Third Day of Perfect Weather!

 A few years of trying to get a good picture of a Kingfisher and this is the third time this year, I have seen them closely and I have seen them a couple of other times as well.  They are soon becoming what my BIL Bill calls "flivers" or birds frequently seen and not worth photographing!  I do think they are an interesting looking bird though.

We had one of those incredible warm days down here and took the ferry down to Southport NC to have lunch with an old school friend and his wife who live just south of here.  Southport is a beautiful little town with a very New England look.  A new movie called Safe Haven was filmed there last summer.  Although not a movie I would probably go to otherwise, we ate at a little coastal restaurant  (The Fishy Fishy Cafe and outside  as it was so nice) that was right next to where some of the filming took place.  The food and the company were excellent!!  This is the ferry coming in the opposite direction down the Cape Fear River which separates the island I live on from Southport.  It is about a four mile (or half hour trip) and today was perfect -- short sleeves only!!

I had to take a picture of this stone jetty which I find fascinating.  It is miles long and runs along the Cape Fear River and connects to a couple of the islands.  It was built in the late 1800s to protect the river from shoal build up which would inhibit  ship traffic down the river.  It blocked a former inlet  used by the Rebels during the Civil War.  At low tide, you can walk quite a distance.  At high tide it is covered with Oystercatchers. 
It is right next to where I have taken pictures of the Oystercatchers.The stone wall is called "The Rocks" and the area where I see the birds sometimes at low tide in the late afternoon is called the Basin -- really a little estuary.

They have started filling up the lake at Carolina Beach again so hopefully some of the ducks who have left will return.  It was pretty empty today except for the usual Mallards and Coots.  I can't help but take pictures of these beautiful Great Egrets though especially when they pose in such an attractive location.

Another picture of my Kingfisher -- I didn't even have to crop but a tiny bit!!  I believe it is a male as I don't see any sign of the lower brown striping.  He just wanted to pose in profile.