More Fine Feathered Friends

With my dear husband returned to Rochester for a couple of horrid days and Gail's husband working on his planes, my sister and I decided to take a walk on the boardwalk in one of my favorite places down here -- Six Mile Cypress Slough. It is about a mile and a half through a beautiful swampy area with no bugs -- the critters take care of all those annoying mosquitoes. Here are the ibis coming home to roost for the night in the trees around one of the larger ponds.

I just think the swamp itself is beautiful with its wonderful cypress trees speckled with lichen. Double clicking on this one will give you a better view.

A bunch of turtles were enjoying the sunshine all lined up on this old log.

There were several ibis up in trees as we were walking through the swamp. The pointy leaved plant in the background is an epiphyte which is an "air plant".

This was a lovely male anhinga drying its wings.



Today was our third day with considerable fog in the morning. I like the Great Blue Heron with the fuzzy foggy background. The weather has been really peculiar this year but anything is better than the cold and snow in Rochester!

This morning the usual ibis were digging in the neighboring lawn. The one in front is really a white ibis but a juvenile. One of the others was all white with just a touch of brown on its head -- probably a year older than this fellow.

There has been an everpresent Belted Kingfisher who has frustrated my attempts to get a good closeup. The only time he came even remotely close, I had left the camera inside (of course). This was about as good as I have been able to get and you can certainly see his white collar.

This is one of several everpresent small birds which land on the orange tree. I believe it is a Palm Warbler as they are supposedly common down here and he twitches his tail up and down frequently.