Monday, December 26, 2016
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Sanibel
The following is a hint of where we have been for the last few days.
We returned last evening from a trip to Sanibel Island, Florida. We flew down on the 8th and back on the 13th, which is the time we usually go. We were very surprised that we saw so few birds on the shore. We are used to seeing lots of terns, but the only ones we saw this time were a few perched on pilings in Tarpon Bay during our sunset cruise. The only birds on the shore were the usual sanderlings and some other shorebirds that I think were snowy plover, ruddy turnstone, black-bellied plover, and willet, but I could be wrong about all of those. I have trouble with shorebirds at the best of times and winter plumage doesn't help.
But we did see a snowy egret in the surf.
We did the usual Ding-Darling drive and had great sightings there.
There were the usual white pelicans.
We saw about two dozen spoonbills, which was a real treat.
On a walk through the mangroves we saw lots of mangrove crabs, which probably were always there, we just had never had them pointed out to us.
We walked in the Bailey Tract and it was so nice we rented bikes on our last morning and rode through there as well.
There was a lot of wind the first few days we were there but on Monday we rented kayaks and did the Commodore Creek paddle, which was great as usual.
We didn't see much on the sunset cruise but it was still enjoyable. As usual, there were birds on every piling.
It was a nice trip and we were sad to leave.
We returned last evening from a trip to Sanibel Island, Florida. We flew down on the 8th and back on the 13th, which is the time we usually go. We were very surprised that we saw so few birds on the shore. We are used to seeing lots of terns, but the only ones we saw this time were a few perched on pilings in Tarpon Bay during our sunset cruise. The only birds on the shore were the usual sanderlings and some other shorebirds that I think were snowy plover, ruddy turnstone, black-bellied plover, and willet, but I could be wrong about all of those. I have trouble with shorebirds at the best of times and winter plumage doesn't help.
But we did see a snowy egret in the surf.
We did the usual Ding-Darling drive and had great sightings there.
There were the usual white pelicans.
We saw about two dozen spoonbills, which was a real treat.
On a walk through the mangroves we saw lots of mangrove crabs, which probably were always there, we just had never had them pointed out to us.
We walked in the Bailey Tract and it was so nice we rented bikes on our last morning and rode through there as well.
There was a lot of wind the first few days we were there but on Monday we rented kayaks and did the Commodore Creek paddle, which was great as usual.
We didn't see much on the sunset cruise but it was still enjoyable. As usual, there were birds on every piling.
It was a nice trip and we were sad to leave.
Sunday, December 4, 2016
Westminster Bell Choir Concert
I went to the holiday concert of the Westminster Bell Choir this afternoon. It was great, as always. And I found a large parking lot behind the college, so I needn't have arrived so early in order to find parking. I'll try to remember for next time. Leaving home at 2:45 for a 4:00 concert is plenty of time to get a good seat.
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