Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving on the beach is a Marge and Jack tradition. We started out with shrimp and champagne. Next was an Indian chicken dish, potato salad and broccoli salad with Beaujolais Nouveau. Dessert was back home later.

Multiple birds flew overhead, but none dampened the celebration.

After dinner, I walked around and shot a few pictures.

Thomas Edison & Henry Ford Estates

On Wednesday we visited the Thomas Edison & Henry Ford winter estates. They're side by side on the Caloosahatchee River. It was raining, so there are minimal outside pictures.

Not part of the museum.

Ding Darling

On Tuesday we got up bright and early to visit Ding Darling Nature Preserve on Sanibel. The following are some of the birds we saw; this time of year there aren't as many varieties as there are during migration, but we still had a good day. Maybe soon I'll identify them.

We saw this guy on Captiva, outside the restaurant where we had lunch. He's a Royal Tern.

The lighthouse is at the southern end of Sanibel.

And CL is in the pool at M&J's condo at the end of the day.

November in FL certainly is rough.

Ft. Myers Beach Birds (and other creatures)

We completed the trip to Fort Myers on Sunday, and on Monday we headed out to Bowditch Point Park on Ft. Myers Beach. It was warm enough to swim, and there were almost as many birds as people there.

We're still working on identifying this one, a sandpiper or willet or plover.




This Snowy Egret did a quick dance while I was watching. We later learned that this is a normal part of its minnow hunting technique.

More Snowy Egrets below.

A Reddish Egret.

Not birds -- left to right (cousin) Marge, CL, and Jack.

A gopher tortoise. It's about a foot and a half long - just the shell, longer with the head out.