3-6-2025 Myakka River State Park

Hand and foot was another disaster for the girls last night!  We play one game and lost and started another, but we were getting our asses whooped so conceded.  Tonight we might play cut-throat for a while to get back into some kind of rhythm.  

We were on our way to Myakka this morning, but Russ pulled off the road as he spotted a pair of sand hill cranes in the grass at the side of the road.  As a bonus there was also a very fuzzy cute baby almost hidden in the grass!  So cute!!  We got to the park and found they had had quite a bit of damage from the last hurricane.  The boardwalk which we usually use as the bird walk was quite wonky so we walked down near the water on a small path.  We took a number of pictures there and then headed over to the main area where we found a few more birds and gators.  It was very windy and chilly today so I was glad that I had brought my jacket in the car.  We came back for lunch.  Russ and I sat by the pool in the lee of the clubhouse and read for a bit.  Cathie decided to stay in to read.  We are going to grill steak tips we picked up at the farmer's market yesterday and have roasted potatoes, leftover green beans and salad with them.

So on our bird list today we have sand hill crane, turkey, palm warbler, crow. morning dove, avocet, big blue and little blue heron, unknown gull, osprey, black vulture, black necked stilt, limpkin, lesser yellow legs sandpiper, grackle, common egret and cattle egret.  And of course, we saw a number of alligators - big and small.

 

3-5-2025 Red Bug Slough Preserve

The important news first - the girls one in a very tight game last night!  Yay!!  

Note from yesterday - we saw brown pelicans at the beach.  Forgot to include them.

Due to a forecast of rain starting around noon today, we opted to goto Red Bug Slough.  We had great luck today on our walk.  Firstly we met a very nice man who is a local professor of ecology.  He was waiting for his students to arrive so they could have a field lab.  Almost as soon as we started our walk, we spotted three swallow tailed kites soaring overhead.  It was a spectacular sight, but difficult to catch on camera as they dart so quickly.  Other highlights of the walk were a wood stork and a couple of roseate spoonbills.  We also heard, but couldn't catch on camera, a Northern parula warbler.

Other birds spotted were: pileated woodpecker, red bellied woodpecker, red-winged blackbird, a pair of wood ducks, great blue heron and a little blue, black vulture, white ibis, cormorant, anhinga, mocking bird, cartdinal, morning dove, and some unidentified ducks.  We also spotted a water snake (which the professor and his students saw caught and eaten by a great blue), turtles and a rabbit.  All in all, it was a very successful walk.  

On our way back for lunch, we stopped at the Phillippi Creek farmer's market.  It was small, but well represented.  We bought a few things and then went back for lunch at the condo.  

We will have our leftover chicken and veggie dish with fresh green beans tonight and hopefully the ladies will have another successful game of hand and foot.  Fingers crossed!

 

3/4/2025 Siesta Key Beach

 We made a chix, rice and veggie dish last night for dinner.  It was very good and we have plenty of leftovers for another night.  After dinner we stepped out on the balcony to see how many planets were visible.  We were able to see Venue, Mars and another, but not sure which one.  We switch seats at the table to see if our luck would change.  It did in a way - we still lost, but we didn't get skunked and it was a good game.

Today was a beach day so we got there around 8:30 and set up near the yellow life guard station as usual.  It was quite windy at first, but became calmer a little later.  Dave and I went for a walk down the beach, Cathie walked a little later down to Point of Rocks and Russ didn't feel the need to walk as he went for a run early this morning.  There were not many shore birds this morning, but hundreds of gulls lined the beach.  I caught a good pic of a ring-billed gull.  There is also a pic of a sand turtle that someone had made yesterday and lasted all night.  There was a large group of people doing yoga on the beach and a smaller group doing jazzercise.  One of the pics has a view of the beach from the snack shack.  If you look in the distance you can see the yellow life guard stand.  The beach is very wide with the most soft and silky sand.  Cathie at one point went to use the restroom near the snack shack and saw an egret standing near the kitchen door.  When she asked about it, someone said he stops by at least three times per day and has been doing so for ten years!  They have named him Eddie the Egret!  I went up later to take his pic, but he was gone.  Russ and Dave went to the snack shack later and while they were gone, I tried to eat my sandwich.  A crow landed on the top of Russ's empty chair and squawked at me the whole time I was eating.  I'm sure he wanted my sandwich, but I wasn't sharing!

We are going out to Walt's for dinner tonight and there is a chance of rain tomorrow and we can stay in and eat our leftovers.  Will try again for a win tonight as the score is now 4 to 0.

3/3/2025 Robinson Preserve

 So last night we had grilled burgers and salad for dinner and then walked over to the ice cream shop.  Russ and I had salted caramel (yum!), Cathie had double chocolate and Dave had red raspberry sorbet.  We walked back home and played cards.  We couldn't get the Oscars on the TV as we think it is a satellite one with a bazillion channels, but no regular channels.  Cathie and I lost again!!!  Tonight we are switching seats to see if that makes a difference.  At least this time we got to play all four rounds before losing!

We drove up to Robinson Preserve after breakfast and had a wonderful time walking around and taking pictures.  One of the wonderful things about this park is that the is one long trail that has been surfaced with the rubber they use on high school tracks.  It is very easy on the joints - especially for older folks.  We came back to Siesta Key and had lunch.  Rinse and repeat from yesterday.  Three of us read at the pool while Dave took a nap.  We will eat in again tonight.  We will probably go to the beach tomorrow as it is supposed to rain on Wednesday.  Fingers crossed for some luck for the ladies tonight at the card table.

Our bird count today was very good: white ibis, glossy ibis, osprey (one flying overhead with a fish in his talons), red shouldered hawk, snowy egret, cattle egret, great blue, little blue, white pelican, palm warbler, blue winged teal, night heron, tricolor, crow, black vulture, great egret, little blue morph, pee wee, cormorant, anhinga, mocking bird.  We heard, but did not see a cardinal and a pileated woodpecker.  We also saw a fiddler crab and beach sunflowers.

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.  

3/1/25 Siesta Key Florida

 We landed in Sarasota at 11 this morning.  Russ and Cathie came to the airport to pick us up.  We stopped at the Wicked Cantina for lunch - yum and then drove to Siesta Key.  The weather was in the low 70's today - lovely.  We were able to get into our condo a bit early so we left Dave here to have a nap and the rest of us went grocery shopping.  We loaded up on fresh fruits and veggies and enough things to make a few meals at home.  We will go out to The Cottage tonight for grouper sandwiches.  Dave has been dreaming of them for a whole year.  I'm sure we will be playing cards tonight (if we can stay awake) and we hope to go to the Venice Rookery tomorrow so I will get some pics on the blog.