FULL CIRCLE - CRITTERS OF LAND, SEA AND SKY

The 2nd installment of our 2014/5 season wrap-up we will dedicate to the wondrous birds and animals of land, sea and sky!  We have seen sooo many neat things since our arrival in Florida.  Unfortunatley many of our sightings are just great memories we carry with us as we were were unable to snap a picture in time.  

LAND - We still saw even more alligators and we think a crocodile too, both on and off land!  We saw them walking and swimming while taking walks near our marina, from our dinghy when we were out and from our kayaks, wow!

Baby alligators, aren't they cute!

Taken at Charlotte Harbor Environmental Center

Snapped this one from my kayak yikes!

This guy was lurking in a backwater area of Cayo Costa.

Saw many tortoises on Cabbage Key.
This one is heading down into his house!

They were so big and prehistoric-looking!

This little family was hanging out in Shell Creek.

What a balancing act - I think this is one of my favortite pics!!

SEA - If John said it once, he said it 20 times, "this water is just teeming with life".  We saw creatures we had never seen before.  Every day was a new adventure, literally.  Many of them were hard to capture on "film" so don't have as many sea pictures as we would like.

Our Manatee encounter was amazing!  We were in Marley in a small bay in Cayo Costa State Park and we spotted a few.  John turned off the motor and we were just drifting.  Next thing we know there are 4 of them rolling around and bumping into us.  We think they were mating - whoops!  Apparently we got a little too close and SPLASH, we got really wet.  It was so cool!

And then there were the less common animals we came upon...

Portguese Man-O-War jellyfish - very venemous!

Morning Snook feeding frenzy.  
A view over the side of the boat.  Above is late Febraury.  
Below is 3 weeks later in March.  They grew fast!

Never tired of the constant companionship of our dolphin friends!.  

Manta rays were everywhere south of Pine Island.  
John even saw them jumping through the air out of the water!

SKY - We enjoyed seeing the birds that we normally see in Wisconsin wintering down South (just like us) such as the Sandhill Cranes, Loons, Mergansers, Egrets, Herons and Wood Ducks. But what was really cool for us was being able to see other birds that we have never seen before in such a variety of settings.  

A heron making his home on the North
 end of Gasparilla Island.

Sandpipers are everywhere.
I never tire of the way they run along the water's edge.

A Limpkin we saw while kayaking on Shell Creek.

Pink Spoonbills near our friend's home in St. Petersburg

Way cool Ibis on Cayo Costa.
Have never seen one with feet and a bill this red!!!

While this is just a lowly Kormorant,
it was really interesting to watch him take "down" this snake!

Thought he was having a problem, but then...

down she goes!

Again, there was so much more that we saw but aren't able to show you.  

Every day was a learning expereince.  I think that is one of the things we love about being in Southern Florida.  

More to follow...stay tuned!