Drama at the Lake...

I took a quick trip over to the lake this morning to check on the heron colony and osprey ... and my timing was perfect.  Apparently several new herons had arrived and were starting to set up nest sites in another big pine tree, this one a bit closer to the osprey nest.  No sooner had this heron picked out just the right stick and carried it up to the spot when he was attacked by a very angry osprey!  The osprey dive-bombed this heron and a second one several times.  The other heron left, but this one stood it's ground.  The osprey then gave chase to an anhinga who tried to evade it, finally resorting to diving into the lake.  Much excitement.  

So this isn't a technically great shot, but I was trying madly to follow the action with Big Daddy and this was the best I got.  In this particular dive, the osprey appeared to make brief contact with the heron, but the heron was using it's wings as defense tools - quite handily, I might add.  

Hubs and I went out on a 90-minute "dolphin cruise" this afternoon.  Very touristy, but also quite fun.  We saw a mother and offspring who swam all around the boat, seemingly unfazed by us.  All in all, a good day.

Five other shots from today, including some dolphins, starting HERE on Flickr...

It is going to be quite cold her tomorrow (okay, cold being a relative term - it is going to only go to 54 F during the day - cold by FL standards).  I may bundle up and head to Fort DeSoto for a few hours - we'll see.  Definitely, I'll be checking on the heron colony again tomorrow - every day seems to bring some new bit of excitement there!

It's Thursday...and 46 more days until the movers show up for our furniture.  Eeek.

Debbi