Day 4 Captiva

Today was a busy day.  We began the Wednesday morning early with coffee on the porch and then headed to Ding Darling Wildlife Reserve for a drive.  There were not too many sightings along the first part of the drive but we saw a Yellow Crowned Night Heron, Blue Herons and a few White Pelicans at the first ponds.   When we arrived at the Observation Tower pools,  we saw some exciting Reddish Egrets given the names Ding 1(female) and Ding 2 (male).  Also here were some Greater Scaup that we had never seen.   Lillian and Donald Stokes were some of the birders out this morning and seemed to be excited about the Reddish Egrets being so visible.

Al on far right. Lillian Stokes sitting on ground with Donald to her right. 

Some of photos of the day:

White Pelicans

Yellow Crowned Night Heron

Blue Heron

Snowy Egret 

Lesser Scaup

Male Scaup

Female Scaup

 Stars of the Day Reddish Egret Pair

We returned to the cottage and had a brunch of bagels/cream cheese with poached eggs and grapefruit.   Spent most of the afternoon at the pool reading.  Easy dinner tonight of Bertolli frozen dinner of shrimp scampi with linguini and salad with wine. 

     

Day 14 on Captiva

Our morning began early this morning because we attended the birding lecture of  longtime winter residents of Sanibel Island ,Donald and Lillian Stokes,  at Ding Darling Education Center. The event started at 10:00 and we there by 9:05 to make sure we had seats as there was limited seating and there is always a big turnout.   Our timing was just right because all the seats were filled by 9:15 and people were turned away.  We enjoyed the slide show and talk by the Stokes as they are quite entertaining and informative.  After the lecture, we were almost the first in line to have some new bird books written by the Stokes personally autographed.  

 

 

I am anxious to see 3 birds that they have recently seen at DDWR....white crowned pigeon, green-winged teal, and hooded merganser.  Stay tuned for reported sightings.

We then ended up at  the Sanibel Deli and Coffee Factory for lunch...our first time here.  We were looking for a place that would be quick and no wait.  We happened to get in before a line formed to order at the counter.  Food was good and served fairly quickly.  Al had a Sanibel Fire sandwich... roast beef  on a sub roll with a lot of heat...very, very hot mustard. But that's the way he likes it!! I had Croissant with Chicken salad ...just the way I like it too....chunks of chicken, celery and not too much mayo.  Served with great crunchy chips and pickle.  Great place for sandwiches and looks like it might be a good place for coffee and breakfast sandwiches.  Will come back again.

After lunch,  we shopped at Bailey's for a few items of groceries.  We have been enjoying eating in most meals and like to keep the pantry full.  We then stopped at the dock on Tarpon Bay butdid not see much wildlife,  just a few cormorants sunning on mile  markers posts.

 

It was too cool again to spend time on the beach but was a sunny day.   For dinner I prepared Lemon Chicken with Asparagus with a recipe found on the web.   Recipe here.  It was very simple, quick and good. I served with sliced tomatoes with basil and Ciabatta rolls.  Photo taken from recipe on line.

 

 

 

That's all to report for Friday the 13th.  Not a bad day!  Hope everyone is keeping warm!

Day 28 on Captiva

Fri, Mar 3
 It is hard to believe that March is here which means we only have 2 weeks left on the island and that Cecilia will be going home tomorrow. We hate to see her go. Coffee this morning with whatever you wanted. The weather is cool...in the 50's.  We went to see Don and Lillian Stokes talk at DDNWR center at 10:00 but left at 9:00 to make sure we got a good seat...sometimes the room fills up quickly and some get shut out. Lillian and Donald Stokes are well-known in the birding and naturalist worlds, the authors of many books. They also author a popular birding blog featuring Lillian’s photographs of birds, butterflies and landscapes. On Friday, they covered topics of making better photographs by knowing your camera and of bird identification.  She is really selling Canon new camera SX50.

 

We went to Sunset Grill for brunch at about 11:30. Cecilia and I both chose Banana Nut Bread French Toast.  It's interesting how much we like the same foods.  Al had two buttermilk pancakes and two eggs served with sausage. 

After eating we drove up to the end of Captiva Island showing Cecilia some of the sights including The Bubble Room, Andy Rosse Drive, Mucky Duck, Chapel by the Sea, Captiva Cemetery, etc.

 

 We saw our friend Mike at the sight of the house that he is building on Captiva Drive on the beach  and stopped to say hello. 
After returning to the house, Cecilia worked on packing some shells for her grandson and packing for her return home. Too windy and cool to go to the beach again.
We had a casual dinner at Lazy Flamingo at 5:30 at the bar. Our timing was good because the place became crowded shortly after we arrived. We had some oysters and the usual fried food and shared among us.  Cecilia's chicken tenders were a bit dry...make note to pass in future. It is hard to believe that Cecilia leaves tomorrow....seems like she just arrived.  Sorry her last dinner was not the best.