February 2020 – A Snowbird's Life Through the Lens

'scene' along the way, adventure, birds, Florida wildlife, friends, fun, making memories, nature, nesting, perseverance, photography, simple things

What she said…

February 29, 2020 naturecoastimagesblog

If she lived here, my friend said, she would pack up a book and go to the beach every day. We were on Honeymoon Island at the time, and I had to wonder how it was that it had taken me so long to go to the beach there. A lovely beach that stretched as far as the eye could see, and not so many people or commotion as the more commercial areas. On this day it was windy and the surf looked like it might be tricky, but not many people were braving the chill.

I had an ulterior motive for bringing her to Honeymoon Island. It was the home of the more visible owl nest I’d been told about. I had been there to see the owls a couple of years ago, and all I remembered about that was that you had to walk a long way on the trails to find the nest. But once you found it the nest was in the open, much less of a challenge to photograph than the elusive nest at Philippe Park. There are two owlets in this nest, but only this little guy was checking us out. An adult was barely visible in a nearby tree.There is an eagle nest on Honeymoon Island also, and we were hiking there with a very helpful visitor we had met, but we decided that the mosquitos we encountered on that part of the trail were enough to make us turn around, We did see ospreys on nests though, lots of them.

And there were the inevitable stops on the way up and down the road. The snowy egret with her golden slippers was a hit.

And I always wonted to make one of these signs for my yard, with arrows pointing to all the places I found dear to me, but all the arrows would point in the same direction. North.

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Fiddling around…

February 28, 2020February 28, 2020 naturecoastimagesblog

There we were at Linda Person park trying to make the best of the fact that the manatees I promised to show my friend weren’t going to cooperate. Disappointed, we wandered along the inlet and saw what we thought were bugs digging holes in the wet sand. A photo revealed that they were not bugs, but crabs. Fiddler crabs, another visitor informed us. Googling them revealed that they wave their one giant claw around to attract a mate, that was the movement that made us notice them in the first place. When he finds a mate he lures her into his hole, and once he has had his way with her he seals her into said hole while she incubates the eggs. These some of the many daily dramas playing out in nature every day, all we have to do is pay attention.

What are our dramas as two foot loose and fancy free grandmothers on the loose in Florida?

Well, there was a quilt show…

A sunrise…

Bluebirds have put in an appearance…

We saw a little blue heron…

And there were torrential rains…

It’s called Twistee Treat, but Kathy insists on calling it Whoopie Twist. Don’t ask me why.

Lunch was at Crabby Bill’s today…

We made a note of this place while waiting for a traffic light on the way home. We sincerely hope we won’t ever need their services.

Soon she’ll be flying north, not south as these birds were doing…

But we have one more day, and it will be too chilly for the pool. But then other day it was nice and we did attempt to go to the pool, but after sticking our toes in the water we opted for the hot tub instead. We aren’t very wild and crazy are we? Last night we even found Bingo a little stressful!

'scene' along the way, adventure, birds, blessings, friends, fun, making memories, nature, Nature's beautiful creatures, perseverance, photography

Feathered friends…

February 27, 2020February 26, 2020 naturecoastimagesblog

Armed with cameras my visitor and I went to John Chestnut, Sr. Park the other day. She especially enjoyed our walk through the woods in the lovely, warm temperatures. A far cry from what she left behind at home in NH. And fortunately for us Siri responded when I had to ask, “Hey Siri, where did I leave my car?” How fortunate for myself and my fellow Baby Boomers that GPS is now part of our daily lives. There is a quote that I’ve seen over and over again since I have discovered the camping lifestyle. It says, ‘All who wander are not lost’. I have Siri to thank for that.

a second look, birds, friends, fun, go with the flow, life goes on, making memories, perseverance, photography, sky, sunset

Not nearest, but dearest….

February 26, 2020February 25, 2020 naturecoastimagesblog

It was a long travel day for my old friend, which is why it was that her plane wasn’t scheduled to arrive in Tampa until nearly 9 PM. But as soon as I saw that timing I hoped that the weather would cooperate so that I could stop at Cypress Point Park on the way to the airport. I had been there before with my photo group, where we were trying to get photos of the planes landing with the sunset colors behind them. And, of course, that didn’t exactly happen, not then and not this time. There was a lovely sunset going on, nice clouds picking up the colors, plus reflections of the sunset in the water and sand at low tide. But the panes were landing 90 degrees to the left where there were heavy gray clouds which simply refused to light up.But it was quite a pretty sunset, and since her plane was 45 minutes early it was lucky that this park is only 7 minutes from the airport. Of course with that timing once we got home there was barely time for a cup of Sleepy Time tea while we talked about all the things we might like to do while she is here….

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Connections…

February 25, 2020February 25, 2020 naturecoastimagesblog

An uncle came to stay with me once, I’m not even going to try to think of how long ago that was. He was an academic all his life, a college guidance department head, which is probably why he phrased it as wanting to see my ‘nest’. That that thought came to mind seems like a natural progression during this nesting season here in Florida, when birds are on my mind a lot of the time. And somehow that phrase further brought to mind something my closest friend’s husband said to me once after visiting with them. While I had always felt the closeness between this friend and myself, communication was not so easy in the days when we both had little kids, businesses to run, and lived 3000 miles apart. So I invited myself to visit them after many years, and when he drove me to the airport to leave he said that we were ‘two peas in a pod’, and that it was a crying shame that we hadn’t been able to be part of each other’s daily lives all along. On my way to see them on that visit I had said to myself that knowing myself I ought to be nervous, after all I was going to see people that I honestly didn’t know, but I wasn’t at all worried. And from that first moment that I stepped back into my friend’s life, and home, I felt completely at ease. More than that though, I felt like myself. My true self, the ‘real’ me. Silly, huh? Who’s life was I leading all those years, living all over the country and raising my kids with only occasional visits to the place I continued to think of as home? Those were happy years that I treasure, but there was a little part of me that felt alone. No, apart. Disconnected. But not any more, not since I’ve made connections to the past, connections that are mine alone. Little children that we once were, and who have lived such different lives, are now knowing and cherishing each other in this last part of life. How we got here hardly matters, it’s just so wonderful to be here.

a second look, birds, blessings, connections, egrets, Florida wildlife, friends, fun, life goes on, making memories, natural wonders, nature, nesting, on closer examination, perseverance, photography

I spy…

February 24, 2020February 23, 2020 naturecoastimagesblog

It was supposed to be a quick stop, after all I was on my way to the airport to pick up my closest, dearest friend for a visit. But I was early. Early enough to stop at Cypress Point Park and hope to see airplanes landing against a sunset-colored sky. That was as much of a plan as I had when I stopped at the rookery, fully prepared to see no new birdies there. Only there he or she was! This is the nest with the eggs that I’ve posted about before, and look as I might I haven’t spotted any other eggs in any other nest, despite all the apparent egg-sitting that I think I’m seeing. And there will be even more I’m sure, because I saw this…Somebody driving by yelled at me as I stood there on my ladder, something about giving them privacy. I’d feel guilty but really, how much privacy to they have anyhow? And I was looking to see the chick and this egret landed just on the other side of the fence and begged me to take her picture.I had to go back to the car and get my 600mm lens. It makes me happy to use it since I own it, but if I didn’t have the fence to lean it on I wouldn’t have been able to hold it steady. And that fence is quite rickety now, I hope I’m not responsible for that. At any rate I’m so happy to have my friend visiting, and so happy that our feathered friends have timed their appearance so perfectly for her to see them. It really was a red-letter day, with a week of them ahead of us.