Never a Boring Bike Ride!

Off again on the bike, Sparky goes late in the day....Down I-70 along the sidewalk about three miles, turning right at River Club Blvd., which takes you all the way down and out into Lakewood Ranch, that beautiful residential community with all the wetlands, ponds and bird life....On the way through River Club subdivision, Sparky spots a spoonbill & company....

The spoonbill is wary, but stays put......

Looks like he's talking to the others, doesn't he?

"Hey, fellas....How's the eatin'?

On through more of the beautiful roadway and ponds through the subdivision and back out on the main boulevard.....Woodstorks! Lots of them.....They are still on the endangered list, but there are plenty of them here in the Sarasota/Bradenton area.....This one looks OLD! His grizzly head, grey feathers, but he looks wise....He's wise to Sparky, he starts walking away.....

Sparky stopped by a pond to see a heron and great white egret preening and fishing. They are such big, beautiful birds...You can see why their plumage was so valued back in the day.

This one had an itch....

A moorhen swimming around in a maze of rushes....Loved the patterns of the plants' reflections....

An anhinga up in a tree squawked and warned everybody at the pond that Sparky was there...

And then, Sparky saw a fairly good size alligator on the far side of the pond, slide into the water with a great big SPLASH and head across to the other side, the side that she was standing on. Sparky wasn't worried....Gators normally head into the water when they see someone coming. Besides, Sparky saw two big carp or catfish, and thought maybe the gator was heading for them.

The gator kept coming, closer and closer to the shore, and it was evident that he was NOT interested in the fish. He definitely was watching Sparky.

She was standing on the high bank right above him...She looked around for options just in case he decided to come out of the water. There was a set of three small trees right beside her. That was good enough for her. She really didn't think he was going to come out of the water until she saw his forefront legs starting to pull himself up to the bank. At that point, she was about two feet from the water's edge, so she backed off and went to the trees, waiting to see if he came out any further. He didn't. But he would have been right there at her feet had she stayed there. So she went to the sidewalk which was three feet further out from the bank, gave his resting spot a wide berth and slowly came up behind him, but not too close. She used the camera zoom to get this photo....

She decided it was probably a good time to leave.....Sparky thought this behavior was bold for an alligator, as many times as she has seen them. They NEVER have come toward her and as close as this one did. Perhaps this one might have not eaten for awhile and was just checking things out. Who knows? Sparky lacks a fear of alligators which is probably not a good thing. (SIGH! says an exasperated Eldo. I keep telling her, YOU DON'T HAVE TO GET SO CLOSE! Does she listen? NOPE! She actually texted me and said she was three feet from a big alligator!) But Sparky kept a close eye on the riverbank and didn't turn her back as she hopped back on her bike to head home. Guess the lack of fear comes from biking the Shark Valley Nature Trail in the Everglades where the gators were sunning themselves less than two feet from our bikes as we rode down the trail, counting ten gators or more that time, their heads pointed AT the bikes, not the other way!

It was another great ride in Paradise today.....  :-)

Back to Normal, for Now....

We're back home and it's hot....Sparky is trying to forget about those wonderful temperatures in the mountains...She's dreaming of a way to return next summer...She's dreaming of hiking...She's dreaming of a month in the mountains.....(Dream on, sweetie...that's gonna be EXPENSIVE! states E., just stating the facts.)

Hmmmmm....let's see....If I sub X number of days a month....If we cut out eating out...(THAT'S  not gonna happen! exclaims E.) Eldo is right about that...Sparky is the one who loves to eat out....If we play the lottery.....lol......Well, a gal can dream, right?

Seriously, we will look hard and work hard for a solution to get back to the mountains--some mountains, somewhere-- next summer, so Sparky can hike and we both can get relief from the hot, humid temps.....

Sparky went back to the Celery Fields in Sarasota.....A beautiful place with a couple hundred species of birds they say....Lots of marshy areas, lots of water...prime bird and duck habitat. Sparky met a lady photographer here one day, and she takes the most awesome photos. 'Course she has a really big lens and a super duper camera. She was kind enough to share some other locations in town where she looks for birds. Sparky will have to check those places out one of these days, when it's not so hot.

Usually the fields and marshes yield something interesting to see...but not today....Maybe over at Jigg's Landing, the pretty park that is on the Braden River?

view from the porch of one of the little fishing cabins

Yep! A baby moorehen chick or a common gallinule, not sure which. The two birds are VERY closely related and were just recently split into two separate family categories in 2011. The moorhen is also known as the "swamp chicken"! Whatever, this bird is, the baby chicks are cute, well, sort of....

The mom was supervising....

And keeping an eye on Sparky who was a little above the action on the nice boardwalk that runs through the park.....Sparky really enjoys riding down to this park, less than a mile from her house. This is where the horned owlets were earlier this summer....

Time to head back home and see what the yard birds are up to....the pileated woodpeckers are still at those carrotwood tree berries, which are coming to the end of their lifespan....

The carrotwood tree right in front of our house is a messy tree...we have to sweep the sidewalk twice a day while the berries are developing...The tree throws down little brown hard kernels at first. If you step on them, they release an orange fluid and it can stain the carpet if they come in on your shoes and you crush them, so we have to really watch that. But boy, do the birds love the berries when they come out! Sparky saw THREE pileated woodpeckers all munching on berries at the same time in the tree today!

And this little bird (Sparky doesn't know this species) had something to say about the pileateds eating all the berries.....

"Save some for me!"

And that's about it for now....

Sparky and Eldo are getting ready for another trip...time to head to Traverse City tomorrow for Sparky's family reunion....which will be a week at the Windjammer Resort on the Lake near Traverse. It's actually not much of a resort, but more of a campground. More about that later.....like when we get back! Sparky is looking forward to seeing her brothers and sister and enjoying cooler temperatures once again...Looks like the mid seventies during the day, and fifties at night. Woo hoo!  Until next time......