Saturday morning in St. Augustine, I woke up early (as usual) and zipped out to get breakfast from Theo's for Mom and Dad.
Since I was early, I had time to stop at this retention pond that my brother had mentioned as we visited Dad in the hospital the day before.
Terry said the Spoonbills were roosting in the band of trees planted on one side of the pond.
... and they were.
It was cold ... a good day for snuggling your huge featherless bill under a warm wing.
The sun was barely peeking over the edge, so these photos may be a little soft.
A water turkey debates whether to exert the energy needed to fly away, or should it rest and just keep an eye on this intruder.
Flying is such hard work.
Especially if you are an anhinga.
Much easier to swim for this bird.
Cold morning though ...
...decisions.
Lots of other birds were cruising, flying, flitting about in the skinny band of trees, in the retention pond, in the middle of a business district of shops, hospitals, warehouses, and small factories.
Water + trees = birds.
Even here.
Well, ... not there ... not on the moon.
Here.
5 comments:
I remember my first anhinga! My only trip to Florida. We saw one drying its wings beside a canal and had no idea what it was. What a thrill it was to finally figure it out and add it to my life list...way back in the early seventies.
We have a retention pond behind the school of engineering. We've had all kinds of visitors there, including wood storks who hatched a couple of babies there. Unfortunately, it's been so dry here that the pond is completely empty (shoot, even my pool is evaporating). I really hope we get rain again some day. If nothing else, it's killed off a lot of birdwatching.
Pretty cool, I've never seen a Spoon Bill outside of captivity!
Of course to Missourians "Spoon Bill" refers to a Paddle Fish!
Yes, to water trees and birds. It's like a delicious recipe for a feast of feather sightings. You do get to see the coolest birds there.
Glad that your mom and dad got their Theo's breakfast:)
Cool pictures, as usual.
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