Golden Slippers Fishing and a Golden Sunset

Wednesday March 16, 2016                                                 Most Recent Posts:
Gamble Rogers State Recreation Area                                  Checking Out Faver-Dykes
Flagler Beach, Florida                                                          Postcards from the Beach

 

 

There is no visible sunrise this morning, the skies are white and it is so hazy I can hardly see the pelicans skimming the waves.

 

 

 

The gulls are gathered but even a close up is foggy and it’s difficult to see how many different gulls are in the group.

 

 

 

 

After 90 minutes, the skies are almost blue, the haze has burned away mostly but the fishing is clearly not going well.  Nancy is bundled up in her sweatshirt and even Bill in his shorts looks a little chilled or is he resigned to the lack of bites on his hook? 

 

 

I head off down the beach for a walk.

 

 

 

I spend a long time watching this snowy egret fishing in the surf.  I’ve never seen the wading birds do this before.  He might be the same one I saw in the surf yesterday.  Look for his “golden slippers”.

 

 

 

Although he is very successful fishing, this is the only shot I took out of too many to tell, that shows him with his catch.

 

 

 

 

Doesn’t he seem to be asking me if I don’t have anything better to do than hang around taking pictures of him at breakfast?

 

 

When I return from my walk, Nancy and Bill are going in having given it up for the day.  No luck.  But she comes back down to ask me what is this lone bird she doesn’t recognize.  We’re not sure what type of Plover it is but of the 5 plovers most commonly found in Florida and with his dark legs I’m guessing he’s a black bellied plover in nonbreeding plumage, thus no black belly.   All identification corrections welcome.

 

 

He’s hanging around just outside this group of gulls and pelicans.   The juveniles are brownish on the left and the adults are gray on the right with some of their breeding plumage, the distinctive pale yellow cap.

 

 

When I go in for lunch the large gathering of birds and a lone person are the only ones on the beach.  Doesn’t it look huge under the low hanging clouds.

 

 

Today is Wednesday so David has been at the Cancer center all morning.  He stopped at the hardware store and brings Scrubby duck home with him.  Doesn’t she seem to be batting her long lashes at Moby and Handy?

 

 

After lunch Nancy and Bill come with us for an abbreviated return visit to Washington Oaks . This is a gorgeous state park about which I did a more detailed post a few days ago. If you haven’t read it, you can find it here.  Today we’ve come back to walk the trails.

 

 

I’m stumped over this guy on the ground.  His wings say he’s a moth but I haven’t been able to do any better identification than that.  He’s quite striking against the fallen magnolia and other leaves.

 

 

The explorers come across coquina posts in the woods.

 

Looks like they’ve been taken over by resurrection fern and turned into giant planters.   Actually we speculate that this must once have been the back entrance to the estate.

 

 

The models for the hiking sign are a bit out of pose on the trail.

 

 

Part of what we walk today is a piece of the Florida Trail so when we pass the sign at the end of the hike Nancy takes my picture by the FT.  This summer I had my picture taken by the AT as I walked all 105 miles through Shenandoah National Park.  I’d never walk the entire Florida Trail from the Everglade Swamps up through the center of the state to the panhandle.  But perhaps I could walk 105 miles of it.  Who knows.  A goal for one winter if we’re never able to winter anywhere else but Florida.

 

 

We walk around by the river on our way to the Visitors Center.  Nancy’s sharp eyes spot this beauty on top of the oysters near the sea wall.

 

 

 

 

We three take a rest on the sofas in front of the TV while Bill checks out the informational displays.

 

It’s the phone Bill.  It’s for you!

 

 

No trip to Washington Oaks is complete without a visit to the coquina beach where, unlike the last time when we were here at low tide, it is now high tide.  Many of the rocks we saw are now under water.  The waves are crashing against the rocks today.  Again, what a fabulous spot.

 

 

 

 

 

Bill is king of the mountain.   Notice the little group on his right.

 

 

Everybody is at attention and facing the same direction as the wave moves toward them. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m sure there is some wonderful scientific explanation for all these perfect circles.  I just think they are fun with the barnacles inside and don’t need to know how they got here.

 

Looks like a pair of eyes to me.

 

 

 

I could spend hours here just watching the waves and the rocks and the birds.  But again it is late afternoon, the temperatures are dropping.  It’s time to head home for dinner.

 

 

Our day ends as it has nearly every night since we’ve been here with the sunset at the boat dock.  Beautiful skies tonight.

 

 

David is watching by the palm tree as the sun is nearly gone.

 

Another golden day comes to a close.