Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge - Saturday Pt 1

It was a very dreary day but we got an early start and went to Ding Darling, another of our favorite birding haunts down here.  It is located on Sanibel Island and always a nice drive.  Unlike December when you are apt to see all kinds of birds, we only saw a few species -- far fewer than our trip to the mud flat the other day.  However, in our favorite viewing spot, there was a flock of Roseate Spoonbills which are one of my very favorites!!  For once, my camera was aimed and shooting when the whole flock took off to some other place leaving the pond empty.

This is a Yellow Crowned Night Heron and a bird we frequently see down here although not posing as nicely as this!  Notice is dangly feather plumage!

We spotted this nice Little Blue Heron along the side of the road.  Gail was determined to try to spot a Mangrove Cuckoo, some of which have been spotted lately at the refuge and a very rare bird down here.  Needless to say, we failed on this venture.

This was a colorful little Ground Dove.  We have seen several of these in different places.

These are two of the Roseate Spoonbills -- probably the closest I have been to this bird ever.  Notice the yellow on the side of the one.  We didn't know what that meant.  I just love these  big pink birds.  The first time I ever saw them was in Corpus Christi on a sailboat ride with my old roommate Janice and her husband down near San Padre Wildlife Refuge.

Still another picture just as they were about to all take off!

They are up, up and away and very pink!!

A closeup of the Yellow Crowned Night Heron where you can see the crown and other facial markings.


After we left Ding Darling, we headed down to the Sanibel Lighthouse but the wind was blowing pretty ferociously and so we passed on a walk along the beach.  A lovely breakfast followed and then we headed to Cape Coral and a chance to see another of my favorites -- the Burrowing Owls.  But you will have to wait for the next blog to see whether we were successful or not.