When Nature Calls….

No, Sparky and Eldo are not blogging about their bathrooms and bathroom habits at their digs in Bradenton…. :-)  Although their bathrooms are due for much needed updates which will just have to wait for now…

Nap time after flight practice

Sparky just wants to share some beautiful bird photos today….She has been out on her bike checking out the latest owlie sightings….It's nap time for these great horned owl babies that are getting to be VERY big. They've been fluttering up in the nest, rising up a little and settling back down, trying out their wings. There were three in this nest but only two are visible today. They will be departing very soon, it looks like….Right before Sparky got there today, the mother owl dropped a rabbit into the nest to feed the babies. In a bit,  a rabbit leg dropped down out of the tree in front of one of the photographers there with a loud thud. Scared him half to death!

It's so hard to hold the 30X zoom lens steady..Sparky needs a tripod!

If you've been reading the blog, you saw the post perhaps about the lady that paid a fork lift operator 200 dollars to raise her up to eye level for a nest shot…It turns out that the fork lift operator escapade was not for the eagle's nest down the street but for THIS owl nest! An amateur photographer Sparky talked to, said he had photos of her escapade and it was right here at Jigg's Landing, in Sparky's backyard. Sounds like this could be one of those weird Florida stories that get published all the time in the newspaper. Those Florida stories even made Jimmy Fallon's Tonight show one night recently. At any rate, signs posted around the nesting tree specifically state, "DO NOT USE LIFTS" after that birdbrain escapade. And talk about how things have changed in cautionary signs to tourists or photographer wannabes…"Do not use remote control aircraft on this property." 

Sparky went over to University Mall the other day, and near the new high end mall being constructed, is the Nathan Benderson Park rowing raceway, home to the 2017 World Rowing Championships and many other venues. At the raceway, across the street, are some marshes. Sparky had spotted some roseate spoonbills the other day without her camera. So back she went today to see if they were still there…Yep, they were! A marsh with a lot of duckweed is the perfect eating grounds for spoonbills and they were busily swishing their spoon shaped bills back and forth in the water, feeding delightedly on their fare while Sparky snapped away…..Sparky LOVES spoonbills! She would love to capture one in flight but that photo op still eludes her….

And the gators continue to visit our neighborhood pond almost every day….This one looks FAT and well fed, which is probably a good thing for all the little teeny tiny dogs in the neighborhood.

It's almost mating season--April thru July here in Florida--May and June are prime egg laying times. Mating season is going to be early this year because of the unseasonably warm winter this area has had. That means gators are going to be out and about more, actively moving around in ponds and perhaps neighborhoods for the next couple of months. They move around at night, and then find themselves stuck in places they don't want to be when daylight comes….in a fence, in somebody's yard, etc. The young alligators from last year have to watch out for the aggressive adults who EAT the young ones if they are near when they first start aggressively searching for a mate because they are hungry after a relatively long period of inactivity during the winter.

We haven't heard any stories about nuisance alligators in our neighborhood, nor have we seen any wildlife nuisance trucks in the area at all. The gators come visit the pond, stay a few days and leave….Tourists love to take photos of the ones at our street's pond…Sparky is no longer a tourist, but she still likes to take gator photos. She's still hoping to find someone to hike the 2 1/2 miles in and 2 1/2 miles out of Myakka River State Park's "Deep Hole" to see hundreds of gators! Eldo says "NO WAY!"   It's a hot, dry hike in and out with no shade, which is why he says no…..sigh….. Gotta go…Nature is calling…...

Great Horned Owl Babies

What's the Perfect Day in Florida?

For Sparky, visiting with family, laughing and sharing memories and experiences is probably at the top of her perfect day list. But her perfect day list is a BIG list! The perfect day for Sparky could be any number of additional things…kayaking out on in the gulf, making and creating something with her hands, riding her bike, seeing gators, seeing dolphins, visiting a farmer's market, tickling her toes in the sand, eating at a favorite restaurant,  gator watching at Myakka River State Park with Eldy, and let's not forget eating at the Gulf Gate Tiki Grill on Anna Maria Island.

But here's today's perfect day….For starters, not a cloud in the sky and zero percent chance of rain, and temps in the low sixties…PERFECT for a festival!

Off to Coquina Beach to park the car and ride the trolley to the Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival 2014 this past weekend in the historic fishing village of Cortez, right there at Anna Maria Island. Check out the flea market/farmer's market along the shady sidewalk/boardwalk at Coquina Beach first. It was CHILLY at the beachfront! Coquina Beach is Eldo and Sparky's favorite beach, even more so than Siesta Key Beach because of the beautiful shaded boardwalk that runs for several miles along the beach. The sand is clean and white at Coquina, too...

Some cool stuff for sale…..Vintage signs….Some not so vintage, kinda cheeky….

Next, hop on the trolley bus to get to the JAM PACKED 32nd annual Cortez Fishing Festival, 2014. Cortez is a sleepy little village on Anna Maria Island where fishing is done on the water from sun up to sun down, and where generations of fishermen and women have been raised on the water. The town opens up to thousands of visitors for a weekend each February to celebrate it's fishing heritage. It costs 3.00 to get in, and you buy tickets for food and drink once you get inside. Seafood lover? It's all here--smoked mullet, crab, shrimp, alligator, grouper, everything you can think of….And, there are crafts, too. Most people in the village make their living from fishing or art, so both are well represented at the festival. About 25,000 people are expected to tour the village and it sure looked to us like half of them were there already when we visited this weekend. The money made at the festival benefits the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage, a non profit  organization that promotes all things maritime--fishing, preservation, skills and marine resources.

With not a cloud in the sky and the cool temps, LOTS of people were there sampling all the fantastic seafood, pricey, but delicious! Not sure how much of the seafood is local, but there were plenty of options! Hard to find a seat to sit and eat, many people plunk down at the tables and then sit and people watch, making it hard to find a place to sit down and eat your food.

The smoked mullet was served in the skeleton of the fish!

Even the trash bins have an artsy vibe to them…

With Sparky's belly full from a great taco (Yep, she ate a TACO, folks, at a SEAFOOD FESTIVAL) But it was GOOD! And if you aren't a big seafood lover, there were plenty of other great offerings, like a huge dessert tent….

Time to head back to the trolley for the ride back to Coquina Beach to head for home….Taking a back way out of the traffic jam from the festival through Longboat Key, Sparky saw something out of the corner of her eye…."ELDY! STORKS AND SPOONBILLS!" And of course, Eldy, being the accommodating driver he always is, always stops the car if he can safely when Sparky gets excited about birds, gators or snakes or other wildlife, because he knows he'd BETTER STOP THE CAR or Sparky is going to be one unhappy woman if she can't get some photos….When Sparky thought the sun angle was wrong, Eldy even drove a ways and turned back around so Sparky could get out of the car and get a little closer for some better shots. Awwww….what a guy…..(Accumulating my brownie points any and every way I can, explains E.) He's got a LOT right now, but that could change, haha….

Not one, not two, but FIVE roseate spoonbills trying to keep warm next to some wood storks….JACKPOT! Here are some shots of a couple of them at a time...

Sparky was in seventh heaven at seeing these spoonbills, her favorite Florida bird….

Wow!….Another one flew in, but Sparky missed the landing…Unbelievably gorgeous when you see the fuschia underneath side of their beautiful, really BIG wingspans….The one that flew in chased a couple other spoonbills around for a few seconds, letting them know he had arrived and to make room.

A perfect ending to a perfect day……Sigh…….

Beautiful Sarasota.....and Happy Mother's Day!

Sarasota, FL      High:   83      Low:   70

We went out for breakfast this morning at Broken Egg in Lakewood Ranch....It's our little tradition to drive around the lakes surrounding Lakewood Ranch and see if we see any wildlife...Sparky is looking for 1) gators, and 2) unusual birds.... It's just a beautiful drive and we always see Great Blue herons, ibis, great white herons, and lots of egrets. If we get lucky, we see roseate spoonbills. Today, we saw both gators and spoonbills---YAY!

The gator was on the golf course...Sparky got a photo from across the street after being warned by Eldo that golfers do NOT like spectators anywhere near them, even if just walking on the golf path. Or is it gators do NOT like anyone near them! In this case, the golf path was no where in sight, so Sparky had to rely on her little point and shoot zoom to capture the gator in front of the golfers. One of the golfers saw the gator and as soon as he whipped out his camera phone to take a photo, the gator plopped back into the water. Better into the water and not headed for the golfers!

Then on the way back along the road while looking for a garage sale, Sparky spotted a roseate spoonbill in a residential wetlands. "STOP THE CAR! IT'S A SPOONBILL, ELDY!" and of course, my man stops the car as soon as it's safely possible, Sparky hops out and heads for the wetlands on a dry path, stealthily stepping very slowly, SLO-O-O-W-W-LY towards the spoonbill, trying to get a better photo with her puny little point and shoot 16X zoom.

Eldy patiently drove around in circles in this residential neighborhood until he spotted Sparky heading back towards the road. SCORE! Spoonbill in flight!

Sparky is stepping out of third person mode here for a bit....

It's Mothers' Day...and Happy Mother's Day to all our wonderful readers that are mothers, step-mothers, and role models for those who don't have mothers...

I am so blessed to be a mother to two fine daughters...Kelly, my oldest, and Kerry, my youngest.

Kelly

Kerry

They have made me so proud to be their mom. They are funny, smart, and very hard working gals. They are thoughtful and loving to me and are making a noticeable difference in this world by their great attitudes, kindness to others, and great work ethics. Kerry is a first time mom this year, so it's an especially special Mothers' Day to me because of that, too. The mom cycle has come full circle. :-) It is very gratifying to see what a wonderful mother she is to her little son.

I am also a stepmother, so to speak, although not officially, to Eldy's two children, Kristi and Brian.

Brian

Their mom passed away in 2006. They are also two wonderful children who I'm proud to say are a part of my family, too!

Kristi

My mother, who was 96, passed away in 2008.

Mildred Dudley Baughman....Born in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1912. She was a beautiful soul...She never judged anybody by their color, religious preference, sexual, or political preference, she was the most tolerant person I ever knew. She had gay friends who loved her to pieces! She had lots of friends who thought she was wonderful, just like we did. She lived life with a joie de vive (joy for life) and danced well into her 90's. Guys half her age and more would see her dancing in place when she went out with my sister and her husband, and fellows would come up and ask her to come out on the dance floor to dance and she did! She LOVED music and I thank her for passing that gene on to me. She never complained when she was sick, she never got cranky in her elder years, and everybody who met her wanted to be her friend and help take care of her when she became ill. She laughed a lot, and kidded a lot. She'd get to laughing so hard, she cried. She was loving, kind and supportive to all five of us kids, and never tried to tell us what we SHOULD have done when we made mistakes, big ones! And she forgave us when we strayed. She was ALWAYS positive in her outlook on life and had sort of that, "It is what is is" kind of attitude when hardships happened. She married three times--her first two husbands died---the first one died in Hong Kong when the Japanese attacked in WWII, and the second one died six weeks after they were married, when he got polio of the lungs, and then she married my dad. It was not a good relationship, but she tried to make it work for 40 years. She enjoyed her last years as a very happy, independent lady and truly was an anchor, a haven for our family. Today, of all days, I miss my mom the most.....I love you, Mom, and miss you very very much!

Bird Bonanza in the Middle of a Subdivision

Sarasota, FL          High:   71      Low:   47

After we got done looking at houses yesterday, we were driving through the burg of Lakewood Ranch,  don't know if that's an annexed part of Bradenton/Sarasota, or just a huge subdivision/community. Whatever it is, it's the 9th largest master planned community in the country. We were just kind of looking around and WHAM! We saw a TON of white pelicans and other birds in one of the lakes in this community....There are LOTS of lakes in Lakewood Ranch, but these birds were all congregated in ONE small lake today.

"Maybe if I skulk down, they won't see me."

And wood storks....

BUNCHES of wood storks, an endangered species....

And Sparky's favorite Florida bird, the roseate spoonbill--TWO of them, Mom and Dad. AND JACKPOT--their little one! Not so little at this point. Their offspring is on the far right. He doesn't have the ruby red plumage yet.

Here's a better look at the little one....Awwww, isn't he (or she) cute?

"Oh, Great One...Do you have any advice for me?" "Well, sonny, it's like this....."

We saw them flying and landing...

"BRAKE! BRAKE!"

And having conversations with each other....

"Promise you won't look?"

Maybe a tri-colored heron?

A young (?) sandhill crane with beautiful brown plumage....

Fantastic variety of birds today....all hanging out at a little lake in Bradenton/Sarasota....

All doin' their thing.....

What a fantastic day!

A Return to the Celery Fields of Sarasota

Sarasota, FL        High:  66      Low:   48

A couple of days of very cool weather has sparked Sparky into biking...Sparky has made some nice friends here at the park. It's funny, but when you are full timing in a park, starting to get to know people, and you mention acquaintances, a lot of people will say, "my friend Joanie, from Michigan" or someone will ask, "Do you know Patty from Wisconsin?" kinda like that's their whole name--"Karen-from-Florida".

Any way, Sparky went biking today with her friend, Joanie, from Michigan. We went to the Celery Fields because Joanie had never seen them. It's a short bike ride but there usually is quite a bit to see. You can climb to the top of an old landfill that's been made into a hilly observation point with gravel trails.....Good exercise climbing up and back down...

You can walk across the street to the boardwalk overlooking the marsh and see lots of different kinds of birds. We saw a great blue heron glide entirely across the marsh while we were standing on the boardwalk. It was a beautiful sight! There was a flock of egrets in the marshes. Sparky loves how they all rise up on occasion, as if they are going to fly away, but then they just settle down again in a slightly different position. Sparky was too busy yakking to take a photo of the birds as they changed their positions now and then. We were busy talking and sharing about our families to take a photo. Joanie is a retired special ed teacher just like Sparky, and we had a TON to talk about!

Sparky pointed out some birds that Joanie hadn't heard of, and told her about the roseate spoonbill that can be occasionally seen in the marshes and even around Sun 'n' Fun. Sparky asked a couple of gals if they had seen any spoonbills today, and they said yes, in the distance a little bit. Joanie really wanted to see one so we biked over to another section of the park, looking for alligators and spoonbills (it's alligator habitat in the celery fields) but we didn't see any. On the way over, Sparky was describing the spoonbills, with their beautiful pink plumage that can be seen when they fly, when Joanie called out, "What's that? Is that one of them?" It sure was! It was too far away to take a photo, but Joanie was excited, we were close to maybe seeing some more. She was game for exploring further, so we did. We rode along another gravel path looking for more birds. We did see turtles and several blue herons....

We saw two wood storks, which was great...

AND--the best sight of all, which remains uncaptured on camera but forever captured in our minds, the best camera of all...was a roseate spoonbill, a mature one with GORGEOUS fuchsia plumage soaring over the swampy marsh. It was close enough to see how beautiful the plumage was, but too fast moving by us to whip out the camera. We were thrilled to see it. Sparky is putting a photo of the spoonbill she saw just outside the park a couple of weeks ago, so Joanie can see one close up.

We had a great ride today and a great time talking....Thanks, Joanie, for coming along with me today! Best wishes to you on your upcoming mission trip!

Until later......

Myakka State Park--OH, MY!

Sarasota, FL        High:  79      Low:  60

We drove over to Myakka State Park on the Myakka River and lake basin today. It's made up of the river and two shallow lakes. It's just a few miles down the road from our park on I-75. It's one of Florida's oldest state parks. WOW! What a park! We headed down the seven mile scenic drive through the middle of the park and saw all kinds of stuff. Wanna see an alligator? We saw this big boy sunning himself just below the bridge.

Check!  Want to see deer? Look left and right driving along the scenic drive.

Check!  Want to see some wild turkeys? Right on the scenic drive once again....

Want to see some cool roseate spoonbills? Sparky's favorite birds...Stop at the Birdwalk, a boardwalk that is prime area for seeing all kinds of birds. We saw a whole flock of spoonbills there, kinda far away, but Sparky caught them with her puny little zoom point and shoot camera. Check!

The Myakka River flows through 58 miles of wetlands, prairies, hammocks and pinelands. No wonder we saw so much wildlife! Eldy saw a SNAKE--some kind of BIG, dark blue snake as we were walking back from the bird boardwalk, but it wasn't an indigo snake. All he knows is, it moved FAST away from him and he moved FAST away from it! Wanna see a snake? Forget the photo! Check!

Wanna see some vultures? No, you don't! They are a really big problem here....

They flock together at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day. We saw a huge flock of them in a field as we were driving through the area near the tram and airboat concession stand. They like to eat the rubber and vinyl on cars and trucks, particularly the vehicles parked near the lakeshore at the end of the parking lot. Rangers fire air cannons in mornings and evenings to try and disperse the birds. They recommend you sprinkle black pepper on your car windshield, tie trash bags on antennas so they wave in the breeze, or don't park your car there at those times!

Want to climb the 74 foot Canopy/Walkway tower and bridge? It's a walkway through the treetops! VERY, VERY cool! This is an 85 foot long walkway bridge suspended 25 feet above the ground and extends 100 feet through the treetops of an oak/palm hammock to the tower.

There's a whole other world out there in the canopy treetops and a terrific opportunity for nature study. over 20 canopy walkways have been built worldwide. How cool is it that Florida has one? It's like an outdoor laboratory!

There are quite a few canopy/walkways in the U.S. and Canada. We're going to have to check some of these out!

There are informational signs along the walkway and tower, telling you all about the canopy habitat. And when you get to the top, WOW!

There's not a lot of room at the top for very many people. You'd have to wait for your turn to get to the top on a busier day....The stairs are very narrow and so it the space at the top. It literally gives a new meaning to the term "tree hugger"......We could have reached out and touched the tops of many of the palms and air plants growing on our way up and back down the stairs....Here, we are almost to the top. The tree canopy is BELOW us!

Looking down through the tower structure was pretty cool, too....It's a beautiful tower and very secure, even if it did move a little in the wind and with people climbing up and down. Yikes!

There was a little cloud hanging over our heads at the top, and it started to gently rain...And then.....

A perfect ending to a perfect day........