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.

On Our Way to Camp

We had an uneventful flight from Ft Myers to Newark this morning.  We were very lucky.  Most of the flights yesterday were canceled due to a big snowstorm along the east coast.  We picked up our car from the airport hotel and drove to Albany, which had at least a foot of snow.  We are staying here overnight and will do some Christmas shopping tomorrow then drive to camp, where the high tomorrow is forecast to be 2 degrees.  Brrrr….

Last Day

We rented bikes from the resort this morning and had a nice ride along some of the many bike paths.  More beach walking this afternoon.  Headed back to NJ tomorrow.

Paddling the Commodore Creek Trail

We  had a great paddle through the mangroves this morning.  The winds were fairly high, so getting across the bay in the floating bathtubs the rental place calls kayaks was interesting.  But once we got into the mangroves it was beautiful.  We saw several yellow-crowned night herons.

And a couple little blue herons, plus others it was too difficult to photograph.

Then when we got back to Casa Ybel, there was a pileated woodpecker in the palm tree above our car; quite a different setting from when we see them at camp.

Ahhh……..

A Walk on the Beach

Today is quite gray and cooler, but still good for a walk on the beach.  There were a couple snowy egrets on the beach and a double-crested cormorant.

 And we always enjoy the plantings around the resort, especially the hibiscus.

Another Day in Paradise

We drove through Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge today and saw the usual collection of birds.

Late afternoon we took the boat trip from Tarpon Bay Explorers.  We saw lots of birds coming to roost for the night, including pelicans on many of the channel markers.

We headed back to shore during a beautiful sunset.

To Sanibel, Florida (and away from the snow and cold)

We left camp yesterday morning and drove through snow and ice to Newark, NJ.

We stayed overnight at the Marriott airport hotel.  This morning we headed to the airport through a snowstorm and waited for our flight to take off.  We were only a couple hours late, which wasn't so bad considering the weather.  At least the flight wasn't canceled.  Here we are being de-iced on the runway.

We landed in Fort Myers in beautiful sunshine with temperature about 80 degrees.  A definite improvement.

Sunset on the beach, with many more to come.

Back to New Jersey

We flew home yesterday and now it is back to home reconstruction.  We had a great time in Sanibel, even if we mostly enjoyed the beach from our nice screened porch, though we did walk every day.  The weather was great (sunny and mid-70's) and it was very relaxing, which is just what we needed.  A note for next time that room 112 at Casa Ybel was perfect.  It was in the next-to-last building in the complex away from the pool and restaurant so it was nice and quiet.  It was in the top floor, which meant we didn't have stairs on the beach-side, but we decided it was nice having no one above us.  And the view was great.

Sanibel Day 2

The weather continues to be gorgeous and we are enjoying lazing.  This afternoon we drove the wildlife drive through Ding Darling wildlife preserve.  We saw most of the usual birds, including great egret

ibis

snowy egret

little blue heron

white pelican

tricolor heron.

Sanibel, Florida

We flew here yesterday and the weather has been perfect, even a little too warm at 80 degrees when we arrived.  Today is gorgeous with bright blue skies, high 70's and light wind.  We took advantage of the good weather and did the guided kayak tour in Ding Darling Wildlife Preserve this morning.  We didn't learn anything new from the guide and the tour was crowded.  It turns out you are allowed to take the rental boats anywhere in or around Tarpon Bay, so we could have paddled the trail through the mangroves by ourselves.  We'll remember that for next time and just rent boats.  But we still enjoyed the paddle

and did see a yellow-crowned night heron that we probably would have missed if we'd been alone.

We are staying at Casa Ybel Resort this time and it is very nice.  Our room is on the top floor center sticking out at the top left in this picture.

I had forgotten that this is where the pelicans hang out, in the trees right in front of our unit.

More Sunshine

And high winds. But we still had a very nice walk on the beach this morning. And we saw a magnificent frigate bird hovering over the beach. Then lunch at Over Easy Cafe, a drive up to Captiva just to see what is there, then relaxing in the room. We fly home tomorrow.

Sunshine!

The sun finally came out this afternoon and we took a nice walk down the beach. We saw several dolphins and watched an osprey grab a fish and fly off with it.

We walked by Case Ybel and noted again that there are stairs from the balconies of the second floor units directly down to the beach. But there don't seem to be outside stairs from the third floor units, so we'll be sure to request second floor units if we go there.

Ding Darling Wildlife Drive

We woke this morning to dense fog, but took the wildlife drive around Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge anyway. Since the tide was low we got to see the usual birds. We added roseate spoonbills, yellow-crowned night heron, green heron, pied-billed grebe to our list of sightings for this trip. And I got some good photos:

A white ibis

A snowy egret just after it shook out its feathers

A reddish egret that was prancing around

Pedaling and Paddling

What a glorious day. The sun came out and the temperature rose to 70 degrees so we had a great day outdoors. This morning we rented bikes at Billy's Bikes and road on Sanibel's marvelous bike paths for a couple of hours. Along the way we stopped in at Casa Ybel Resort to see if we might want to stay there the next time we come. We've been disappointed that Sundial has gotten quite run down. We were very impressed by Casa Ybel and while it costs about $100 more per night, it seems worth it.

We lunched at Island Cow. I had forgotten that it is the place with the following sign:

Unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy.

This afternoon we took the guided paddle of Tarpon Bay, out to the mangrove islands that serve as bird rookeries. We saw osprey, brown pelicans, white pelicans, double-crested cormorants, oyster catchers, great blue herons, tricolor herons, little blue herons, reddish egrets, snowy egrets, white ibis, anhingas, belted kingfishers.

Our paddling companions were Lynn and Terral and we enjoyed each other's company so much we went out to dinner together and had a marvelous time.

Love Those Royal Terns

We woke to rain and temperatures in the 40's. So I went shopping, at a quilt store of course. Got lots more cool fabrics.

We had a yummy lunch at the Over Easy Cafe. The weather cleared this afternoon so we took a long walk on the beach. And I just couldn't resist taking more photos of the royal terns.

Sanibel Island

We flew to Sanibel Island, Florida today for some R&R. It has been quite cold in Florida and was only in the low 60's when we got here, but is supposed to be over 70 on the weekend. We'll take what we can get since it has been in the 20's in New Jersey.

We are staying at Sundial Resort again and had dinner at Island Cow, one of our favorite spots. We took a short walk on the beach at sundown and saw the usual sandwich and royal terns.

Sanibel Wildlife Refuge

One of our reasons for going to Sanibel Island is that we hoped to kayak among the mangroves in the wildlife refuge. But the winds were very high the first few days we were there, and in any case they wouldn't let the rental kayaks out of their sight. So you could just paddle around the open bay, which is not very exciting. We took the late afternoon boat tour out into the bay and saw birds heading for their roost trees and saw dolphins frolicking out in the open water and manatees poking their noses out of the water.

On another day we took the drive through the refuge and saw lots of birds and several raccoons.

• Roseate Spoonbill


• Ibis


• Great Egret


• Snowy Egret


• Reddish Egret


• Tricolored Heron


• Green Heron


• White Pelican


• Brown Pelican


• Double-crested Cormorant


• Red-Breasted Merganser

This snowy egret visited us on the beach so we got a good photo.

Sanibel Shore Birds

I've never seen as many shore birds as we saw on the Sanibel Beach, and I've certainly never had to worry before about stepping on them. I guess they've gotten used to all the shell hunters.
And there were LOTS of terns, possibly blown in on the storm we had the first day. There were royal terns with their large orange billsand sandwich terns. We learned how to identify these from the naturalist on the boat tour we took in the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge. It's hard to tell from this photo, but the tip of their bill is pale yellow - from the mustard in the sandwich. That is one I'm going to remember.