"I never for a day gave up listening to the songs of our birds, or watching their peculiar habits, or delineating them in the best way I could."
~John James Audubon
Saturday I joined a group of friends for a birding walk along the shore looking for and identifying shore birds. Our group was led by a wonderful man who is an expert birder from the Audubon Society. He was so knowledgeable and had this wonderful scope on a tripod, that I did more listening and looking and very nearly forgot to take any pictures, so the photos of birds are few. And the ones I did, well, not my finest hour behind the camera. The day was hot and humid and we lasted until about 10:30 a.m. or so, but the comraderie of the group and the birds themselves made for a lovely morning. I also had the pleasure of meeting a fellow blogger, Sue, aka "Florida Farm Girl". What a treat to meet the person behind the camera.
Before our walk even began, this GREAT BLUE HERON flew up onto the roof of the pavilion we were meeting under. A good omen for the day.
A GREAT EGRET walking in the grasses on the Sound side of the State Park in Navarre.
GREAT EGRET in flight.
My first look at a TRI-COLORED HERON. Beautiful.
GREAT BLUE HERON
In all we spotted about 23 species of shore birds.There were sandlings, brown pelicans, Osprey, Black Bellied Plover, Killdeer, Willets, Ruddy Turnstones and a whole lot more that I didn't photograph or that if I did, I shot badly.
Just before the heat totally did me in, I took a few non-bird photos of Gulf scenes in Navarre.
Gulf of Mexico and the Navarre Fishing Pier
Navarre Fishing Pier
Under Navarre Fishing Pier
In the afternoon, several storms came through the area. It was a wet, dark and dismal afternoon, heavy with clouds. So you can imagine what a treat it was to see such a magnificent sunset in a still cloudy sky. (I was told by one of my birding friends that the sunrise over the Gulf was breathtaking too. I, of course, missed sunrise seeing as it happens so early in the morning!) This was one of those perfect days.
No words needed.
Perfect day? Are you sure perfect is the word? Wow. That tri-coloured heron is gorgeous. As for the sunset... well... sigh...
ReplyDeleteHey girl!! Good day yesterday, even if the heat just about did me in!!! Was worthless the rest of the day!! Was such fun to meet you and funny that I knew three of the other four people already!! We don't see a horizon from our house thanks to trees all around but I did notice those dazzling colors in the sky last night. You lucky duck to be able to see it clearly!!
ReplyDeleteAre those colors real? Oh gosh, I must see this someday.
ReplyDeleteThe egret in flight is just lovely.
They're real? Oh, ain't life grand. Really, really grand.
ReplyDeleteOur sunsets are nonpareil, don't you think CT? Gorgeous and I'm glad you had a wonderful time and met your blogging bud, another one of the perks of the blogging life.
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