The Wood Stork at Manatee Springs State Park

 

It's always good to learn to identify the birds you see. I find it a challenge but over the years, I've learned a few!

I walked on the boardwalk at Manatee Springs State Park every day that we camped there. 

Sometimes I went more than once a day.

The lighting can be so different and also bird sightings.

I said 'hello' to a couple that I had seen a few times and I noticed his camera with a zoom lens.

One late afternoon, I was on my way back down the boardwalk and saw that he was zoomed in on something in the swamp.

 

So I stopped to look and I said, "Even living here in Florida, it's still a thrill to get to see a Wood Stork."

And they both looked at me with wide eyes and she said, "Is THAT what that is? We didn't know what that bird was." 

So it felt good to actually share that with them. And when he gets home from traveling he will have a bird ID for his photos! It made me smile. I walked on, and when I looked back, he was still taking photos!

This Great White Egret was very beautiful too.

The birds don't feel threatened by people walking on the boardwalk.

So they pose and preen.

The Suwannee River in all of it's glory! 

And my favorite Wood Stork photo!

Do you see his loose feather?

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The Wood Storks at Halpata Tastanaki Preserve!

Last week I thought I had seen Wood Storks on the Gulf Coast but they were White Pelicans...hundreds of them!

Wood Stork
 

This week we drove over to Halpata Tastanaki Preserve and looked over head to see a dozen or so Wood Storks flying over....maybe more! lol

It was a beautiful day for getting out on the trails.

The weather was nice and we only saw 2 other people while we were there and they were nice too!

Wood Storks glide overhead with such grace.

They aren't quite as beautiful up close but they are some of the most graceful birds in flight.

We walked to Owl Woods and there were log trucks loaded and ready to leave. They don't clear cut this area but they take out some trees now and then for the health of the preserve. They are also getting ready to do some prescribed burns. It's a beautiful place to hike and so well taken care of. During the pandemic it was one of the few places open to us for hiking in our area. I loved the place before but this made it even dearer to me. 

No....we didn't mean to dress alike! How embarrassing! lol

I'm writing this a couple of days ahead of time and hope and pray the hurricane will pass us by. I'll give you an update when I can and hopefully I'll be joining in on the linky parties and commenting. 

Have a wonderful weekend! Get outside and have some FUN!

Update : we are fine after the storm. We had a lot of wind and rain but no damage to our house. Our prayers are for everyone dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Nicole. 

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A Hiking story AND a Fishing tale!

 

Well, there are fishing tales and there are hiking stories. This may be more than one tale if you get all the way to the end.

And since it's the first time I've told it, it hasn't had a chance to grow.

I have been known to 'zaggerate' from time to time. (Southern for exaggerate)

But this really is how it went.

We drove to the Gulf Coast and when we got on the dusty road to Withlacoochee Bay Trail, we saw an Eagle.

We hiked and saw a lot of neat birds and butterflies but we'll skip right over those for now.

It's time to eat egg salad sandwiches in the Jeep.

Hardly anyone there and no one is parked near us so we are relaxing with the windows down.

A BIG bird flies onto a limb that we can see to one side of the Jeep. Another big bird flies in crying like a Hawk. 

They sit still for a few minutes and then the crying Hawk makes an aggressive move and the big bird flies right in front of the Jeep, face forward. 

And it's a Barred Owl in all it's beauty. 

The Hawk that scared it away.

I threw down my egg salad sandwich and got out to take pics of the Hawk. The Owl has flown away.

Another Hawk flies in and perches nearby.

We finish our sandwiches and get out to walk to the observation deck. At this time I could have said, "Let's get out so that we can see 100 White Pelicans overhead." 

Because that's what we saw between the Jeep and the deck.

I cropped a few photos to get a better look at them.

We also watched this fisherman catch a really big Catfish with a teeny tiny fishing rod. His son had left it in the water when his wife and son went to the store. 

So he let the Catfish swim and tire himself out and then he pulled it in.

In the water

On the bank

Catch of the day!

Amazing! A truly amazing trip to the Gulf of Mexico. (more pics to come)

The owl was huge, the two hawks were very vocal and the Catfish was the 'catch of the day'. 

No need to 'zaggerate'! 

The flock of White Pelicans may be over 100 the next time I tell it though!

I thought these were Wood Storks but Eileen said something about mistaking them for White Pelicans and now I think they ARE White Pelicans. If anyone has a positive ID, please let me know! 

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The Storks have landed!

 

Hopefully they didn't make any 'deliveries' in our retirement community!

But they sure were a surprise when we got to the bridge over the Withlacoochee River at Blue Run Park.

We'll zoom in!

Wood Storks

We had seen them earlier in the week, high in the sky.

And how nice that these perched on a colorful Maple tree.

We don't have many Fall colors at this time of year so this was a surprise.

It won't freeze here for another month or more. And then we usually just have a few frosty nights.

But we do see some pretty colors at the end of summer.

Only a face that a mother would love?

I love them too!

They stayed in the same spot changing their pose now and then. How nice of them!

Another bird flew in for just ONE photo! 

Belted Kingfisher

And if you think it's too crowded to visit Florida at this time of year when the weather is fabulous....

look at the parking lot at 3 pm when we were getting ready to leave. It surprised us too! Another part of the parking lot had cars though. 

Have you ever seen a Wood Stork?

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and I’d Rather B Birdin’.