Spring Falls on a Monday

And so far, it has been a chilly day which I mention because so often folks don't remember that we can still have temperatures that require more than a tank top in mid-March. In fact, this morning, with a reading of 50 degrees, few folks showed up at 7AM. After having done so myself, I can't say as I blame them! Windy too, which wreaks a bit of havoc on my already tenuous skill set! Nevertheless we had fun followed by a quick trip to Sprouts for orange juice. Having poured the last of the bottle that came from Costco this morning, it was a must-do for me. We have discovered many bargains at Sprouts, so if you live near one, you might want to check out their selections. Just saying...

It's so hard to know where to start because so much has happened in the last few weeks. Several successful birding trips occurred with more than is strictly necessary picture taking occurring. Seriously, I share so few of what I actually take and of course, only the good stuff. Never the misses. Well, that's not entirely true because on occasion I do, but those occasions are few and far between! One thing that I do not do is set my camera to take multiple photos in succession, something that many folks do when photographing birds. My computer is so loaded as it is, the amount of work to delete everything just seems overwhelming to me. I suspect that these folks are in the rapid fire camp. 

Super fun picture, right? The above was taken on a visit to Blackpoint Drive on Merritt Island when we went in search of a large flock of White Pelicans. The water level in some areas was quite low, unsurprisingly because rain has been almost non-existent for the last few months. These ladies chose to ride their bicycles and most of the time they were ahead of us because I had Bruce stop so often! At one point when our paths crossed they told us we missed the big show, which we did in part, but still there were birds to be seen. 

I'd hopped out of the car in order to get as close as possible to this beautiful sight.

Aren't they so interesting? American Avocet is what you are seeing. Amazingly, I had just recently come across an issue of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology magazine Matt gave me a subscription to a few years ago and sure enough, two of these beauties were the cover models. A better photograph mind you, but still, I was stoked! The dark bits shown in the photograph below is the low water level I mentioned.

I'm including the photo below to give you a perspective on why I needed a better zoom lens!

Do you see the Avocets out in the water? Lots of cool ducks are out there too beyond the reach of even my new lens!

It was a marvelous day with an eagle sighting as well, But the star of the show were the White Pelicans and the Roseate Spoonbills that are gathered together behind the shield of a whole heck of a lot of American Coots.

That is some birds in action in that shot, right? 

Last Monday, according to the post I wrote, it rained.  So, I guess it has rained lately! See how much I need my blog to keep life all sorted out?

Before I move on, above I posted that I rarely show the crummy photographs but the one below is one of those exceptions because imagine how good it would have been had it been focused???

Back to the drive...one more wonderful shorebird....I think it is a Yellow Legs, but I can't tell you if it is Lesser or Greater. See what I mean...so many things to learn.

It has been our custom to stop before we go over the bridge to return home because there are all kinds of shorebirds along the river. Well, duh, of course they are on the shore! At any rate, they have closed some of the parking off, so I hopped out of the car in search and the best I could get were these little beauties.

Well shoot, I got ahead of myself. Lots of wildflowers blooming which in turn attracted lots of butterflies.

So that was a super fun trip. As to what else we have been doing, well you guessed it, pickleball. Plus Bruce had to have a crown. It was the strangest thing. One week he had an uneventful teeth cleaning. The next week his tooth was hurting and come to find out, there was a crack in it which required a crown. Lordy, lordy, the cost of dental work!! 

I'd chosen a whole series of photographs which are so totally spring, but before this gets way too long I do want to mention how excited I was one afternoon when I stopped by Lake Davis, say around 5:00, before DST began. To say that I was thrilled with finding a huge flock of Ring Necked Ducks is an understatement. If only they would have deemed to come closer. (male and females)

It won't be long, and I suspect it has already happened since I took the above photo, but anyway, they will depart Florida for Canada to breed.  Here's a link to what they look like in a close up. 

Speaking of breeding, I have come across my fair share of that lately, but specifically that same afternoon at Lake Davis, two of the geese seemed to begin their brief courtship like this.

Looks kind of sweet, right? Minutes later the male was practically drowning her!

Meantime the swan calmly passed by. Which reminds me, there is a nest there that I need to check out. In fact, I think I will as soon as I finish this! Cygnets are so very cute to watch.

Speaking of fun to watch. As you may recall I have been expecting a flock of White Pelicans to come to our lake and while that did not happen this year, on the morning that we were planning another trip to the Wetlands, Patti texted me to let me know that they were on the big lake. Instantly I had my shoes on and walked quickly along the shortest route, the canal that begins at the end of our building. Sure enough, there was a nice flock of, at that time, an uncounted number of them, along with about twice as many Cormorants. Woo hoo!! I watched until they went into a cove out of my viewing range and then headed back to the condo to regale Bruce with the good news. Soon thereafter, we were ready to go, but I asked if we might stop one more time at the lake to witness this once-a-year event. Sure honey!

It was good. We watched for a while as they floated en masse, mostly out of the range of our lenses, that is until a woman in a boat actually drove through the group!! That got them moving, in fact, they were coming right at us!

They came towards us and then away from us.

You can well imagine that I took countless photos of this exciting event and it kept getting better as they took to the skies while we watched. Swooping and flipping directions, it was magical, like acrobats in the sky.  One minute they looked like this:

and then like this:

A nature documentary in front of our eyes! Needless to say we got a late start which turned out to be just fine as the weather was just that, fine. Not too hot, nor too cold. In other words, perfect!

Matthew has returned home to London, safe and sound following his week in Dubai. Jonathan and Alissa had an amazing little backpacking trip into the Texas hill country. My favorite part, and the one that makes me jealous, is they spent a lot of time gazing at countless stars. Bill and David both work for a bank so the last week has been a bit stressful. In less than two weeks they will be 44, something I find hard to imagine. When we were their age we had four children ranging in age from 21-14. My how times have changed except for the fact that once a parent, always a parent, and their well being is your first instinct. But I don't need to tell you that, do I?

I think they probably feel the same towards us.....a bit bemused by our current life, but happy that we are generally healthy. They never worry that we are happy though, that goes without saying. Thank God!

your friend,

Gail

p.s. A friend's sister just died and of course it made me sad for her. I checked on Hank the day before the anniversary of Carol dying which I wrote about here.  He's doing pretty good these days but that day will never be one that doesn't sink his spirits. They were married a long time. :(