An uncooperative lunch

Today was one of those days where I had a really hard time picking one shot. I went to Ft. DeSoto and spent 4 hours, taking nearly 700 photos. I saw some wonderful things - including a dancing reddish egret, about 100 American White Pelicans, an eel-eating little blue heron, loads of shore birds, and a beach-combing raccoon. But my favorite part of the day, I think, was watching this Great White Egret catch and then try to eat a very unwilling eel. The egret flew to the beach and spent at least 10 minutes trying to get the eel to go down the gullet. The eel tried every trick in the book not to be eaten. Twice the egret had the eel mostly swallowed, when suddenly an eel tail popped out of it's beak and started thrashing. I was laughing so hard that I nearly couldn't hold my camera. And I am sure if anyone saw me, they thought I was totally looney.

I posted 14 shots on Flickr, starting HERE. That is a lot of pictures to go through, so if you just have time for one, I suggest this one in which the eel gets the upper hand... or beak

Hubs is working 12 plus hour days right now, so he won't be home until late tonight. Last night he got home at 9:30. Hoping this job settles down a bit, as these are crazy hours and I worry about the stress for him.

Thank you for sending yesterday's otter to the spotlight page! It was such a complete delight for me to see those otters yesterday, so I'm glad you shared my excitement.

It's Hump Day people ...one day closer to the weekend.

Debbi

Addendum: I have just learned from a local birder that this is NOT an eel, but rather it is something called a Pipefish!