Monday 2-21-2022 Myakka River State Park

We had a quick dinner of leftovers last night and walked the beach all the way down to the main beach area.  We caught the sunset on the way and then watched the drumming circle.  Lots of people dancing to the beat.  Some were twirling lighted batons.  Someone was flying a very large Chinese dragon kite and the smell of pot permeated the area.  We walked back along the sidewalk - a total of about 3 miles round trip.  We played cards and the boys won again - 8 to 7 for the boys. 

We decided to go back to Myakka State Park this morning.  It was a very successful birding day.  We saw some deer, a glossy ibis, a bald eagle and two juveniles, osprey, white pelicans, black and turkey vultures, a palm warbler, crows, two swallow-tailed kites, great blue herons, American egret, wild boars, anhinga, blue winged teal, and alligators.  When we got over to the weir area, we discovered that they had taken it out since we were there last to restore the natural flow of the river.  On that side of the park we saw sand hill cranes, roseate spoonbills, a cormorant eating a fish, a black crown night heron, a tricolored heron, limpkins, a wood stork, and black and white stilts.  On our way out of the park we climbed the canopy walk and got a great view from the top (123 steps).  We also saw lots more alligators and a cattle egret.  I am going to attempt to include a video today so we will see if it works.

We stopped at the store for hopefully our final shopping trip.  Dave went in for a nap,  Cathie stayed in to read, and Russ and I went to the pool to read for a bit.  We are preparing our shrimp feast for tonight.

Sunday 2-20-2022 Robinson Preserve

The girls won at cards again last night - the score is now 7 to 7.

Russ took his 10 mile run this morning and after breakfast we drove up to Robinson Preserve.  Last time we took the path up the middle of the park so we thought we would try the outside loop to the right.  Big mistake!  Other than the bald eagles flying overhead, a cormorant, an anhinga, some zebra butterflies, a brown anole, and hearing a blue-gray Gnatcatcher that we couldn't spot we saw very little bird life - lots of black mangrove, a very large gumbo limbo tree and tons of sea grape vines.  We came across a tower - 72 steps to the top, but all we saw were some kayakers below us.  The path was hot and it felt like we were on the Bataan death march.  We finally found a path that cut down through the middle of the park and got back on the nice rubberized path.  There we saw a tricolored heron, American egret, osprey, a pied-billed grebe,  both turkey and black vultures, turtles, Northern shovelers, a white ibis, both great blue and little blue herons, white pelicans, king fishers, common gallinule, sandpipers, and a Cooper's hawk.  If we come again, we will stick to the middle as that is where the majority of the bird life seems to congregate.   We stopped again at the Wicked Cantina for lunch.  Russ, Cathie and I read by the pool while Dave took his nap.  It was a gorgeous day and I even took a dip in the pool.  The water was quite warm and lovely.  Since we didn't get lunch until 1:00, we will have those leftovers for dinner so we can have time to walk on the beach tonight.  We want to catch the sunset again and plan to walk up to the main beach to hear the drumming which only happens on Sunday evenings.

Saturday 2-19-2022 Celery Fields

It was still a bit foggy last night so we skipped the sunset.  The girls finally won at cards again so the boys are only up 1 - yay!

We got up early again this morning and drove into Sarasota for the Farmer's Market.  We loaded up on fresh fruits and veggies for our last week here.  The colors and variety of the veggies and fruits were a beautiful picture for the eyes.  We also bought more of the delicious bread we had last week as well as some fresh fish: Royal Red shrimp, red snapper and salmon.  What a feast we will have tonight.  We also bought a new veggie (to us at least) called Romanesco - related to broccoli and cauliflower, but chartreuse in color (see pic).  It is interesting to look at and I hope delicious to eat.

We came back to store the goodies and then went back out to Celery Fields to do some bird watching.  At the feeder we saw lots of red-winged blackbirds, grackles, and a lone female painted bunting.  Just as we left the area there was a small bunny just sitting in the garden posing for us.  There were lots of purple martins hanging around the house built for them.  We then walked across the street to the dock and spotted some boat tail grackles, an alligator, all three types of gallinules - common, purple, and coot, a palm warbler, blue-winged teals, a cardinal, an anhinga, American egret, a mocking bird, and both types of vultures. We also saw a female grackle with what looks like a snail in her beak.  We heard the call of a limpkin, but were not able to see him.  We drove around the block to the other viewing area and spotted a Northern Harrier, a snowy egret, a tricolored heron, a little blue heron some female mallards, and a turtle.  We finally spotted a least bittern, but I couldn't get his pic as he was well hidden in the reeds.  We heard the call of a sora, but again could not locate him.  

We came back and had leftovers for lunch.  Cathie and Dave went down for a nap and Russ went out to the pool to read.  

 

Friday 2-18-2022 Apollo Beach

 Last night I took a shot of the full moon from our balcony.  The boys won again at cards so the score is now 7 to 5 in their favor.

We got up early this morning to take a sunrise walk on the beach.  Unfortunately it was quite foggy so we didn't actually see the sun rise.  The walk was nice though.  We saw lots of gulls, sanderlings, and black skimmers.  We had our croissants for breakfast, showered and got in the car to drive north to the TECO Manatee Viewing Center at Apollo Beach.  We met up with Kelly in the parking area and spent some time watching the manatees.  The picture I put up is of a mom and her baby.  We also saw quite a few tarpon.  The one pictured was about five feet long.  We saw black and turkey vultures, a great blue heron, ibises, osprey, palm warbler, little blue heron, and catbirds.We spotted a couple of anoles on the boardwalk out to the tower and caught a shot of a fiddler crab making his way across.  We saw lots of fiddler crabs in their natural habitat just off the boardwalk. We climbed the tower and took a shot of the Tampa skyline in the fog.  Cathie took a shot of Dave and Kelly and I at the top.  It was great to see her and to spend part of her birthday weekend with her.  We drove to a very nice restaurant called Circles for lunch which we enjoyed on the patio.  Cathie and I had fish tacos with mango salsa, Kelly had crab cakes and Russ and Dave had grouper sandwiches.  We came back to Siesta Key and stopped at the grocery store.  We are having burgers for dinner.  Cathie made a lovely potato salad to go with it.

Thursday 2-17-2022 Siesta Key

It was such a gorgeous evening last night we decided to walk across the street to catch the sunset at the beach.  We saw a guy on the beach toasting the sunset with a beer.  Russ remembered him from when we were here two years ago.  Someone had a tape of taps that was played over an amplifier and someone else blew an air horn.  The traditions remain strong on our little beach.  We walked across and got ice cream cups to take back to the unit for dessert.  The card games continue -  Tuesday night the girls won to tie, but last night the boys smashed us so it is again 1 up for the men.

Russ and Cathie drove south this morning to visit with friends.  Russ was going golfing with his buddy and Cathie is visiting with his wife.  They will be back sometime this afternoon and we will walk to dinner.  Dave and I had a leisurely morning.  We took the shuttle into town and walked around a bit.  I picked up some croissants for breakfast at the French bakery in town.  We didn't want to eat lunch in town because we are eating out tonight so came home and made english muffin pizzas with the leftover spaghetti sauce.  Dave went in for his nap and I went out by the pool for a bit and read.  The sunset pics are from last night and the sign was in a shop in town this morning.  Tomorrow we are heading north to meet Kelly (Lana's daughter) at a place where the manatees come in so I hopefully will have more pics to share.

Wednesday 2-16-2022 Siesta Key Beach

We went to the beach today.  It was a great beach day - a bit windy early, but bright sunshine all day.  Dave and I left at noon and took the shuttle back to the unit.  Russ and Cathie stayed a bit longer, but are back now.  The temp got up to 82 with a nice breeze, but the water temp was 60 so I was not tempted to go in.  There were plenty of beach walkers to ogle as they went by and we each had a good book to entertain us.  I love the colorful life guard stations.  We plopped ourselves next to the yellow one.  We are having leftover pasta and cauliflower for dinner tonight.