Have You Ever Noticed?....

That the great white egret (or great white heron, Sparky can't remember which) has a green banding around its eyes and the anhinga has a quite bright green ring around its eyes as well? The anhinga is a male in breeding plumage.....

The bark pattern on a tree philodendron? They look like eyes with eyelashes.....

How a wood stork sits?  On the "knee" joints! With the feet in "tippy toe" position!

How cormorants hang out with pelicans and possibly herd fish together? Sparky saw a flock of 85 white pelicans migrating through Lakewood Ranch the other day and a flock of at least 40 cormorants hanging with them. They seemed to be fishing together. It seemed the cormorants were diving towards the bottom, pushing the fish upwards, and they were both benefitting from the fish coming to the surface. Along the shores of the pond where the pelicans were nearby fishing, were 6 Great Blue herons, and they were NOT comfortable with the crowd of pelicans there. Sparky saw one Great Blue back away as the pelicans herded fish towards the shore. The birds on shore kept a watchful distance until the pelicans moved away.

Ever noticed.....why it's so difficult it is to sneak up on turtles? Sparky can do it in a kayak, but not while walking along a sidewalk...If she takes just one or two steps towards a group of sunning turtles on a pond bank at a distance of at LEAST 100 yards or more, PLOP! PLOP! PLOP! into the water they go....Can they feel the ground vibrations? (Sparky, you DO have heavy feet some times, explains E.) Can they really see that far? But look how close Sparky can get while in the kayak....

How many bees are on a bottlebrush tree when they are budding and blooming? HUNDREDS!

How often cranes' heads are in the upside down position as they clean their feathers?

What's under your feet in some places? Sarasota has some beautiful sidewalk tile mosaics....

How symmetrical nature is?

Just wondering.........  :-)

Cormorants vs. Anghingas

Sparky was out for another 12 mile ride today…You'd think she'd be losing weight now that she's biking instead of painting the house, but nope! Maybe that's because Eldy keeps bringing home ice cream to eat. Sparky's favorite of all times is Haagen Daz Dulce de Leche…which has something to do with caramel, sweet cream and caramel swirls in the ice cream…YUM! So she doesn't protest when Eldy brings it home….She's just gonna have to ride more miles next time!

What did she see this time? Well, the gator is still sunning himself regularly on top of the water fountain in a nearby pond. Guess they aren't running the fountain at all or he'd probably be long gone by now.

Saw some beautiful flowering plants….It seems the cooler fall weather triggers blooms in some species of plants down here..

And the turtles are out in great numbers…but they are just small pond turtles…The anhingas and cormorants are out in great numbers….They are similar dark colored birds. They both need to dry their feathers out on land, as neither one of them have oil glands in their feathers like most water birds to keep their feathers waterproof. They are diving water birds and since their feathers are not waterproof, they can stay under longer to find their prey. But then they have to come out and dry their feathers off. This is a cormorant…You can tell that by the yellowish orange part of its beak, and the fact that it's hooked downwards at the tip. 

Maybe you can see the little hooked beak a little better on this photo…

As Sparky got closer, the cormorant got ready to fly….So Sparky backed off….

When a cormorant flies, it soars for a long time…Anhingas flap their wings much more when they fly. Anhingas have longer necks and tails than the cormorant and a straight beak instead of a hooked beak. The anhingas feathers are much prettier…The female anhinga has a tannish brownish head and neck.

Anhingas spear their prey, cormorants grab their prey and hold it in their beak which has serrated edges to grip slippery fish better. When the anhinga spears a fish, it typically flips the fish off the beak and swallows the fish headfirst. We've been lucky enough to watch them eat! 

Today, it was just time for the birds to sun themselves…It was a beautiful day to be out and about on a bike ride. Is there ever a day where it's not nice to be out? Not since the rainy season ended and fall is here…..See you later!