Oh dear...

So here is the story....

I'm walking along a trail called "alligator alley" (and for good reason - lots of gators). I hear a bunch of loud squawking and turn around to see this little blue heron coming fast, huge fish in his beak and being pursued by a much bigger Great Egret. The GE saw me and aborted, and the LBH landed about 20 feet in front of me in the reeds. And proceeded to try to swallow the fish. He tried. And he tried. And he tried some more. Physics were against him.

But then a little Snowy Egret came careening in, just after LBH had dropped the fish in disgust. SE then proceeded to try to swallow the same fish...with the same result.

Meanwhile, two raccoons scooted right past me, and scurried down to the edge of the water. When I finally left, a stare down was taking place ... but I am sure that the outcome was already decided. Birds 0, 'coons 1.

I drove an hour and 15 minutes to Circle B Bar today and spent 4 glorious hours, taking over 400 shots. Whittled it down to 13 that I particularly liked (or that I thought were relevant in some way) and posted them starting HERE on FLickr. Second one in is a poor shot of a wild boar (feral hog) that I spotted all the way across a marshy area. I have to confess that those things scare me.

I saw my first ever black-bellied whistling ducks today - they are really gorgeous creatures! Also walked for awhile with a limpkin - he kept pace with me from the grass next to the trail - it was a bit surreal, but very cool. Saw several really huge gators and a bunch of medium sized ones. Also saw two guys with really huge lenses - I'm not totally sure, but I think one of them sneered at Big Daddy... Lots of fun.

Thanks for sending my Reddish Egret to the spotlight page - glad you all liked him as much as I did!

One more sleep until Hubs is home! Very happy...

xxoo
Debbi