Travelin' Tuesday Morning!

Well my sister and I made an early start (for me but halfway through the day for her) at 7 with plans to go shelling at Lover's Key which is a small series of islands south of Ft. Myers Beach. As the park didn't open until 8 in the morning, we took a side trip first through a very small kind of private preserve on the southern end of Ft. Myers Beach. I don't know whether it has a formal name or not. We also took a circuit around the Catholic Monastery in search of the fabled scarlet ibis which has been spotted there (no, we didn't see one). What a treat!!!

This was at a small pond behind the monastery and was a series of trees with probably 25 anhingas all appearing to be females! They have the brownish necks while the males are solid black.
I believe this is a Wilson's Plover. I know it is a plover and the markings on the Kildeer which is looks most like are much stronger.

This is a Semi-Palmated Sandpiper and is bigger than the plovers.

This is the Semi-Palmated Plover. I have seen these quite often on the beach.

This is a Kildeer which is also a plover. We used to get these in our yard in Batavia, NY. They are a very noisy bird!

After wandering around this small salt water marsh where we saw all the plovers, we headed over to the beach as we saw some dolphins feeding near the shore. This was a dolphin that was pushing a school of fish up onto the beach -- he probably ended up in about six inches of water just feet from us. I hadn't even noticed the pelican in front!

This was a lovely Tri-Color Heron that we saw as we were heading back up to the car. He was in the tidal pools. They are about the same size as the Little Blue Heron but have more distinctive markings and are whitish underneath.

These are Mottled Ducks (what my sister called Florida Ducks) which are very common around here. I had seen them before but hadn't identified them.

This was a particularly nice reddish egret that we also saw in this shore area. It was a lovely side trip to say the least.

Next we headed down to Lover's Key for some shelling! It is always good there. The thermometer on the car measured 93 in the sun and we hear we set the country's record for the warmest temp! The day was glorious though and the water warm and clear.
This is my stash from collecting shells down at Lovers Key. I had to give up after two hours as I was still suffering some dehydration from the flu I had a couple of days previously. You can see conchs and olives and most of the common shells found down here! I never tire of collecting shells and neither does my sister Gail. It is in our genes for sure!!
On our way out of Lover's Key, we stopped one last time to see if we could spot manatees as I had never seen one! Gail spotted some down the way so we drove down and watched them for ten minutes! They were quite active although on the other side of the canal. Nonetheless, I did manage a few good pictures. I loved this one as he (or she) looks like a person in a back float somehow in this shot -- not a very attractive person I might add!! Some canoes came by and the manatees disappeared deep under water and out of sight. It was quite a thrill!!

I couldn't end the blog without including this picture of my elusive Belted Kingfisher. Of course he chose to come around closely again when my camera was by the pool, but not me. Luckily my dear husband had the presence of mind to take some shots. This really shows the essence of the Kingfisher -- doesn't he look fearsome?