantage of different lighting. Both of us brought a camera along.

There was a lot to photograph indeed. I am gaining a new appreciation for Wood Storks with their emerald wings. I'll overlook their weird heads to gaze at that beautiful wing span.

The cypress needles are falling leaving a reddish carpet atop the shallow water on the ponds below.

Instead of the sun being behind the Spoonbills, we were afforded beautiful afternoon lighting and a very willing subject.

Actually there were gobs of willing subjects, however, we wanted to get home before dark, so did not do our usual walk around. Just to break things up a bit, here's a youngster for you.

Being wannabe citizen scientists, for the next four days we participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count, and was it ever fun! It is neat being a part of something that is done worldwide by folks like us. Don't know what it is? Here is the info. Pretty much we counted birds on all four days, beginning with a trip to Kissimmee to see the famed eagles nest. Arriving around 9:30 in the morning, it is in a large tree in front of an elementary school. Not hard to miss at all because it is huge!! We circled the nest hoping to see the eaglets and were not disappointed as they raised up into view after a bit.

As you can see, they are all blackish when young, and I think remain that way for awhile. Both parents came and went, keeping a close watch out for trouble. That said, the only time I've heard of a bird causing an eagle real trouble is when I learned that a pair of Great Horned Owls kicked some eagles out of their nest in Greenwood Cemetery. Hard to believe, but I'm assured that it is a true story.

New lens in action! We did a little exploring in a nearby park close to downtown where we saw or heard birds, but the best find of them all was when this Snail Kite flew in. Oh yeah baby!

Roaming around the main streets of downtown Kissimmee, I was super impressed with their bold use of street art to bring otherwise bland buildings to life. You knew I would like this one.

It does not get much more vibrant than the one below.

That was Friday's outing. The weather was pleasant, but it has warmed up considerably since then. As I type this, Saturday afternoon following a fun and hot morning of pickleball, it is 87 degrees! Yikes, we need more winter!

Back to last Saturday afternoon, we drove over to Lake Davis to count birds and were not disappointed. Will it surprise you to learn that we counted 275??? Maybe I should give credit where credit is due because it was Bruce, not me, who carried a pad around and marked it all down!! From there we went over to Lake Cherokee where we counted even more, including these Egyptian Geese immersed in the duckweed.

Common Grackles might not be on the top of anyone's list of favorite birds, but in the right lighting, their color is very, very nice.

Which brings up an interesting point when it comes to birds. They are crazy hard to identify because they have various color plumages during the year and oftentimes, the male and female look not much alike. The Mallard ducks below are a case in point. As is oftentimes the case, the male is the most colorful of a pair.

They could not look any more different right? 

On Sunday we played hooky from church. Okay, I will fess up and take the blame.  Somehow I wasted too much time looking at pictures, leaving me little, to no time, to wash my hair so that was that. Instead, we counted more birds. I needed to make a second visit to Lake Davis hoping that the Pied Bill Grebe and her family would be in good light and closer to shore. Those little ones are so crazy looking with their almost tiger stripes. While they were closer you will definitely want to enlarge the photo to see for yourself.

From there we went over to the Wetland Park adjacent to Greenwood Cemetery. Again the birds were plentiful, so you know what that means, don't you? Indeed.

A very small Downey Woodpecker above, and a very large Pileated Woodpecker below.

I could hear it, but finding it amongst all the tree branches was what gave me a fit. A Blue Jay having a drink.

Merlin is the name of the free app for identification, and eBird is what I used to enter it to add to the worldwide total.  The great thing is that Merlin has three different ways to identify birds, one of which is to answer five questions, the other is to record the song, and the third is to share a photograph. Bruce used all three during our trip this past week that I'm dying to tell you about but I was also dying to tell you about all of the above too. Trying to maintain sequential posts. :)

After birding we went downtown for lunch, a rarity these days; not the out to lunch part, but the downtown part. It is far more crowded than when we spent our Sundays down there, that's for sure. At any rate, we landed at Rusteak and it was an excellent choice. Sitting on the outside patio, we enjoyed the shade and had some yummy food. Inside I noticed this super cool chandelier.

Ha ha, I just noticed they are missing a bulb. At first look I thought they were musical instruments, but on second thought, maybe it is just meant to look like one?

Pickleball Monday morning, followed by a very fun lunch with Bill and Lisa at Johnny's Otherside. 

In town from Live Oak to visit their grandchildren, we talked and laughed for several hours. As I recall it was Bill who introduced the term "blursday" and I may be remembering it that way because he has had a way over the years of coining some funny sayings. Back when our children were young, he used to have his kids, thus ours as well, say roaches when having their picture made. It never failed to elicit a smile.

While on the subject of our boys, my heart melts whenever this photo pops up, as it did recently. 

When I look in the mirror, or try to get up off of the floor for that matter, I have to remind myself that I was once young and vibrant because I sure don't look it or feel it sometimes. Never one to sink into a pity party, I then remind myself that two of my sisters will never have the opportunities that I have for fun again. And boy did we have fun on our trip to Apalachicola or Apalach as the locals call it. Or so we learned.

Soon you will be seeing what we saw. Until we meet again...I remain,

your friend,

Gail

p.s. Here is a link to last year's post at this time.  Sadly the war continues and the dove pin remains fastened to my clothing. Not helping though. 

Do I Really Need a New Camera?

 The answer is a resounding no! Did I just buy a new camera? The answer is a resounding yes!

Bruce made me do it. After six years of continuous use and a fall that broke a bit of the screen, Bruce convinced me to get a newer model, along with a longer zoom lens. While I did just that, we compromised and I bought used models of both. Actually we went straight to Colonial Photo and Hobby last Friday following another trip to Orlando Wetlands Park, henceforth to be called OWP.  Blame it on the eagles! We saw probably four and they were just too far away for my lens. That said, it did not keep me from trying as was in full evidence as you will soon discover. 

After playing pickleball four mornings in a row, we take Fridays off and do something else that is fun. Now, my friends, is the time to be bird watching as they are so plentiful this time of year.  We left the house around 6:30 in order to catch the sunrise, using the nearly empty 408 for the first part of the journey. The sky was just beginning to change color.

Pulling into our parking space, we were thrilled to have made it and joined several others walking to the boardwalk in order to see the rookery in action. But first, I noticed the sky looking colorful across the street from the parking lot and of course I had to document the beauty.

As far as expectations go, we were assured that we would see the Spoonbills, Wood Storks, and Turkey Vultures in mass, but as to what else we would see, we had no idea as every single visit is a new adventure. In fact, if we lived closer than 28 miles away, you can bet your bottom dollar that we would be there far more often! My honey brought along binoculars this time.

Getting ahead of myself, so let's back up to the lovely sunrise.

Not nearly as colorful as some days, but pretty nonetheless. I am a big sucker for the bare tree silhouettes. Before long it was full-on daylight, with many, many birds flying to and fro. A very large number of Spoonbills were present and active with this one using the bare tree to do a little preening.

Those pink feathers!! Seeing those puts me in mind  of how very much in love I am with the blooming Tabebuia trees, more of which have been planted on property in recent years. Beside the front pool, this one looks particularly full and fetching this year.

Okay, that was a digression for sure.  We are still in sunrise mode!

There are just so many birds, far too many to count.

The above is just a very small sample. As we were still on the boardwalk I spotted my first eagle with glee. I mean I was gleeful as I exclaimed to Bruce, "honey there's an eagle." 

What else can you say? 

Talk about a new adventure, when the vultures decided to all swoop out of the trees all at once, it put one in mind of the movie The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock!

I am not sure which is worse, crows or vultures for this kind of thing! Note how tiny Bruce looks! It was pretty darn wild. As you are undoubtedly bored by now with my continuing to wax eloquent regarding the excellence of the new boardwalk, my advice to you is to just humor me for another month or so. Is that asking too much? I should hope not. :)

Because the truth of the matter is that being able to walk out to where the birds are is just tremendous.

Oh my goodness honey, there's another eagle!

Hard to tell isn't it? Thus, the lens discussion. Just noticed, out of the very many shots that I took, this fun one. Hey you, get off of my palm!!

Catching up to these fellows who had been on the boardwalk with us, well, check out their gear as they take yet another eagle shot.

And to answer the curious, no, my new lens is nothing like the above. Those cost thousands of dollars and weigh far too much for me to hold steady! 

Watching the American Coots, who numbered in the many multiples, walking on water is oh so fun!

Hidden amongst the reeds and Coots, there was this beautiful Green Heron.

You're getting the picture aren't you? Bird Heaven! 

It was not all big birds either. 

Can you believe that camouflage?  I think it is a Savannah Sparrow but if anyone knows something different, I am open to suggestions.

Here's a cutie hanging onto the tall grasses.

Perhaps a Yellow Rumped Warbler? 

So we saw eagles, herons, spoonbills and all manner of other birds, 23 by my count, but one of the best was finding this Sandhill Crane on her nest.

Let us look at the whole picture, shall we?

Simply amazing to think that those two birds gathered all of the material to build a nest out in the middle of a wet field in order to bring new life into the world! Friday and Saturday, volunteers give guided tours from about 10-seater golf carts, and when they arrived with carts full of visitors to point out the nest, the volunteer talked about how the nest had to be guarded against many different predators, including raccoons. 

Here's something.....I had to quit writing to go to the bank with some mailbox money, as well as to Publix for some onions. Of all things, I was out of one of the most basic pantry items! Bemused, I watched the multitude of mostly men, but some woman,  carrying bouquets to the check out. Neither of us purchased a Valentine's Day card because, I like to say that, around here every day is Valentine's Day. 

A few items to note for posterity....the Chiefs won the Super Bowl defeating the Eagles in a crazy close game. The half time show seemed a little dull to me, but what do I know? The death toll for the earthquake stands at staggering numbers and the war in Ukraine rages on. Right now there is a war of words between the IOC and Zelensky over having Russian athletes in the Paris Olympics next year. While my heart hurts for the athletes that have been training for their whole lives, I'm thinking maybe Zelensky is right? Convince me otherwise, if you will.

For some days now I have been wondering when the White Pelicans will arrive, so I looked at last year's posts around this time and much to my surprise, (with my memory no one reading this should be surprised), today is my 16th year of blogging. Gosh I was young when I began putting thoughts and photographs out there under the name of Camera Crazy. The funny thing is that I'm not really camera crazy in the literal sense because I never have had a super expensive camera (which is all relative btw), but I am crazy for taking photographs. Most recently I titled a post, "What the Peck?" and thought maybe after all this time I should change the name, however Tom convinced me to keep on, keeping on. And so I shall.

Lastly, and this narrative is by no means comprehensive, there are so very many Black Bellied Whistling ducks at OWP and boy howdy, do they know how to whistle. The sound of hundreds of them is really something, not to mention them flying in big groups all over the place. 

This time I was able to get a good close up of their namesake, the black belly. Plus the color of their feet is terrific.

The bill is an awfully pretty color too.  All around, a handsome and lively duck.

So, that was that trip. As mentioned earlier in this post, we drove straight to Colonial Photo and Hobby where I looked at all manner of cameras, eventually settling on a used Panasonic camera and a used Olympus lens, both of which look as if they have never been used. This way, all of my lenses and cameras are interchangeable. From there we droves straight to Lake Davis where I put the new lens on the old camera to check it out. I found a handsome willing subject right away.

However, the whole purpose is to be able to get the little birds, especially those that are far away. Turns out, I found another willing subject.

I I went up to the front garden here and, lo and behold, it was not long before I heard the familiar screeching of Blue Jays alerting me that a raptor was nearby. Sure enough, this handsome Red Shouldered Hawk flew right into the tree in front of me.

Enough already with the birds! I will leave you with a Zebra butterfly lighting on a Mexican Sunflower, also found in the front gardens.

I will tell you that every time I get some new piece of equipment, I tend to take a whole lot of photographs for practice, meaning I will be posting a lot, so do not say that you were not forewarned!

your friend,

Gail

Of Two Minds

 Something happened this morning at pickleball that was really something. Who types a sentence like that? Apparently, I do!

As you know, since about the second week of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I have been wearing a dove pin, a reminder of the symbol for peace. A young woman, who just began playing with our group,  named MJ, noticed it and told me a sweet story. Turns out her grandmother wore a dove pin for years and she borrowed it for her wedding, as in the "something borrowed" tradition, pining it inside the bodice of her gown. Of course it delighted me to no end that she had a fond memory upon seeing the pin. 

Unfortunately, it seems as if I won't quit wearing it anytime soon.

I'm reminded of how when the pandemic was new and strange, I wrote down the number of deaths from the Coronavirus each and every day on my kitchen calendar during 2020.  At that time I had no idea that it would still be infecting people in early 2023, including folks we know, and too, that over one million people in the United States would lose their lives to the virus. Speaking of losing lives, it sickened me today to read that in the latest natural disaster, the mammoth earthquake in Syria and Turkey, that a newborn baby was found amongst the rubble with the umbilical cord still attached. Her deceased mother lay nearby.  There are exactly no words to describe that kind of horror.

Thinking of words, to be a writer one must be a reader first; I have come to the conclusion that I have not been reading enough. As such, I am in the process of rectifying that shortcoming.

One print that sold consistently during my selling days is this one, titled, "This Too Shall Pass." It is somewhat of a mantra that has never failed to comfort me when I think of the horrors that occur all over the world and sometimes right here at home.  (think broken wrists and pneumonia) The lovely tulips were from a gathering of our LPV women for the December/January birthdays, one of which was mine. That said, it was so long ago that I sort of felt like an imposter accepting any gifts at the dinner at nearby Delaney's.

So far this week we have enjoyed glorious weather with cool starts to the morning, followed by temperatures in the mid 70's. A lovely breeze is flowing through our condo as I type. The sky remains bright blue, the days are lengthening, and the sunsets remain dramatic.

As you know, we play pickleball Monday through Thursday and on Friday Bruce has been working on a project at the church.  Not only has our pickleball obsession interfered with my reading, my photography is suffering as well. Last Friday I went to Mead Gardens to see if I could take a half-way decent picture. Camellias are a great subject that do not move, so I was hoping for the best. 

If I had to guess, it is a very good year in Central Florida for this beautiful flower. According to one of the volunteers I met in the greenhouse, which by the way, I have never before been inside, there are close to 400 bushes in the gardens, all of which were bursting with blooms.

Seems as if at the start of each new day, one of the volunteers dresses the statues with blooms.

It is a beautiful look!

I cannot decide whether the statues are new or I've just been unobservant on my previous visits. At any rate they are just wonderful.

What I'd gone looking for were owls. My search was fruitless. In fact I saw very few birds aside from this Northern Cardinal from the backside!

There were so many, many flowers, mostly in shades of pink or red with white ones every now and again. This little fatty intrigued me. Jam-packed it is.

There were a few fallen trees, evidence of our most recent hurricane and something else that I was not expecting as I was walking along the dirt path and that was this:

A whole bunch of mirrors is what you are looking at, something to do with an event that just began a few days ago. 

I wish, and this might be an unpopular opinion, that Orlando had better gardens. Ours just aren't kept up all that well. Or that is what I think anyway. Take it with a grain of salt as I will admit to being particular. :)

With our fine weather I have been reading on the new patio after lunch. Bruce added lots more mulch and grass seed which is coming in nicely.

He has also made a sign to keep the lawn folks from using so much Round Up!

Sitting outside for hours at a time I am noticing how much is always going on either in the lake or beside it. The trees are filled with the sound of various birds, the water has diving Anhingas and floating ducks,

a Brown Pelican has been way too fast for my camera,

and much to my surprise, the other afternoon I noticed a fair amount of water movement. Yup, the otter is back. A horrible shot, as it was in the shade and moving like nobodies business, but for documentary purposes here she is with a fish in her mouth. You will have to trust me on this one!

The funny thing about the otter is that I thought I saw something running along the shoreline but decided it must have been a squirrel. I was wrong! Now, if only my owls would return!!!

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this is an exceptional time of the year here in Florida for all of the above stated reasons. Here's another one.

I almost feel guilty being this pleased with life while others are suffering such hardships. I learned from Jackie that our friend Dale's dear friend of 45 years died in Vancouver this past week. Michelle lost a beloved aunt two days ago, and of course the horrible situations across the world from us. Seeing the photographs sends shivers down my spine. 

Some days it's hard to know just what to feel, isn't it?

your friend,

Gail