Visit to Corkscrew Swamp National Audubon Sanctuary

We went out last Friday to this Audubon sanctuary as we thought it would just be a nice place to take a long walk. We saw a number of red shouldered hawks and many vultures as well as our usual cast of herons and egrets. We also saw several orb spiders as well as a couple of baby alligators and some raccoons.

This was a small warbler or vireo that I have yet to identify! Guess the picture just isn't good enough!
This was a picture of the swamp area that shows some of the cypress trees with their knees (look like stumps) coming out of the water. It was a beautiful 2 1/4 mile walk.

This was one of the numerous butterflies we saw in the butterfly garden at the entrance. They were all gone by the time we left. This is a zebra butterfly.

This was a strangler fig which was growing around a cypress tree. They were very cool and can stand on their own or grow around other trees.

Another butterfly I have yet to identify but will try to and update the blog.

An even different butterfly which stopped on some of the stones for a brief respite.

Yet another butterfly, all of which I haven't identified!

Wood Stork, Wood Stork, Osprey, Osprey, Vulture

This is one of several dead trees which must have been in a higher area at one time on Lover's Key. It reminded me very much of my favorite picture from Yellowstone. The difference is that the white here is sand and the white there was the results of the acid climate at Yellowstone but then again, Yellowstone was once an ancient seabed and the springs all contain the remnants of those shells that were deposited millions of years ago.

Well, the weather has been absolutely fabulous!! How can you miss with mid 50's nights and low 80's every day. Last weekend we had a couple of cold fronts come rolling through and a full moon. This led to one of those wonderful high, high tides followed by low, low tides. Like last year, I walked way down the beach and collected all sorts of shells, including some that have been elusive over the past few years (true tulips). I have found nice examples of almost every shell native to these beaches now and if I can will post a little identification guide on my blog. I am still grappling with the computer with very limited functionality at this point so have to switch back and forth between mine and Warren's. I have to upload the pictures to his computer, edit them to make them smaller and then update my blog from there. It is still very annoying and I am harboring very bad feelings about Microsoft and Vista.

Last Friday we went to the Corkscrew Swamp Audubon Sanctuary which was a lovely 2 1/4 mile boardwalk through the swamp. We didn't see too many birds but then we have become spoiled with what we are seeing just looking in the "backyard" here.

There are actually two ospreys up here on this nest -- one of two very active nests at the end of the beach here. This one had moments before swooped down and tried to steal a freshly caught fish from a local angler!!


I got several pictures of the ospreys soaring above. It was a gorgeous day as you can see and the sun and the ospreys were cooperating for once.

This is one of the vultures which we see every day. Do you think they are waiting for us to expire??

Tuesday we took our nature walk through Lover's Key State Park where Gail and I collected shells and reminisced about our childhoods at the beach and collecting shells with my father. It was great fun and we took some nice pictures.

Yesterday, I managed to wrest control of the van from Warren and my sister and I got to finally stop and take pictures of the wood storks which had eluded us because our dear husbands refused to just stop the cars by the side of the road. Luckily the storks were in a place where there was a small turnoff so she and I finally got those pictures! Our husbands just moaned. As she has been able to post more, you can see what we have been up to at http://www.parkersbarkers.blogspot.com/ which is my sister's blog.

This is one of the wood storks we see every day as we head over to Ft. Myers. They are an endangered species but we have seen quite a few this year.





This is a flower from a tree growing right by my sister's condo. It is called very aptly aHong Kong orchid.


More of those omnipresent vultures waiting to pounce.



This is a view of the wood stork that decided that he was interested in having his picture taken anymore. Quite a magnificent bird!

Every Day There is Something New!

As I have no wifi, blog updates have been sparse!! Well, today it is actually raining so I have no excuse not to come over to the library and catch up on email and do a blog update!! It is a little complicated now as of course thanks to Microsoft I can only use my computer online for an hour at a time. I have had to load all my pictures onto Warren's computer so halfway through being at the library, we switch computers so I can put some of my pictures on the blog!!

There doesn't seem to be a day down here where I haven't seen something I have never seen before! Today I saw giant Magnificent Frigate birds flying overhead just before the rain hit. They were huge and I didn't recognize them so had to consult my bird books. Unfortunately, camera was not in hand before they passed over. I was too entranced with them to go inside and get the camera.

Yesterday, a couple pointed out a live seahorse on the beach. A local fellow came by and managed to get it way out in the water where hopefully it swam away. The couple had put him back once but he hadn't stayed. The little seahorse proceeded to curl itself around this fellow's finger -- it was pretty cool. I have seen one dead one before. (Warren had found it last year and was told by the naturalist that it was a real fairly rare find.)

On Sunday on their first day down here, we went to breakfast with my sister who has recently purchased a condo down here. Her wonderful husband cooked a stupendous breakfast for us and then we headed out to Six Mile Cypress Slough for a walk along the boardwalk. We got to see lots of birds, turtles and a very large alligator!

The weather has been wonderful although the water is cooler than other years (only 70 degrees instead of the almost 80 it was last year). It still feels nice to this northerner and cools you off on the warmer days (we had two days in the 80s this week which is unusual as well).

This is a little green heron which my sister spotted at Six Mile. There was a naturalist there and I don't think she even saw it until Gail spotted it and I identified it.



These are a large flock of my favorite shoreboard -- the Black Skimmer. The flock probably has a couple of hundred birds in it and they sit tightly on the beach and then fly all at once. If you double click, you will see the bright red on their beaks.

This was a reddish egret that my sister and I spotted at Bowditch Park. It looks like the little Blue Heron except it is quite a bit larger.

This is a gopher tortoise which makes its home in burrows at Bowditch Park. They are about 12 inches across and this one was eating up a storm!

This is a Gold Crowned Night Heron taking a drink at the pool. This was the first time I had seen this type of bird in the canal and certainly at the pool!

This was a very odd starfish still alive -- a variety I hadn't seen before! It is called a brittle starfish and really isn't very big (especially compared to the 9-legged starfish I saw last year).

In keeping with my "birds in motion" this bird looks very much like the egret taking off in Caren Betlinski's quilt!

This is an Anhinga drying off its wings. They call it the piano bird!

This was a very large alligator at Six Mile Cypress Slough along with a few turtles. We also saw quite a few turtles swimming around right under the boardwalk where we were standing.

Egret, Egret, Pelican, Heron, Heron, Merganser

Well, we have been in Florida for almost a week, and it is really really easy to get used to! The weather was a little chilly the first couple of days which was fine with me as the beaches were deserted and I could pick up shells with no competition!!

As usual, the birds really continue to entertain me every day. This year I have seen several species in the "back yard" that I haven't seen in previous years so more picture opportunities. I brought along the big Audubon guide this year just to help more. I have literally seen almost every wading bird native to Florida behind the Inn where I sit reading (but usually taking pictures). My challenge to myself this year is to take pictures of birds in motion. I can sense when the pelicans will take off but have had less luck with the egrets and herons.

Our first day we actually saw a bald eagle when we walked down to the park about a mile down the beach.This is a very fuzzy picture as I didn't have my camera set on long distance!!


We also were up close and personal with an osprey that always nests there. She is giving me a very dirty look although didn't seem to mind my presence too muchy.

My sister arrives today so we will get together with her for breakfast tomorrow morning. She and her husband own a condo in Ft. Myers very close to the library where I am now sitting!


This is a red breasted merganser which was swimming around in the canal behind the Inn where we stay. Haven't seen one of these before. They are migratory and spend most of their time way, way north in Alaska and north of Maine.

This is one of the many egrets and other birds that take drinks from the pool at the Inn. They stand about 3 feet away from you now.

This is of course my very favorite which is three pelicans patiently waiting for the guy next door to throw his fish leavings to them. These are three adults which are beginning to have their mating plummage (the gold heads). I just love them!!!

Many an Ibis This Way Come!

Well, I thought Warren was just kidding when he said that he and Lisa came upon a large flock of Ibis just walking down the road. Then he told me they were out in front. Well, good thing I looked as there they were only there were only three that made it down here. I never expected to see Ibis here in NC as I think of them as a very tropical bird and according to my bird book, they are only up as far north as SC but we do live relatively close sooo.....

The weather remains wonderful as you can see! But tomorrow, heaven forbid, it is supposed to rain. As we rarely even have clouds, rain will be shocking! Hopefully, we will be heading over to see the NC Aquarium which is a stone's throw away! I am hoping the weather behaves enough so that we can walk around the Fort Fisher area as well.

Some Random Pictures from Kure Beach

This is a view of the new dining room furniture which arrived last Saturday. As you can see, we have installed most of the new blinds as well! It is nice not to sleep in a fishbowl anymore!

This is the the other corner of the living room where we put our old living room furniture from home. It looks like a nice cozy spot from which you can watch the dolphins now.
This is Warren and Lisa sitting outside on the ferry boat over to a town called Southport yesterday. Southport is a quaint little town on the North Carolina coast which was supposed to be a big seaport. It ended up being further up river in Wilmington instead. The ferry to Southport is about two miles from the house. There were antique shops lining both sides of the main street!!

This was the Southport ferry going in the opposite direction. It is closing down for the months of December and January for repairs and upgrades.

This is Lisa's very cute kitty Yahi making himself completely at home on the new sofa.

If I Had Microsoft Stock, I Would Sell It!

Postings will be a little slim for awhile as Microsoft has managed to clobber my computer and I can no longer use Windows and have to reload everything back on my computer! Of course I am away from home so don't have any software with me..... Thank goodness for Google!! Wish I could find a way to send a nice thank you note. Because I use Google mail (Gmail), all of my mail is safely on Google's computer and through experimentation, I found that I could get into my file system via Gmail when I have attachments.

So I am torn -- I can go back to original Windows (this is Vista by the way) and not have Word or Excel (they are home) or I can go through this back door which allows me an hour of Explorer at a time but then I will have Word and Excel and any other software I can initiate through my Gmail attachment! I also will have to pay for an external hard drive and for someone to copy all the files on my hard drive over to it so I won't lose anything.

It is chilly down here but we have almost a furnished house!! I will upload pictures later when I upload them to husband's computer, send them to myself, download to this computer and then use Blogger to get at them! Much too complicated!

We took the ferry yesterday to Southport but more on that later!