Overcast and threatening, low 70s
We’ll be heading out for a four day trip to Kissimmee to watch the Bay Hill Arnold Palmer Open golf tournament with several friends from back home. We plan to leave at 10:30 A.M. and if I want to get the photo of the day and get my blog published, I have to get out early and stay close to home. I decided upon the local Sugar Mill Ruins park here in New Smyrna and got a nice early start shortly after sunrise. When I arrived, I found that there was road work being done at the entrance to the park and access was unfortunately denied.
I headed back towards the peninsula, and decided to get the car washed prior to heading out to the tourney. As I vacuumed the interior of the vehicle, I heard some splashing behind me. I found a small pond measuring no more than 10’ X 20’ just behind the vacuum machines and saw quite a commotion arising from water. As I looked more closely through the surrounding reeds, I discovered that there was a female Red-breasted merganser bathing in the pool. After the bath, she retired to the far edge of the water. I wondered if she could possibly be nesting, but could not ascertain this for sure.
Since I took the shots of the merg in less than ideal conditions, I decided I better make a quick stop at Indian River Lagoon Reserve and see if I could pick up an “insurance” shot. The park was quiet until the very end of the trail where as I started to exit, a medium-sized dark bird flew across my path. I found the bird which remained quiet perched at eye level, staring directly at me. Yesterday, here in the Lagoon park, I had the other two mimics, the Brown thrasher and the Northern mockingbird. I found it interesting to find all three of these songsters at the same location in back-to-back visits to this park.
Tomorrow, we’ll be in Kissimmee, a well known site for finding Swallow-tail kites. We’ll be on the lookout and hope to have some images of this fantastic aerialist for you here on the blog.
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