Day 8-Day 12 Captiva 2019

Second Week
This was another slow week at the cottage.  We did not make it to the Farmer's Market.  Really missed that Sunday trip.  Spending quiet time at the cottage...

Tuesday, February 12
We took an early afternoon drive through DDWR but did not see too much but white pelicans sunning shown in the photos and video below.

To view video. please go to the blog (will not open in email) and click on the arrow.

Thurs 02-14-19
Even though this is Valentine's Day, we are celebrating on Saturday when I should feel better.
Our next venture out was a short walk at Bailey Tract.  A lot of changes were made to the ponds and trails last summer.  We did not see too many birds as we were there early afternoon. But we did see Tri-colored heron, Ospreys, and Great Egret. And a artist painting a scene with the ospreys.

We stopped at Bailey's Grocery to shop and bought salmon, steak.
For dinner we had Salmon with mustard honey sauce, green beans, and rice.

Day 35 Captiva

Another cool morning and a bit overcast! Today begins our last week.....went by too fast!  We left for the Bailey Tract abut 9:30 and took a shorter walk than usual as it looked like rain was on the way.  Not a lot of birds but did see where they have started restoring  some of the original freshwater marsh habitat with heavy equipment. We saw lot of ospreys flying over head and circling  one of the pond areas.    Saw Great Egret, Ibis,  blue herons and  mottled ducks, snowy egret, and more.

Bailey Tract

Near the emtrance:

In first pond:

Along the Tract:

Lot of Ospreys seen:

More Mottled Ducks:

Spotted the Stokes on the trail:

Turtle, Flowers, and Butterflies:

And a Rice Rat scurried over our path on the way out:

We ate lunch at Over Easy Cafe

Al ordered Nova salmon layered with tomato slices,  red onion and capers served with a toasted bagel  and cream cheese.  I had half of a tomato stuffed with tuna salad.  We then shopped at Bailey's General Store across the street.  We made a drive through Ding Darling instead of going straight home. It was a quiet drive and we saw these views on a cloudy day:

 Video of White Pelicans Feeding:

Video of Ibis Feeding on Drive

We arrived back at the cottage just as it began to rain and it rained all the rest of the day.  Spent the afternoon reading.  We had a simple dinner of beef hot dogs and fried okra.  

Day 10 Captiva

 This morning at 8:30 we headed off to Bailey Tract for a walk to see birds and wildlife.  As we entered the walk I spotted this Osprey and Black Bird:

At the first pond we saw a Great Blue Heron and an Alligator which everyone seems excited to see:

Then woodpeckers were spotted including a pair of  Pileated and a Red-Bellied :

and a blue heron 

Made  a rest at "our"  bench - a stop  we always make.... the bench has been replaced with a newer one :

Did not see any ducks which are usually present.  Some shots of the views along the tract:

On our way back,  we saw several Wood  Storks  sitting in the top of the trees along with a Great Blue Heron:

The battery in my camera went dead at this time so I missed shooting the storks but Al snagged some shots.   As we exited the tract at 11:00, we passed Lillian and Donald Stokes who were watching for a Sora and a Clapper Rail which we did not see.  According to a post on their blog they did get some sightings at another time.  Click here to see. 

We stopped at Bailey's for Tenderloins (Valentine Dinner) and Yellow Tail Snapper (tonight's dinner).    Had sandwiches for lunch at the cottage.  Spent afternoon between the pool and beach.

Pan seared  the Snapper for dinner and served with lemon butter sauce and roasted Brussel Sprouts and Salad.