Birds, and Birds, and Some More Birds

My apologies to the real birders among you. This is like pearls before swine; I'm not sure what these birds are. Do you know?

Spoonbills and Sandpipers

Don't you sometimes feel that the little ones are just underfoot, when you are trying to get something done?

But we have it made, compared to these Spoonbills in the Florida Everglades!

Look at all these Sandpipers, crowding around!

I don't know how these Spoonbills keep from stepping on all the little Sandpipers.

They were noisy, too! And somehow, I imagine that none of these creatures have body space issues!

And they were surprisingly calm about our boat edging its way very close to them.

Birds, Hard at Work in the Everglades

These birds were not on vacation.

This one was busy keeping a close watch on us.

This one was on nest duty:

And this bird plucked dinner out of the waters. . .

. . . and then sat and considered how to prepare dinner. Saute or baked? Or just gobble it down whole?

Everglades Photography Birding Tour

On Saturday, after "evacuating" Disney's Vero Beach, we headed down to Miami, and found a delicious Cuban restaurant. I wish I remembered the names of this food (of course, I know "rice" and "black beans"), but most certainly I remember that it was delicious!

In the morning, we explored a little, particularly this Cuban open-air market, El Palacio del Jugos.

I love the colors of such markets! I could photograph there all day, but. . . well. . . . I get a little self-conscious, particularly as my family flees in horror from me. I always see foods that I'd like to just sort of discretely nibble on to see what they taste like, but I'd probably get thrown in jail or have dogs sigged on me. . . .

This next photo was NOT in the market! By noon, we started heading west from Miami, driving along and through the Everglades. We stopped along the roadside to look down into a creek and saw these little cutie-pies (in a matter of speaking!). Doug says they are alligators, but I am still not clear on the difference between alligators and crocodiles. We were told that this part of Florida is the only place in the world, however, that has both.

We walked along a trail a bit, and I was delighted to see these air plants on the trees. And they don't look like they'd bite.

Next, we started our Birding/Photography boat tour. A guide took Doug, Dianna, and me out into the everglades. We discovered that we were actually in the coastal Everglades rather than inland Everglades, which meant we would be seeing sea water flora and fauna.

And we did see birds!

Doug is more interested in birding than I am, but I like any chance I can get to photograph something. Doug things this first bird is a heron. (He said herring, but I think that's a fish!) And these next two are photos of White Ibis.

Tomorrow, I'll show you Spoonbills. They were my favorite!