3/2/2025 Venice Rookery and South Venice Lemon Bay Preserve

After dinner at The Cottage last night (where we all ordered grouper sandwiches), we came back to the condo to play hand and foot.  Cathie and I had horrible hands and we played two partial games which we conceded rather than prolonging the agony.  Hopefully we will have better luck tonight.

After breakfast (with our fresh fruit) we got on the road and spent some time at the Rookery.  There were a few birds sitting on eggs, but most of the nests had hatchlings of various sizes and ages.  We took lots of pics of the fuzzy-headed chicks and chatted with a few folks.  One lady, originally from New York, told us about Lemon Bay just a few miles down the road.  We walked around for a bit, but weren't having any luck with the birds so we turned around and headed back to the parking lot.  Russ spotted something in a nearby field and it turned out to be a good sized gopher tortoise.  They had never seen one and Dave and I had only seen one once near Clearwater many years ago.  We then headed to the small Sunday market in downtown Siesta Key hoping to bump into Scooter - the lifeguard from the main beach.  Russ had heard that he collects license plates so I brought him an old CT one that we had.  Unfortunately he left early so I will hang onto it until we see him on the beach.  We then came home for lunch and Russ, Cathie and I went to read by the pool while Dave took his nap.  We will grill burgers and have salad for dinner tonight.  Russ wants to walk over for ice cream after dinner and then we will try to play cards while half watching the Oscars.

The bird list for today: Great Blue Heron, Anhinga, Common Egret, Black Crowned Night Heron, Juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron, Glossy Ibis, Purple Martin, Grackle.