Day 35 on Captiva

 

This morning we returned to The Shipley Trail at the Bailey Homestead and walked to the Pond Apple Trail to the retention pond area. We had another great birding event seeing many Great Blue Herons, Wood Storks, Blue Herons, Tri-colored Herons, Cormorants, Brown Pelicans, Ibis, Anhingas, as well as an immature Heron that I believe to be a Yellow-Crested Night Heron..  We have never seen as many Great Blues and Anhingas in one spot as we saw today. I lost count of the many Great Blues and most of them was busy feeding.   We  spotted the " Dairy Queen"Eagles in a far away Australian Pine and I managed to get a distant photo of one of their backs.   But the highlight of the walk was being able to photograph the Great White Heron and catching some shots of it feeding..    We also saw at least 3, if not more, alligators swimming in the ponds.

 

First to catch our attention were the many Anhingas:

Cormorants and Brown Pelicans are seen behind this Anhinga.

 Males, females, and immature Anhingas posed all around us.

 

The blue eyes and bright yellow bill  indicate mating season.

 

Next to get our attention were the Wood Storks.  

 Not as many Wood Storks as the last time we were here,

 but they were busy feeding and flying about:

 This trail is not just for people,

 

And now for the Great Blue Herons:

 

 

Video of Great Blue Heron on the Move:

 

One more Hungry Heron:

 

If the Wood Stork can use the trail, so can we.

But most of the Blue Herons  were going by air.

 

And now for the Great White Heron:

We saw the Great White Heron eating breakfast. 

 

 And then the heron flew away:

 

Other birds we saw:

 Cormorants and More

Pair of Tri-colored Herons

 Cormorants

Immature Night Heron

 Little Blue Heron

Eagle from A Distant

 

The Alligators were swimming in two of the ponds:

 

 

Back to the house for a lunch of sandwiches and then to the beach for the afternoon. Dinner tonight at the Pollack's Diner.  I prepared Orange Roasted Salmon served with Couscous and Green salad.