Wake Up Call

Yesterday morning, when I was walking down the stairs, I noticed a weird brown thing in our yard.







I can't believe it was a fox!!!!

Scratching its neck

Getting up

Shaking his head, just like Bailey does

Stretching

Gotta stretch those back legs too

Ready for the day

Heading out

We watched it for about 10 minutes, when it finally got up and trotted away. During that time, several cars passed on the road (about 50 feet in front of the fox). It would pick up its head and look around when that happened, but then puts its head back down.

It was 18° F (-8° C) while we watched the fox. I would never have guessed that a fox would sleep out in the open like that. We watched from slightly before 7 a.m. until about 7:10. The sun was up the whole time.

Sorry that I've included some blurry photos....This was pretty much at the limit of what my camera and lens could do in that limited light through the window into the sun.

It was just so cool to see a fox wake up for the day. A lot of his actions, like the stretching and shaking his head, totally remind me of what Bailey does when he wakes up.

On New Year's Day, Acorn to Oak asked if I had any fox photos yet. Finally, I can say YES!

Florida in 12 Pictures

Mansion at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota

Who knew that 5 sons of German immigrants could build their fortune by creating a circus empire from the 1870 - 1929?

Myakka Canopy Walkway at Myakka River State Park

I was a little scared of this walkway. Once I saw it was so sturdy, I gave it a try. It was great!

We climbed a solidly constructed stairway to the suspension bridge through the tree canopy. Walking along the bridge there was a bit of swaying, but it felt very secure and safe. It was really interesting to see plants growing on the trees, plus to see the tree tops up close.

At the end of the bridge, you can descend a stairway, or climb up more stairs to a tower above the canopy where you can see for miles.

Good practice for canopy tours in the rain forest....one of my dream trips!!

Alligator in Myakka River State Park

The water level was low in March, since it's the end of the dry season in Florida. We didn't canoe with the alligators. But we saw plenty of alligators!!

Manatee at Manatee Park in Fort Myers

Manatees congregate in warm water during the cooler winter months in Florida. The park in Fort Myers is near the outflow from a power plant, where the water is warm.

We met people who saw 20 or more manatees at one visit to this park. We visited twice and saw this single manatee.

The manatee would stay under water for about 4 minutes, then surface and breathe twice, then head back under water. I liked seeing it in the wild because it was more sluggish and docile than I imagined.....I don't think there's a good way to get that across without actually seeing one in person.

My favorite beach on Sanibel Island

I fell in love with Sanibel on this trip!!

I like how low key the development is there, how the island has 25 miles of bike paths, that various conservation agencies have preserved large parcels of land on the island.

For me, the beaches are great because they're spacious, not very crowded, dog friendly, great for walking, shelling and wildlife watching. Plus, there are tons of amazing birds on the island.

Osprey clutching a flounder over my favorite beach

Osprey were everywhere on Sanibel. At one point, I was finding great shells, spotting dolphins in the waves, and watching 4 osprey overhead. So much fun stuff to see!

One osprey caught a large mackerel. Two other osprey gave chase, dive-bombing the bird with the fish.

When they were about 10 feet over my head, the osprey dropped the fish. We moved away from the fish thinking the birds would be back to pick it up. But they continued their skirmish and vanished into the woods.

Jim went over to check out the fish, which was flopping around in the dry sand. He picked up the fish by the tail and released it in the ocean. The fish swam away. Imagine the "fish story" that mackerel has for his school!!

Mixed flock of wading birds in Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge

Another great things about Sanibel is all the bird life in the wildlife refuge. We spent hours a day there watching and photographing birds. This is my kind of birding!!!

Roseate Spoonbill Landing in Ding Darling NWR

Naples City Pier

TripAdvisor ranks the municipal pier in Naples as one of the city's top attractions. That seemed weird to me, but one afternoon we were in Naples with a bit of time to spare, so we checked it out.

Within 45 minutes we'd been buzzed by a bald eagle, had several close osprey encounters, all while watching dolphins, pelicans and fishermen.

We returned after dinner for more sea life, plus a beautiful sunset.

The next morning, as we left town, we stopped by again. Mid-morning wasn't such a good time for wildlife sightings.

Dolphins

Hard to photograph, but always fun to watch!

Pelican Swallowing a Large Fish

Pelicans at Sunset

Sometimes, after a long winter, a trip to a warm, sunny place is a balm for the soul!!!


I totally apologize for not being caught up on your blogs or your comments before posting about Florida. Please know that I appreciate the huge swirl of creativity that all of our blogs foster, and I read and think about every comment that you leave for me!!! I hereby promise to catch up!

Merrimack River Eagle Festival, Feb. 12, 2011 in Newburyport, MA

Each winter, bald eagles congregate in areas of New England where there's reliably open water on rivers.

The Merrimack River in Amesbury and Newburyport, Massachusetts, USA is a great place to watch bald eagles in February.


To make it even simpler, the Mass Audubon’s Joppa Flats Education Center and the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge sponsor a free eagle festival. (If you google, you may find an eagle festival near you as well.)


Last year, we printed their eagle viewing map, and headed down for the day. We saw eagles perched in trees, doing aerial acrobatics together, and successfully fishing then eating the fish on an ice flow.


It's so helpful to have a group of people to help you spot the eagles, even though many eagles can be seen with the naked eye. Plus, you can ask other eagle watchers where they've seen eagles to know which viewing spots are best that day.


Definitely take binoculars and a spotting scope if you have them. Many people stop by without even binoculars, and people let them borrow a pair. Plus, the sponsoring groups usually have a few spotting scopes at each viewing stop.

There's plenty of space for photographers (although with this year's deep snow it might be a little tougher.)


The photos in this post were taken by Jim (Mr. LifeLoomsLarge) in February 2010 at the Merrimack River Eagle Festival.

For more info, visit the Audubon Society's webpage about the event.

Squirrel Appreciation Day

Really? There's a special day for squirrels?



How did you celebrate it?

Bailey appreciates squirrels every day. He loves to chase them or just watch them out the window!

Calm Before the Storm

Whenever I see the leaves of our rhododendron curled up tight, I think it must be very cold outside. (I'm not the first person to notice this change!)


Bailey considers my photography session an opportunity to snack (bad news since rhododendrons are poisonous for dogs.)


We're waiting for what might finally be big snow tomorrow. (We still have tons of bare ground and just a light dusting of snow...very unusual for January in these parts.)

At Our Bird Feeder

A sharp-shinned hawk chasing the flock of nuthatches, chickadees and titmice.

Today he didn't catch any of our little seed eaters....at least not while we were watching.

Tomorrow, who knows?

Colors of September

Time for the colors of the month!!


Every month, I invite bloggers to post inspiring natural colors in their part of the world.



We link them together with a blog post here, and hopefully inspire one another to see things differently and create beauty of our own.




To join in, please post photos of the colors of September wherever you live or travel. In your post, link back to this blog post, and add a link to your blog post here!





Thanks for joining in! We'll be wrapping up in October, so if you've wanted to play and haven't yet, September and October are your last two chances!!!!

Glacier and Yellowstone in Ten Pictures

Jim and I just hiked, photographed, and watched wildlife in Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks for two wonderful weeks.

For my local friends, I distilled the trip to 10 photos, which I printed and show to anyone who is willing to look (or who doesn't scurry away fast enough).

For my blog friends, here's the same set of photos:

Glacier

Yellowstone








I hope to say more, much more, about our wonderful trip in future blog posts.

Meanwhile, enjoy my uncharacteristic brevity!!