The Old and the Restless

Megan, Michael and Thomas came for a week in the sun Tom  didn't trust the ocean. However, he spent hours every day playing in the sand.

When Maureen and Ramsay came to stay for a few days, we did some of our "traditional" things.  A beach walk at the north end. Paul does not look too pleased. Perhaps it is better to pose for the photo. It was quite windy. Even the snowy egret was having a "Bad Hair Day". This lone cormorant seemed confused. It is the first time we have seen one on the beach. Usually they can be found on a sand island in the river. Finally we went for our "traditional" lunch at JB's fish camp.

Our trip to Viera Wetlands with Maureen and Ramsay involved more than birds. As we drove deep into the park we could see a large dark shape on the road ahead of us. It turned out to be a good sized indigo snake. Sandra hopped out of the car to take "safe shots". This snake's body was thick. Once Sandra saw the snake was not threatening,she moved around to the "business end" of the snake to take a close up. A little later, two sea otters came out to "play" in front of us. Here is a close-up of one. Then, we continued to the other side of the wetlands to watch a great blue heron gathering nesting material. Possibly because of the urge to reproduce, the  bird seemed comfortable even though we were within 10 feet or less. This one walked right in front of us. Then, it posed even closer to us. We also saw several hooded mergansers on the water with interesting ripple patterns on the water around them. The limpkin were close too. As was...

... continuing photos from January 25 at Viera Wetlands I spy with my little eye... Anhinga with turquoise eye. Immature Ibis My limpkin Glen's limpkin. Better composition, better lens.

Continuing photos from the Viera Wetlands... Hooded Merganzers are hard to photograph because they just won't stay still. These birds are usually preening, fluttering, or ducking under the water.. Here is a male with three females. Another female catches his attention... ... and a curious Coot joins in.

Glen, Norma and I went to the Viera Wetlands, a well know bird watching place, on Wednesday January 25th. We didn't think there were as many varieties as there were last year.  Perhaps some birds are still lingering up north. However, what we saw was interesting. These Blue-winged Teals were having a nice time in their little private place. Unfortunately it wasn't private for long. A group of coots thought it looked good too.  As still more coots arrived, the teals decided to leave. So... the coots decided to leave too.

In the last week, we've been bicycling and walking around New Smyrna Beach when we haven't been taking day long bicycle trips. Our first long local ride was 9 km north to up to Smyrna Dunes Park, 4 km south to the north Causeway, over the north causeway to the intercoastal, 9 km south along Indian River and return via the south Causeway. Just as we were coming north a "flotilla" of boats came speeding north led by a Dolphin research vehicle with a police boat escort and (what we were told was) a "military gunboat". Here is the dolphin research vehicle. Castle Reef is just over the white ball cap. Notice the brilliant clear blue sky! On one of our many walks of the beach at low tide, we saw this egret strutting along at water's edge. The Royal Terns are here in force. Sandra walked slowly into them and isolated a pair. She has titled the picture "one good tern deserves another". Of course, sometimes when she walks into the birds, th...