Frosty morning

Today’s post features pictures from a week ago. After the numerous posts from vacation, I had to take a break! When I was up in the wee hours last Sunday morning, I noticed that all the world had been erased by a heavy fog. It was hours before sunrise, but like snow, fog seems to have a light of its own. I could see it in the darkness.

The fog had started to lift by the time I went out to do the chicken chores at 7:00.

River birch in the lifting fog

Every branch or needle of every tree was coated in frost. It was truly a winter wonderland.

Oak branch

Pine needles

Over the next two and a half hours, I took 45 photos. The effect of the changing light and lifting fog was fascinating.

At 8:20, the sun was peeking through.

The sun starting to break through the fog

Sunrise behind the third and fourth oak

An hour after that, the sky was blue and the trees were glorious.

An hour later

Blue sky behind frost in the orchard

Predictably, the sun soon melted the frost. The magic was gone, but we welcomed the bright day. Winter didn’t seem so dreary.

The long drive home

Friday, February 7

We didn’t start our trip back very early. We had all the last-minute packing of food, toiletries, and travel clothes. The cleaning lady was coming the following day to prepare for the next guests on Sunday. Because of the leisurely turnaround, we did not have to wash the sheets and towels; we only had to pile them by the washer.

Sheila had offered to take Jan to the airport. This was a good thing because I’d had visions of me sitting in the back seat with luggage piled on top of me until Jan vacated the front seat. Jane’s car was packed. Sheila arrived right on time at 9:00. We said our goodbyes and hit the road right afterwards.

Traffic wasn’t too bad getting off the island. We made one stop in town to get citrus fruit. Jan wanted some to give to people who were taking of things for her while she was gone. We also got some for us. We shuffled luggage around in the back of the car and found room for our purchases.

First stop: citrus fruits

Florida is a very long state, south to north. It really takes the better part of a day to get from Fort Myers to the Georgia border. Jane and Jan discovered Drury Inns a few years ago and stay there whenever possible. We got to the Drury Inn in Valdosta, GA at 5:20, just in time for the “kick back hour” from 5:30 to 7:00. When we checked in, we got tickets for 3 drinks and heavy hors d’oeurves.

We dropped our overnight bags in our room and headed for the dining area. The first thing that greeted us was a popcorn popper like they have in the movie theaters. There were hot dogs, baked potatoes, salsa, chips, flour tortillas, taco meat, salad, shredded cheese, and soup. We started with glasses of white wine (which were really half glasses, but hey, it was included in the room price), chips, salsa, and cheese dip. I had half a baked potato with taco meat on it. Jane had tacos. We had popcorn for dessert while we drank up the rest of our wine credits. It was plenty to eat for supper.

The room was quiet during the night. I slept well.

Saturday, February 8

Winter storm Kade was tearing through the south and northeast by this time. After watching the weather on TV and consulting the weather app on Jane’s phone, we decided to leave I-75, which would take us through the mountains (and snow and ice) to Tennessee. We did an end run around the storm on backroads to Alabama, where we caught I-85 to Montgomery and I-65 to the Drury Inn at Franklin near Nashville. We drove through some rain, but the sky had cleared by the end of the day. We watched the “almost” super moon rise as we approached our destination. Here is a photo I took from the parking lot.

Almost super moon rising over Franklin, TN

This Drury Inn was larger than the one in Valdosta and humming with activity. I guessed that they were hosting some kind of academic or professional meeting as well as several gymnastic teams. Kick back hour was populated with professor-like older people surrounded by young adults, and early-teen girls were running around everywhere. Much of the food was the same as the night before except they had pasta alfredo instead of taco stuff. I had another baked potato with chili and cheese. It wasn’t until much later that I realized I had passed up an opportunity to have a chili dog. Dang. We had one (half) glass of wine with supper and ordered doubles to take up to the room, where we could enjoy them in piece. With popcorn.

Sunday, February 9

I hate taking I-65 through Indiana. It is always full of semis, and I typically end up in Chicago just in time for rush hour. Also, the weather was still looking dicey. We took I-24 to Clarksville and cut through the corner of Kentucky to enter Illinois at Metropolis. The Metropolis rest area had a cut-out of Superman for photo ops.

Superman photo op at the Metropolis rest area

Jane said there was a statue of Superman in downtown Metropolis, but we had no time to stop. I wondered if Metropolis had renamed itself after Superman was invented, but a little Wikipedia research revealed that it was named Metropolis in 1843 when founders thought it was destined for greatness because of its location on the Ohio River just upstream from the confluence with the Mississippi. That never happened, but in 1972, the Illinois Legislature passed a resolution naming Metropolis “Superman’s hometown.” That gave the city all the fame and glory it always wanted, which is why you have all marked your calendars for the Superman Celebration on the second weekend in June. Right?

Illinois is a long state, too. Our route took us through Champaign-Urbana and Bloomington-Normal. We drove and drove through mist and spitting rain. It was dreary. Perhaps the highlight of the day was passing three huge flocks of mixed Canada and snow geese. Canada geese are a dime a dozen, of course, but I don’t recall ever seeing the striking black and white snow geese in Illinois before.

It was dark before we got to Rockford. The roads were still merely wet in spite of falling temperatures and sleet. We got all the way to the McHenry County, maybe 10 miles from home, before the roads were bad. I don’t know why it surprises me when snowplows from one county stop within one inch of the border of another county. One would think they would want to continue at least until there was a place to turn around.

We got to my house just before 7:00. Jane collected Skippy and headed for her house. I was glad to get out of the car and into my own bed.

When the sun came up Monday, this is what I saw.

Monday morning in northern Illinois

Welcome back to winter.

Florida, Day 7

February 6, last day of vacation.

A benefit of being on the fifth floor was that sometime birds would fly by right at eye level. During breakfast, we saw this osprey diving for fish.

Osprey diving for fish

Look at those feet! 

Scary talons on the osprey

The process of disentangling oneself from a vacation rental seems exponentially related to the length of time one has been there. Jane and Jan had been there a month, and the process of getting ready to leave was more complicated than Jane and I experience after being in the cabin up north for a week. We spent the morning doing laundry, cleaning out the refrigerator, washing dishes, and emptying drawers and closets.

There was one more restaurant we wanted to go to before leaving. Matanzas on the Bay (“Waterfront Dining Since 1984”) was not only scenic but had an incredible shrimp salad made almost entirely of shrimp. It was served in a tomato over a bed of lettuce.

Shrimp salad at Matanzas on the Bay

We sat outside where we could see the shrimp boats on the other side of the channel between the island and the mainland. Shrimp boats go out at night because shrimp are nocturnal and come to the surface to feed after dark. I didn’t know that.

Shrimp boats in the harbor for the day

While we dined, we were visited by this bird, which I assumed was some kind of gull. It doesn’t exactly match any of the 26 gulls listed Sibley, though. It was bold like gulls are, periodically leaving its perch to forage among the diners on the patio, trying to snag dropped bits of food before the waitstaff walked through.

Mystery bird watches for errant French fries

I climbed up in the giant chair by the entrance for a photo op.

Me in the giant chair

After lunch, we drove down to Bowditch to look for tortoises one more time. One thing I have learned on this trip is that the characters of interest for heron-like birds is beak and leg color. For example, this great egret by the Bowditch parking lot has a yellow bill and black legs whereas the white morph of the great blue heron has a yellow beak and yellow legs.

Great egret

I went back to where I’d seen an active burrow. I saw the tortoise peeking out, but it was camera shy. Spotting me at the same time I saw it, it withdrew to the depths and was not seen again. At least I got to see one, even if I did not get a picture.

We spent the rest of the afternoon packing and loading as much as we could into the car. We sat on the lanai to watch the sunset while we finished the open bottle of grapefruit margaritas.

Watching the sunset on the lanai

I got out Jane’s tripod so we could take a group shot.

Here we are!

It was one of the better sunsets.

Last sunset. Sigh.

Tomorrow we would head for home.

Cold turkeys

We interrupt our narrative of a warm, sunny Florida vacation to update you on current conditions in Illinois. Valentine’s Day dawned at a brisk 12 degrees below zero. On the (literally) bright side, it was sunny and windless, so not as bitching cold as it might have been.

By afternoon, it had warmed to 12 degrees above zero. I was surprised to see the wild turkeys by our kitchen window. They have been hanging around beneath Hilda’s bird feeder, eating the seeds that the smaller bird toss to the ground. While we saw them in groups of 4 earlier, they are now traveling in a flock of 8 or 9. Terry has observed that the turkeys like to follow bird seed with grass, which they get by scratching the snow away.

Some were grazing under the feeder.

Turkeys beneath my (empty) bird feeder

Others worked under the deck.

Grazing under the deck

Periodically, they rested with their head tucked as far as possible into their feathers. This is a true cold turkey. When I lived in North Dakota, I marveled that turkeys could survive the extreme cold weather with their little bald heads. Why didn’t their brains freeze? Now I know.

Cold turkey

I got to wondering about the idiom “cold turkey.” According to Merriam-Webster.com, it’s a fairly new phrase, dating to 1910, when it appeared in print referring to an outright loss of money. In 1920, “cold turkey” was used to mean straight talk. That use might have come from combining “cold” meaning straightforward or unemotional with “talk turkey”, a phrase from the 1800’s, meaning getting right to the point. Over time, “cold turkey” was used to refer to quitting some addictive substance abruptly, possibly because withdrawal symptoms may include cold, clammy skin reminiscent of a refrigerated turkey. Sounds dreadful.

Even though it was a relatively balmy 17 degrees above zero this morning, it was cloudy and blustery. These are the days that make February (and January and March) dreary. Even though I am inside, the sound of the howling wind makes me cold. Will spring ever come?

Florida, Day 6

We had a leisurely breakfast on Wednesday. Jan and I walked along the beach to where there was a bridge over a narrow place in the lagoon. Along with the usual egret and little blue heron, I saw four white pelicans in the lagoon for the first time.

White pelicans in the lagoon

There was also a brown pelican hunting for breakfast…

Mmm--Sushi!

And then took off leaving an artistic splash behind it.

Artsy photo of pelican taking off

At the camera class at CROW the previous evening, the photographer gave us a tip that there were burrowing owls on Marco Island. I suspected it was a long shot since they, like all owls are nocturnal, and we were going to be looking for them in the middle of the afternoon.

After crossing the bridge to the island, we stopped at the tourist center to pick up a map of the island and ask were we might see owls. I was assigned to hop out and go in. The woman was very nice. “Oh, the owls are everywhere,” she assured me enthusiastically. “I just saw some the other day, and I was going to remember so I could tell people.”

She whipped out a pink highlighter and thought for a moment. “I can’t remember,” she said, “but there are always owls behind the Y.” She colored the Y on the map and drew a line over the street behind. There were also owls in her neighborhood, which she highlighted as well.

We were off. The entrance to the Y was closed for repaving, so we had to drive the wrong way through the parking lot just at the moment a local was leaving in the correct direction. Oh well. We didn’t see any owls at the roped-off burrows directly behind the Y. We wound around through the neighborhood and THERE THEY WERE! Jan and I got out of the car. I started taking pictures at the car and kept snapping as I slowly walked toward the pair and moved to where I could see the second owl better down in the burrow. So cute! All I wished to accomplish on this vacation was complete. I had seen burrowing owls. Next goal: someday I want to see burrowing owl chicks. How adorable must they be?

A pair of burrowing owls (according to Sibley, 9.5" tall, weight 5 oz)

After that excitement, we studied the map and found a park by a marina for lunch. Jan and I both saw something odd in the water. Jan was the first to realize it was a dolphin, but by that time, it had disappeared among the boats.

Late lunch at the marina

On our way home, we pulled off the side of the road by one of the bridges to check for birds. A flock of ibis were gathered in the shallow water.

Ibis congregating for the evening

Each night, roseate spoonbills had flown into the lagoon in front of our building to roost for the night. Vacation was coming to an end, and I had not gotten down to take pictures of them. Tonight was the night. As soon as one came down, I grabbed the camera and went to the elevator. The spoonbills come in at dusk, which was rather inconsiderate of them, as the light was not sufficient to get any really good pictures. But I have already posted many crappy pictures from this vacation. What’s a couple more?

The first roseate spoonbill coming in for the night

Two spoonbills in flight

Florida, Day 5

DISCLAIMER: all species identifications herein are the best I could do with standard reference materials. I claim absolutely no authority, because I haven’t got any.

After a leisurely breakfast Tuesday morning, we headed over to Sanibel Island. We stopped first at a boat storage facility so I could get a picture of four stories of boats. I found this amazing. Jane and Jan told me that they have a giant fork lift that they put under the boats to hoist them to their resting positions. I would have loved to have seen it in action. So many questions remain. Is this seasonal storage or do people just do this whenever they get a wild hair to go boating for the day? How much does it cost vs. renting a slip in the water? I will likely never know

Four stories of boat storage

Sanibel was much as I remembered it, another island with one road going down the middle.

The Sanibel I remember

Our first stop was Pond Apple Park Trail. There were four ponds there that had something to do with water treatment. There was a plaque explaining how floating vegetation helped clean the water but a conspicuous absence of floating vegetation. Another mystery.

Just as we came out of the wooded area to the ponds, a bald eagle flew by. Focusing on flying birds is challenging, even (or especially) with autofocus. So here’s another crappy, out-of-focus picture.

Crappy picture of a bald eagle

A flock of brown pelicans lounged along the bank.

Pelicans of leisure

There was also a large male iguana sunning himself. I know it’s a male from the dewlap under his chin. He uses it for defense and posturing to other males in the competition for females. Is it not terrifying?

Iguana sunning on the bank

A double-crested cormorant swam in the pond. Unlike the straight beak of the anhinga, the coromorant beak hooks in the front. The orange of the beak and around the eye is diagnostic of the double-crested. The crests only (I guess) appear during the breeding season.

Double-crested cormorant

This is a common moorhen. Another imponderable: what do they call the males? “Hen” usually refers to females. “Cock” is the male, as in peafowl being made up of peacocks and peahens. The woodcock is another anomaly. There don’t seem to be any woodhens.  

Common moorhen

I saw a wood stork in the distance and walked all the way around the far side of the pond to get closer to it. As usual, I started taking pictures early so I would still have something if I spooked it. Like the baby alligator at Corkscrew, I did not realize I had photographed three Florida redbelly turtles on the bank in front of the wood stork.

Three redbelly turtles on the bank with a wood stork above

A snail inched its way along the sand of the trail. I wished it well on its journey, hoping that it would get where it was going before it shriveled up and died. Snail + dry sand = bad situation.

A snail on the sand

I found another redbelly turtle closer to the trail.

Florida redbelly turtle

I got a bit closer to the wood stork, along with ibis and an anhinga.

Left to right: anhinga, ibis, wood stork

Three pelicans took turns splashing around in the water.

Pelicans bathing

I was so absorbed in watching the pelicans that I almost walked into this male anhinga in breeding plumage standing on a fence post. No kidding, I could have touched it. I didn’t even need the telephoto lens to take this picture. Note the striking turquoise outline around his eye. It was really impressive in person.

Male anhinga calling to his love

He may have been calling to this female a couple of fenceposts down the line. She didn’t seem impressed.

An unimpressed female anhinga

I tried and tried to catch a pelican flying, as they are, in my opinion, at their most beautiful in the air. Seeing soaring white pelicans over the prairie potholes of North Dakota took my breath away. Finally, my persistence paid off.

Brown pelican in flight

As we walked back to the car, we spotted a red-bellied woodpecker on a palm tree.

Red-bellied woodpecker

On to the J. N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge. The visitor center is cleverly decorated. The hallway outside the restroom has paintings and sculptures imitating what we could see from underneath the water. This photo shows an alligator and some dabbling ducks. There was also the front end of a pelican diving for a fish.

The ceiling outside the bathroom, simulating the view from under the water

This manatee and her baby were on the wall, made of recycled bicycle tires.

Manatees made of recycled bicycle tires

The gift shop had jackets made of pull tabs from soda cans held together with thread. I was sorely tempted, but couldn’t bring myself to spend $324.99 for it even though I knew that the number of hours someone spent putting it together made it worth far more than the asking price. Note also the matching purse. Where would a person get all those pull tabs?

Jacket and matching purse made of soda can pull tabs

While it is possible to explore Ding Darling in other ways (hiking, kayaking, biking, etc.), we drove the roads in the car. There were white pelicans and cormorants on a sand bar.

White pelicans and cormorants

Much of the road was lined with mangroves. I admire mangroves. They are perfectly adapted to their environment. Their seeds float if they land in water or stab into the ground if the tide is out. They sprout new shoots from roots and roots from stems. Here you can see the branches growing straight down to the water.

Mangroves holding the whole ecosystem together.

We saw blue and green herons, but I posted photos of them yesterday. Here’s a great egret.

Great egret

This might be a diamondback turtle. I have noticed that turtles have a bad habit of facing away from the trail.

Back end of a diamondback turtle

Jane got a picture of a Gulf fritillary.

Gulf fritillary

Have you ever seen such a flock of nondescript birds? Not only are they almost uniformly light gray, but they have their bills tucked in. Are the small ones at the left babies or a smaller species of nondescript birds? Bah. More cormorants in the back.

Possibly the most nondescript birds I have ever seen in front of the omnipresent cormorants. Plovers?

We stopped for a sandwich at the Santiva General Store, which was ever more evidence that there is no fast food in the South. We drove around Captiva after that, admiring the homes we’ll never own.

Jane had signed us up for a talk on nature photography at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW). The Clinic is funded entirely by donations and has a budget of $40,000 per week. The speaker was an amateur photographer, although a better term might be “non-professional.” She certainly had a lot of experience. After the talk we had an opportunity to photograph some of CROW’s “ambassadors.” They try to release every animal they can, but If a hawk or owl has to have a wing amputated, well. I was hoping that one of the ambassadors would be a burrowing owl, but no such luck. 

Rescued red-tailed hawk

Great horned owl

In addition to the red-tailed hawk and great horned owl, they had a snake available for pictures. Not sure what could happen to a snake to make it unable to survive in the wild. We can rule out amputations. I didn’t take a picture of the snake. I don’t like snakes.

After a fun and educational day, we got in line on the road going off the island and went back home.