Bike Riding Beauties

Sparky had been riding her bike in between subbing days, averaging anywhere from 12-20 miles a couple of times a week until she was sidelined with severe tendonitis on an ankle. No idea how that happened except thru ignoring a slight twist that must have happened months ago, then dancing her booty off a couple of months ago, then wearing not enough shoe support while subbing....all of the above, probably. It got to the point where she could hardly walk at the end of the day after subbing. Can't have that, so off to the doctor. The ankle was taped for a few days, and Sparky was told no bike riding (that is one of the worst things you can do for a bad ankle, the doctor said) and no swimming for three weeks. That was tough, following the doctor's orders. Then Sparky got a Trilock ankle brace which was great, and that helped a great deal. It's a little bit of an ordeal to put on, but you get faster at it after a few uses. TONS of velcro everywhere on it, always catches in the wrong place, so you have to keep unpeeling it until you get all the straps on layer by layer. After a month, the ankle still hurts now and then, but physical therapy is about to begin, so that should strengthen it, MAYBE.

Back to bike riding...YIPPEE! And here are some of Sparky's favorite photos from recent bike rides....All the photos are with a Canon SX530, a little point and shoot camera, currently just under 200.00, and it has a nice 50X zoom. If the pictures are with an iPhone, Sparky has captioned them as such.  Red lilies....

An osprey on the nest.....She's feeding two little ones and has a bit of fish caught on her beak.

Here's the dad preening....

March was the month for many sandhill crane hatchings in the area...Sparky took LOADS of photos of the mama and the babies, and here is ONE of her favorites...That's the mama's leg on the right.

Sparky was thrilled to catch a yellow rump warbler sitting still long enough to get a photo.

Blackbirds are a dime a dozen around here, but isn't this one beautiful with the iridescent shades of blue in its feathers?

Sparky's favorite Florida bird, the roseate spoonbill. This one was chosen to be featured in a weekly newspaper in our area...

Sparky likes the bottle brush tree...There are always little busy bees on them....This photo is with the iPhone 6S.

And finally....a limpkin or glossy ibis...It has the head plumage of a limpkin, and the body of the glossy ibis...But Sparky thought it was gorgeous....

Hope you enjoyed today's nature show!  Sparky will be back soon with tales from Sarasota Jungle Gardens, a very cool place to visit if you are in the area....Bye for now....

Is it Boring in Bradenton? Let's See What You Think!

So after the VA trip, things settled down into somewhat of a routine...Sparky is subbing a LOT and really loving it. Kids say the darnedest things. She had a 5 week job in second grade and it was with a  high functioning class, a class full of very smart, great thinkers, and it was a ball! So that kept her busy all of January and into February. Eldy is playing golf at least two to three times a week, so he's keeping busy, too....

When Sparky isn't subbing, she's riding her bike....15-20 miles two to three times a week. Now, that might seem impressive, but Sparky stops a lot to take photos. When she IS riding, however, she boogies....A pair of sandhill cranes sat on a nest for most of February, and the first week of March, they hatched two little ones. March is prime time for sandhill crane hatching, especially early in the month....Sparky knew they had hatched after missing a couple of days at the marsh due to work, because of the small crowd of amateur photographers that descended on the marsh with their whopper lenses...Sparky used to have a Canon Rebel SLR with two lenses, but the darn thing was SO bulky, and every time she saw a cool shot, she had the wrong lens screwed on, so after trying and trying to like the camera for about a year, she decided to go with a Canon point and shoot, the SX530 with 50X zoom. She can just throw it over her shoulder and go. She hears there is a Nikon P900 with 85X zoom or something like that, but she's pretty happy with the one she has. And here's the kind of photos she gets with it....She's VERY happy with it.....Here the parents are changing nest guarding duties...off goes one to eat, and the other one comes on duty....

And here are the little cuties. They are about four days old in these photos...Sparky apologizes for the watermark, she has decided to start marking her photos after getting a bunch of them chosen over the past year for the local weekly newspaper, Your Observer. Time to get serious about submitting some photos in some contests, maybe....

Chicks and mama's legs.....

And here is Sparky's favorite.....

Cranes are not all that Sparky sees on her rides...Always fascinated with bees among the beautiful blossoms here in Bradenton, Sparky likes to try and capture them in the flowers and buds. Her favorite bee shot is this one....This was taken with an iPhone 6S. Sparky uses her phone for 99% of the close up nature shots.

Sparky likes to try and capture the big shore and wading birds close up, too....Love this anhinga eye....This one is back to the Canon point and shoot.

And that's just one bike ride on a good day.....See you soon...More photos and blog coming about the Venice Rookery this week...stay tuned....We told you we've been busy! :-)

"Are you my mama?"

                                                            Sparky and Eldo