March 2024

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March 30, 2024
The wind had died at first, not a breath of air. Then it came from the south as a light breeze on my way back.

Osptey watching me.
Little Green Heron, he was upset with himself as he had reached for a fish and fell in!
Great Blue Heron
Great Blue sitting about 5 feet from the nest on the north side of the island, maybe he would occupy it?
Merganser - I guess he has decided to stay around for a while.
He popped up his head and made a bubble!
Snowy Egret
Yellow Crowned Night Heron.
Blue Jay at the bird feeder.
The bow of my kayak, my camera has a 10 foot minimum to focus, but this was a cute little crab that had dropped onto my bow when I had stopped to get some trash out of a bush. He reared up and launched himself like a swimmer off a diving board into the water!
Baby Ducklings - the first this year!!
They came right up to my kayak (too close to focus properly) to say hi! One was way back from mom, a bird swooped down to eat him but he plop, went right under the water. Then went 90 miles and hour to catch up!
Mom and seven ducklings.
Cormorant (curved end of his bill).
Anhinga (straight bill). (Female - brown neck, male is black)
The worse photo ever, that is the head of a manatee! He surprised me! No time to focus.

March 29, 2024
Bright and sunny and cool. Talked with Allan and delivered another ball to Kevin for his dogs to play with.
Wind was not  bad, it gave me another ride back home for free.

Flock of Ibis
Ibis
Great Egret
Egret going after a fish for breakfast (he caught it but swallowed it before I got a photo).
Osprey
Yellow Crowned Night Heron
Spotted Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Little Green Heron
When he decided to run, up came the crest!
Great Blue Heron
Squirril at the feed box.
Snowy
Brown Pelican preening
Sandpipers
Merganser
Merganser playing torpedo!
Local cat on the mangroves!

March 25, 2024
66° to start, 74° on return, bright and sunny! Wind 8 to 10 mph, waves broke over my bow, and my muscles were telling me it was a tough paddle going east across the bay. It was an easy run back home with the wind by my back. Many birds were hiding from the wind, but the Ospreys and the Turkey Vultures were having fun with the updraft as the wind hit our homes! 

Ibis with a tiny fish.
Little Green Heron
Male M Duck
Great Blue Heron
Little Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Merganser
Osprey with a fish for breakfast!

March 24, 2024
Also cool and partially sunny, sun goes in and out. Wonderful trip, lots of birds. Another free ride home.
I was asked about alligators, nope, I have never seen an alligator in my route, they do not like salt water. They will hang out in brackish water sometimes, but not salt water.
A Merganser was hanging around, he eats fish. He will go along paddling with his head under water. Then when he spies a fish he kicks it into super drive and zooms ahead!!
The mystery of my wheels.
I have an aluminum framework and two wheels that I use to get my kayak down to the point when the water is too low to paddle out from shore, like it was this morning. I went to my storage container to grab the wheels, they were not there, I figured I must have left them down at the point. I walked down to the point. No wheels. I walked back and had to drag my kayak down to the point. 
I went to the theater and managed the lights for the play this afternoon. 
When I returned, I decided to go back to the point and look better, There were my wheels, in the track where I had dragged my kayak this morning. Someone had put those wheels there between me going out at 8 AM and my search at 4:30 PM!
Whoever it was, THANK YOU!

Merganser
Ibis and Snowy's.
Ibis
Snowy
Female Mallard duck (with male).
Little Green Heron
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture

March 21, 2024
Cool but sunny. I met Cindy who  asked if I was that amazing photographer she had heard about!
Another nice day to photograph the birds, two Merganser ducks appeared, I had not seen them in ages!
The breeze was out of the northeast which made it harder to paddle upstream but I got a free ride home!

Yellow Crowned Night Heron next to my place.
Standing on one foot and preening!
Baby Night Heron
White Ibis
Great Blue Heron
Osprey landed and immediately disappeared!
Tiny Sparrow on a boat line.
Anhinga
Female Anhinga, she has a fishhook and line on her chest.
It appears to be spring!
Male Mallard Duck.
Little Spotted Sandpiper
Little Green Heron.
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Merganser
Showing off their white bellies!

March 14, 2024
Another wonderful day. I met more people today, and cleaned up things. Many feet of fish line, 4 lures, one chair, and a red float. I added the lures to my porch wall where I have a fish net hung and returned the red float and chair to a neighbor next to it. I got rare photos of birds with their meals!

Anhinga with breakfast!
Down the hatch!
Willet on the oyster bar.
Willet with breakfast of a crab.
Another Anhinga drying his feathers.
Quite the tail feathers.
Little Blue Heron
Little Blue Heron with a crab for breakfast.
Cormorant with his tufts of feathers. The Double-crested Cormorant, named for two small tufts (or crests) of feathers on either side of the adult cormorant's head, usually seen most vividly during mating season
Another Cormorant (three today) came near my kayak.
Male and female Mallard Ducks.
Brian and friend (two boys are down front under bimini) headed out to Shell Key.
Great Blue Heron
Scott found the day marker that I had pulled out of the mangroves, Pinellas County Sheriff said that they were going to retrieve it, but it is now a lawn decoration.
Ibis hiding in the mangroves.

March 10, 2024, another spectacular day! Perfect temperature, great paddling!
Not too many birds though, but one new one.

I went out the other day (March 8) and saw some great birds, only to get home and find out that I had not put the chip in the camera. No film, no photos.. 

Here are to ones for today (March 10):

Great Blue Heron
Ibis
Laughing Gulls
Female Anhinga
Little Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Little Green Heron in the mangroves.
Three Blue Winged Teal's!!
Pairs and small groups of this tiny dabbling duck inhabit shallow ponds and wetlands across much of North America. Blue-winged Teal are long distance migrants,
Great Blue Heron on the wing.

March 7, 2024, one beautiful day! Tee shirt weather, lots of sun, little breeze, awesome!
I talked with Allan and Bob. I mentioned to Bob that the bird in front of his place was not normally here, I thought that it was a Loon. Bob asked where it was from. I said Maine. Bob said it must be hiding out from the wife!

Anhinga, mating season with that blue around his eye.
Yellow Crowned Night Heron
Another Anhinga, she has a hook and fishing line on her neck.
Mallard Duck
Little Green Heron
Common Loon, they breed in Maine but sometimes are found migrating here in Florida! They have the prettiest coat of feathers!
Juvenile Night Heron, when he grows up he may have a yellow crown.
Little Green Heron
Great Blue Heron

One reply on “March 2024”

Great photos! I love that you have descriptions or I wouldn’t know an Ibis from a blue heron.

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