November 28, 2021, 61°, no wind, water a mirror, partly sunny.
Photo by Kay who was with me.Osprey eating his breakfast of fish this morning.and off the Osprey goes with his about 12 inch fish.Osprey watching us carefully. A flock pf Ibis was flushed by Elvis and Vegas, they lighted on the hoist next door.White Ibis.Little Blue Heron by the condos.Gull to the right in the photo has something in his beak, six more gull were chasing him trying to steal it away.Cormorant on a piling.Detail of the Cormorant.Great Blue on the wing in the early morning.Great Blue in the marina.Pelican on the wing.Pelican by our places.Yellow Crowned Night Heron, one of three out this morning, Yellow Crowned Night Heron, one of three out this morning, Yellow Crowned Night Heron, one of three out this morning, Dolphin Kay and I saw in the fairway!!A couple fishing, smooth water.Kay in the sunrise.Me Kayaking, Kay photo.
November 27, 2021, 69°, wind 4 knots, water ripples, mostly sunny, clear skies.
Nice start to the day.IbisGullCormorant drying its feathers.Brown Pelican in mangroves.Brown Pelicans on a piling.Detail of Brown Pelican.Brown PelicanOsprey on a branch.Osprey number two.Osprey number three.Osprey on the wing.Willet at the oyster bar.Juvenile Little Blue – no blue feathers yet.Juvenile Little Blue number two.Juvenile Little Blue number three.Adult Little Blue.Yellow Crowned Night Heron.Yellow Crowned in the mangroves.Yellow Crowned Night Heron number three.
Dolphin Show today November 26, 2021, 70°, wind calm, water flat, mirror smooth.
For 11 minutes a dolphin was all around me throwing up a huge splash, I believe that he was chasing fish for breakfast.Again and again, huge waaves.Then he came right up to me!Right under my kayak, he looked up at me!An Anhinga sitting pretty!An Osprey off carrying a flounder I think! Or maybe a skate.Detail of a Cormorant.Cormorant on a piling.Cormorant drying his feathers while sitting on the outboard of Jim’s old boat.Cormorant fishing.Pelican preening.WilletYellow Crowned Night Heron.Detail of the Yellow Crowned Night Heron. Ge has cobwebs on his beak, and a twig on his cheek!Yellow Crowned Night Heron swallowing a crab.Yellow Crowned Night Heron with something to eat.A Little Blue.Snowy coming in for a landing.Snowy on the deck.Detail of a Snowy.A detail of another Snowy!
Thanksgiving 9:30, November 25, 2021 70°, wind 7 knots out of the east, 2 to 4 inch waves.
Brown PelicanIbisGreat Blue HeronGullsYellow Crowned Night HeronJuvenile Night Heron.Detail of a juvenile Night Heron. No crown yet, so I do not know if Black Crowned or Yellow Crowned.Royal Tern on the wing.Royal TernWillet on the small island.Tall one is an White Egret, the short ones are Snowy Egrets.Snowy Egret.Juvenile Little Blue Heron. His blue feathers are not in yet.Direction arrow to the Pasadena Marina, it is directing you to keep to the left of the day marker, not the direction to the marina, which is straight ahead.
November 24, 2021, 54°, wind out of the ENE, 2 to 4 inch waves, SUNNY
Great EgretSnowy EgretSnowy’s on the railing of a floating home.Snowy in the wind.Snowy in the mangroves.Brown Pelican in the mangroves.Brown Pelican fishing.Cormorant drying his feathers.Yellow Crowned Night HeronGreat Blue HeronGreat Blue HeronFemale Anhinga.Male Anhinga drying his feathers.A Wood Stork, the first time I have ever seen them here, and it looks like they are building a nest!!Wood Stork in the shadows with a mottled duck in the foreground.Wood StorkWood StorkIbis, one of a hundred this morning – tide was out.Ibis gathering.Osprey looking down in search of breakfast.Osprey on a post.Osprey on the wing.Juvenile Little Blue HeronJuvenile SnowyJoe went out with me today.
November 21, 2021, 78°, wind out of the NE, 6 inch waves. Cloudy.
Little Blue, a juvenile I think as his head is still light.Marian paddling along in the marina, out of the wind.Cormorant balancing on the floating marker.Osprey way up on top of a tower.Beautiful Tricolor.Detail of the Tricolor Heron.
November 17, 2021 – 58° but 72° on the return! Wind out of the East, 2 knots, ripples.
An adult Little Blue was out early.A Pelican was perched in the mangroves.He was watching me go by – Brown Pelican.Gulls abound, they pick up edible scraps from Allan’s crab trap bait when he lifts it up.A pair of Ibis was around.A Cormorant in the mangroves.A Cormorant drying its feathers while standing on the swim platform.Cormorant also on the swim platform.Great Blue Heron with feathers up due to cooler weather.Great Blue Heron.Yellow Crowned Night Heron in the mangroves.Willet on the oyster bar.Osprey watching from his perch up in the mangroves.Osprey on the wing fishing.Dolphin cruising around.Dolphin splashing with his tail.Neighbor’s Christmas tree already up!
November 15, 2021 – 60° F, wind out of the NE at 5 to 7 knots, water 1 to 3 inch waves.
The Black Vultures are flying everywhere this time of year.Great Blue Heron hiding in the mangroves.Great BlueSnowy on a dock line.Juvenile Cormorant.Who are you looking at?CormorantCormorant drying feathers.Pelican flying by.IbisIbisIbisIbis landing on the oyster bar surprising the Royal Tern.Royal Tern on the oyster bar!Osprey on a mangrove branch.Osprey launching.Osprey on a PVC pipe.Detail of an Osprey.
November 13 and 14, 62°, water smooth, 2 knot wind out of the ENE, Marian went on the 13th.
Marian on her paddle board.Egret in the mangroves.Egret shaking.Egret really shaking.Egret in flight.Egret landing on the mangroves.Egret under the dock.Yellow Crowned Night Heron, still sleeping.Osprey on a mangrove branch.Osprey on the wing.OspreyOsprey north end of island.Great Blue Egret.Detail of Great BluePelican on the wingPelican preeningBrown PelicanPelican preeningMottled Duck.Juvenile CormorantCormorant just out of the water.Cormorant drying feathers.Cormorant on outboard drying feathers.IbisDetail of Snowy.SnowyLittle Blue HeronDetail of Little BlueJuvenile Little Blue.
November 9 and 10, 2021. 60°, water smooth.Sarah and I went both days, Julie went on the tenth.
Sarah and Julie out for a paddle.Sarah my granddaughter.Julie from next door.Willet on the oyster bar.Osprey on the north end of the island.Osprey on the top of the mast.Tricolor in the mangroves.Tricolor Heron on a branch.Tricolor.Great Blue wading.Close up of the Great Blue.Great Blue Heron shaking out his feathers!Great Blue Heron getting back to normal.Great Blue back almost to normal.Snowy on a dock line watching for fish to come by. Snowy on a dock line watching for fish to come by. Up the fresh water Bear Creek, a Snowy taking a drink.Snowy calling out his neighbors.Detail of a SnowyAnhinga in the mangroves.Anhinga on a branch of a dead mangrove.A lone sentinel, an Anhinga in a dead tree.A Little Green on the rubble.Little Green upset with his neighbors.Little Green on the rubble in Bear Creek.Little Green.Brown Pelican.Brown Pelican stretching, scratching.Detail of the Brown Pelican.Brown Pelican from the rear.Detail of Brown Pelican.Yellow Crowned Night Heron.Yellow Crowned Night Heron in the mangroves.Yellow Crowned Night Heron fishing.Cormorant drying its feathers.Detail of a Cormorant.Cormorant on a piling.Juvenile Little Blue, no blue feathers yet.Adult Little Blue.Sarah and me in Tampa at the Museum.Me and Sarah at Fort De Soto on a bike ride, thanks for the use of a bike Joe!
November 8, 2021 60°, sunny, 10 knot winds, 3 inch waves. Again we went out on Marian’s path.
Osprey taking off.Osprey on the wing.Egret, early morning fishing.Snowy early morning fishing.Snowy detail.Ibis early morning.Anhinga drying its feathersAnhinga detail.Anhinga preening.Little Green Heron.Tricolor – more brown than usual.Mottled Duck.Pelican up close, preening.PelicanCormorantCormorant on swim platform.Detail of Cormorant.Close up of juvenile Cormorant.Cormorant in the water by the kayak.Yellow Crowned Night HeronYellow Crowned Night Heron hiding.Someone put out a very lifelike float that looks like an alligator, it got Sarah worried!
November 7, 2021 – 62°, sunny, 5 to 10 knot winds, 3 inch waves. Sarah and I went out – we had to go out Mariam’s path as the tide was minus 6 inches and there was dry land behind my place – with a hundred white birds pecking at the exposed sea floor.
My 21 yr old granddaughter Sarah from Seattle went kayaking with me this morning, she had on a thin shirt and shorts, I had on long pants and a jacket!We trundled the kayaks down to Marian’s path and into the water there.Snowy along the shore.The Vultures are back.Little Green on the shore.CormorantAdult Anhinga drying his feathers.Yellow Crowned Night Heron. Great Blue on the wing.Great Blue HeronGreat Egret fishing.Osprey with breakfast in his right claw.A different Osprey with his breakfast in his left claw.Pelican dive for fish.Pelican coming in for a dive.Two Pelicans watch for fish.Pelican on a piling.Detail of the Pelican.
(Second trip today) November 3, 2021 75°, little breeze, water flat, Marian andI went out in the kayaks then down to Fort De Soto to see the White Pelicans!!http://pinellascounty.org/park/05_ft_desoto.htm Photos from the great trip to the park:
Juvenile Yellow Crowned Night Heron at Ft. De Soto.Reddish Egret at the park doing his fishing thing.ReddishReddishThat is a flock of White Pelicans! More than 100 have arrived here for warmer weather.Great American White Pelican, twice as large as our Brown Pelican, with a 9 foot wingspan!Lots of White Pelicans!White Pelicans preening – ready to sleep for the night.Quite a flock of White Pelicans!White Pelicans.White Pelican preening.So many White Pelicans!Getting ready for night – White Pelicans.Adjacent to the White Pelicans was a flock of Black Skimmers with Royal Terns.The Black Skimmers doing their flight routine.Off the Black Skimmers go, then they return shortly.
November 3, 2021 70°, 2 knot breeze, water flat, Julie and I went out.
Halloween party last Saturday.Yellow Crowned Night Heron out to see us.Osprey eating his early morning breakfast of fish. His claw went right through the fish! Osprey #2 of four we saw today.Egret flying by.Snowy all bundled up.Detail of Snowy.Male Anhinga.Male Anhinga #2 just out of the water.Willet on the oyster bar.Tricolor in the breeze.Great Blue in the mangroves.
October 27, 2021 74°, water flat, Julie and I went out.
My sister Susan sent along this photo of a bear in her front yard!Allan sent along this photo of an Osprey next door to him.Dawn this morning.Julie – check out how flat the water is!!Two dolphin chasing mullet for breakfast.Yellow Crowned Night Heron.Snowy Female Cormorant.Male Cormorant.IbisJuvenile White Ibis.PelicanPelicanOsprey
October 23 Marian and I worked on the muddy path down to the water. She brought bricks and concrete blocks, I brought bags of concrete mix. We stabilized some of the areas where if one steps off of the concrete squares already there, you sink in about 8 inches in mud! Then we took a short kayak ride around the peninsula where I live.
Marian on her kayak/stand up board with a stadium seat!Juvenile ibis.Anhinga drying its feathers.Yellow Crowned Night HeronClose-up of the Yellow Crowned Night Heron.Little Green fishing.Little Green all upset at a Sunny, he raised his head and made a lot of noise!!!
October 18, 2021, 69° (it was 74° before I returned) 5 knot wind out of the NE. 2 inch waves. Beautiful sunny day.
Photo of me by Kay this morning.Sunrise, eight pelicans to the right.Crab fishermen baiting and putting out their traps.Fisherman said he caught a couple of catfish.Fisherman’s wife behind him.Willet behind my house.Pair of Pelicans.Pelican on the wing at dawn.Snowy all fluffed out for the cooler weather.Snowy fishing.Snowy going after that fish.Egret scratching that itch.Little Green.Little Green on the dock lines.Juvenile Cormorant sleeping.The Cormorant waking up.Cormorant awake now (he just went back asleep though!)/Detail of juvenile Cormorant.Osprey in the mangroves at the north end of the island.
October 17, 2021, back home kayaking, 73°, 9 knot wind out of the northeast.
A Sandwich Tern (note the yellow spot on the tip of his beak, that looks like mustard, thus Sandwich Tern).Sandwich Tern.Royal Tern, the Terns were out in force scarfing up little fish for breakfast.Snowy waiting for breakfast to swim by.Great EgretGreat Egret fluffing his feathers.Great Egret fishing,Great Egret in the mangroves.SnowySnowyPelican fishing.Kay talking to the fisherman going out to a tournament.Some of the seemed like 100 fishing boats.Little Green Heron.Two adults and one juvenile Little Blue Herons (and me).Juvenile Little Blue Heron with adult Little Blue in foreground. A family!, Junior and mom and dad in one spot.Dad? Little Blue Heron.Mom? Little Blue Heron.Female Belted Kingfisher on the spreader of a sailboat. She immediately flew off. I need a longer lens for her!Tricolor on the rail of a powerboat.Ibis flying away, note the black feathers on the tips of its wings.This Cormorant popped up near my kayak.Kay took this of me and my bananas, they are almost ready.
October 16, 2021, Rockland, Maine to Bangor, Maine, then flight home to Florida.
Cloudy and raining. Periodic areas of dense fog on the way to the airport.Bangor International Airport this noon.Clearwater airport when I left a week ago.
October 15 PM, Rockland, Maine, a little rain, David’s Looms, and down to the dock at St. George to meet with Little Jim (or Slim Jim) (who is about 6’6″ it seems) as he come in from lobstering. NOTE: David and Jean sell their goods on their web site pocoragrugs.com
Strips of cloth David uses to build a rug on this loom. David and Jean have seven looms in all.David is making dishtowels on this loom. Strips of cloth Jean uses to build a rug on this loom. Another loom.Warping board to build the warp.Spools of thread for the rug warp.8/2 cotton for making towels.Examples of cloths made.Close up of rug making.Down to get lobster!Dock where they unload lobster from the lobster boats. Steve is dropping a crate of them into the water to keep them alive.Frozen fish for bait used in the lobster traps.Great Blue Heron awaiting dinner.Cormorants out in the bay.Slim Jim coming in with 850 pounds of lobster – his catch for the day!! The stern man in the bow on his cell phone. Not much freeboard there!!!Crate after crate – 90 pounds in each crate!Weighing the lobster in, Steve got 6,000 pounds last week.Right onto the table for dinner!David digging in.The remains of six lobster!!David made baked apple with oatmeal and walnuts – together with ice cream for desert!!!!!!!
October 15, 2021, Rockland, Maine with side trip to Rockport and my favorite town Camden, Maine this morning.
October 14, drove to Maine. 70° daytime 50’s night.
Sign on the side of the road.Field of pumpkins..A half mile of pumpkins.Flower with bumblebee.David and Jean at the lighthouse that Forrest Gump ended his run to the east and went back west.Lighthouse keeper’s house.Flower by the house.Tow boat.Boat being towed.A very rocky coast.Shells Jean collected.Seaweed attached to one side of the rock.David and Jean skipping rocks, David skipped one at least 15 times!Cormorant out in the Atlantic off of the Maine coast.
If you want a print of any photo, just email me lighthousejohn11@gmail.com
September 13, 2021 70° beautiful here in Vermont.
Morning – AJ and I were moving refrigerators, old one on right, new on left.Colors on a pond.Helping Susan prepare for winter in the afternoon.Susan checking the game camera.One of Susan’s night photos with the game camera.Going hunting with Al in the evening, he bagged a partridge!Mike cleaning the partridge with one of the seven dogs looking on..The trail we took hunting.More colors.Momma and babies from Susan’s game camera.The bear we saw just below the front lawn this evening Wed Oct 13!! In this photo he looks somewhat like a fox but he was huge!!
From lifting refrigerators, planters, going hunting, seeing a bear out front, an exciting exhausting day! Never a dull moment!
10-12-2021 Vermont, 71°, busy last night and this morning getting ready for concrete truck to come to fill tubes for new porch on Mike’s cabin.
Molly driving the tractor (Bucket on right, backhoe on rear). Mike and Chloe Working in the holes for the foundation.Al loading earth into holes with Sono tubes for the concrete.Concrete truck arrives.Placing the concrete mix into the tubes.Molly and Chloe making sure the mix goes into the tube and I am feeding it to them.Mike smoothing the tops and inserting the bolt that the porch will be fastened to.Girls making sure mix goes into the tube and me shoveling it at a rate that it not too fast.Excess concrete mix – I used a bit of it to make a brick to replace the missing brick in the fire pit.Al, Susan, Molly, Chloe, Mike and me (behind the camera), crew making the foundation. AJ worked last night but he had work today.Susan brought us breakfast!Resting after the truck left – around the new fire pit.Sue and Al…the black spot on the top ring is what I made a replacement for out of the excess concrete.
10-11-2021 Up in Vermont at my sister Susan’s, 75° out right now! I was looking at her photos of bears, dear, and other wildlife that come up on their front lawn, when Sue said to look out the living room windows…here is what I saw:
The white square is a bird house – eastern bluebirds came to visit.Down over their lawn.Lower right is a corner of their solar panels, the only have solar, there are NO powerlines out this far, so they rely on solar! Batteries today are 96.8% charged and 26 volts. They have six huge batteries that power the whole house.Looking more out over Stone mountain.Mountain and maple sugar house in the lower right.Stunning view of all the colored leaves.Mountain range in the background.Birch, sugar maple, and maples.Reds are maple trees.Reds and yellows.Another of the sugar house!!
10-10-2021 Another glass sea day, 75°, no wind. A guest photographer – Kay!! Kay, Marian and I went for a kayak ride. It was a nice morning.
Lots of Royal Terns having breakfast of the little bait fish. Wonderful sunrise!Some gulls joined in the feast.Kay took this photo of me in my new kayak.Kay took this of Marian and me looking at a Yellow Crowned Night Heron.My new kayak is from Old Town Maine according to Allan.Marian and me, I was taking photos of a Tricolor who was on the dock lines. I did not download my photos, I will get to them next week.
10-9-2021 A new yellow kayak to add to my stable. I see that I would be sitting about a foot forward compared to the green one. I will try it out tomorrow before my trip.
Friday 10-8-2021 Another awesome day, 83°, sunny, no wind.
No, not South Pasadena, a photo from my sister in Vermont!Another photo from my sister in Vermont, the building in the middle is their Maple Sugar building where they boil down the sap from the maple trees. Apple trees to the right on Susan’s front lawn, solar panels are to the left (their only source of electricity).Back here in South Pasadena, a juvenile American Bald Eagle! He was walking around on the oyster bar.Back here at home, a juvenile American Bald Eagle! On the oyster bar! The juvenile American Bald Eagle as he left the oyster bar, he is huge!!A Cormorant paddling about.The Cormorant shaking his wings.And then there were three Cormorants!Osprey showing off.A mad scramble of a dozen pelicans before the sun was out.The group fishing.Pelicans fishing for breakfast.Little Green watching for fish to come by.Little Green showing off.Detail of the tiny fish he caught!Little Green in an impossible stretch.And up he comes with a fish!And again, this Little Green selected a lower dock line.Detail of the Little Green.Snowy arrives.The Snowy starts to fish.Great Blue waiting for the fishermen to come by.Something looks interesting.A yawn?A banner day, a photo of a Kingfisher!I followed the Kingfisher around into the marina, here he is on the end of a fishing pole.I am not sure – Yellow Crowned or Black crowned Night Heron.Night Heron where the Black Crowned lives.Maybe a juvenile Night Heron?Another Night Heron over by my place.Almost all his blue feathers are in on this Juvenile Little Blue Heron.No blue feathers on this juvenile Little Blue Heron.
Thursday 10-7-2021 Another perfect day, 79°, sunny, 2 knot wind.
Juvenile Little Blue.Juvenile Little Blue.Four Ibis photobombed by Mottled Ducks.Two Ibis.Great BlueDetail of Great Blue Heron.Little GreenLittle Green fishing.Little GreenYellow Crowned Night Heron in my path.Cormorant fishing.The red mangroves have roots called props, the oysters take advantage of them and grow there. In order to grow that big in a soft muddy environment, the Red Mangrove has adapted aerial ‘prop roots’ which help prop up the tree, and give it a spider-like appearance. These special roots also filter the salt out of the seawater that the plant takes up, allowing it to get the water it needs to survive, without the damaging saltA dolphin surfaced right near me.
Allan’s photos of the dolphins!
SnowySnowy fishingSnowy looking for breakfast.Detail of SnowySnowy balancing on the dock line.SnowySnowy balancing act.Snowy flying and washing his feet at the same time.Laughing GullPelican on a piling.PelicanPelican close up.Pelicans on the move.Pelicans on the wing.Blerry photo of the kingfisher on the wing.The elusive Kingfisher.Osprey on the wing.Osprey.Osprey I am calling Betty.Osprey I am calling Adam.Kay gives the perspective to the bananas.
