Splendid! Warm sunny skies….
We’re on the Turnbull Bay Golf Course today, and since many golfers do not take kindly to those of us who would rather play an 8 hour round and spend half of it observing and photographing the local bird life, we have to keep up the pace and catch a bird here and there as it happens by.
Several notable sightings occurred today. Along the 15th tee box, our friend John visiting from Connecticut and I were observing and photographing this Snowy egret.
Sitting no more than 10 feet from the pond into which we had both just driven our initial shot on this hole, we quietly watched the egret while waiting for the party in front of us to get far enough ahead of us to be out of harm’s way. From behind us, an osprey came swooping in and blasted the surface of the water right next to us scaring us half to death in the process. I only had my little point and shoot camera with me, so I had to be content with just watching the show rather than recording it on the camera’s memory. Sometimes, the image burned into your own memory is just as indelible as the image recorded by the camera!
Later, we came upon a Great blue heron which had just caught and consumed a substantial meal of a mullet. The heron truly looked quite satisfied and regal with its short black plumes streaming in the breeze.
A Double-crested cormorant was watching the heron from nearby, and as I studied the DC, I could not help but think of yesterday’s blog about the coming of spring. The cormorant does not develop the two indistinct crests for which it derives its name until early spring and into summer. This cormorant had already “sprouted” his.
No matter where or when, it seems you can’t avoid Nature’s many pronouncements that spring will arrive tomorrow morning and by God, the birds are ready!
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