Day 18 Captiva 2019

Wednesday, Feb 20  Part 1
Our day began with a trip to the Bailey Homestead and a walk on the Shipley and Pond Apple trails around 8:30.   Most of the birds that we saw were in the area surrounding the ponds.  We spotted Brown Pelicans, Anhingas, Cormorants, Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Common  Gallinules, Mottled Ducks.  Along one of the banks we saw a Green Iguana along with the Gallinule.  Other sights included wildflowers, butterflies and turtles.

 Day 18 to be continued in the next post.

Day 7 Captiva

About 10:00 today we took a drive to the Bailey Homestead off Periwinkle walking the Shipley Trail  and the Starr D. Thomas Memorial Boardwalk to the Sanibel Retention Ponds which leads to Pond Apple Trail.   The pond area is a great area for spotting wildlife.   Today we saw many anhingas, cormorants.  brown pelicans, little blues, and a great blue heron to name a few.

On the walk were also wild flowers and butterflies:

As we sat on the bench at the boardwalk we saw this Great Blue Heron:

At the Retention Ponds we saw:

and a snake....

As we walked back over the boardwalk we spotted a turtle and alligator under the bridge:

After our walk, we went to Jerry's Cafe for brunch, Al had French Toast with sausage and I had  Seafood Salad -a generous helping of seafood salad on lettuce with tomato, eggs, olives and cucumbers.    We then shopped the grocery for items including shrimp, meat and wine.

We then spent rest of afternoon poolside reading and sunning and swimming.

Tonight dinner was sautéed shrimp with mushrooms and red peppers

served over cheesy grits with salad  and hot ciabatta rolls.    

Day 27 on Captiva

This morning we went to Bailey Homestead Preserve to check out  Shipley Trail and more. To learn more about this homestead read this link.  We arrived about 9:30 and was greeted in the parking lot by a gathering of cattle egrets and ibis feeding under the trees.

 

 

Spotted a Phoebe near the manmade lake by the entrance.

 

There was also an alligator sunning on an island in the lake. I first thought it was a log.

 

We saw many beautiful wildflowers on the trail.

 

At the reservoir ponds there were many anhinga sunning, several cormorants feeding, many snowy egrets,  brown pelicans, great blue herons, and more.  But no storks to be found like last year.

 

 

  

 

And Al was pointing the way to Pond Apple Trail.

 

After our hike,  we had brunch at Jerry's Café which was not busy...we walked right in to a booth.  Al ordered eggs, sausage patties, hash browns, and rye toast. I opted for  lunch of seafood salad on lettuce and tomatoes with red pepper strips, cucumber slices, egg, and fruit.  We shopped for coffee, wine, sandwich meat and a few other items. 

We spent the rest of afternoon at the beach....was quiet day at the beach ....nice and breezy and  warm.  We saw a pod of dolphins swim by....saw at least 6 or 8. 

 

Dinner tonight at 5:30 at Lazy Flamingo....just in time to get seats at the bar.   Started with fresh oysters on the half shell.  Al ordered fried shrimp with fries and I ordered half Caesar salad with grilled mesquite grouper and garlic bread. And of course we shared our dinners.