Ghosty Pine

This was taken off the Sanibel Causeway.  Many of the shorelines that have trees here in South East and South West Florida have pines...and I love how delicate the needles look so I'm prone to try to incorporate them into my photos.  This night...the air conditioning in the car was clearly a lot colder than the ambient air...so I didn't notice that the lens was fogged up until I got home and looked at the photos.  It took me a while to figure out why the first few  looked like this.  Then as I looked at this one...I kind of liked the effect. Stuff happens...and sometimes it ends up better than you expect :o)

Lone Pelican

Sometimes it's really hard to catch a pic of the birds that's recognizable while they're flying around as I'm taking shots of the sky...but I caught this guy and you can actually make out what kind of bird it is...caught him just right. Enjoy!

Rainy Sunset

I haven't posted in ages...life has been too busy to allow me time for fun stuff. Is it just me or is time moving a lot faster than it used to? I think time is like money...now $20 dollars doesn't go as far as it did before...$100 is the new $20...well a month is the new week and the week is the new day.  Hopefully you're not experiencing the same thing.

Anyway...so this was taken on the Sanibel causeway...our usual haunt when I'm in Ft. Myers. Someone was getting some wicked rain that evening...but it was beautiful where we were.

Hope you're all doing well and enjoying your time behind the camera! Snap on people...

Egret Warning

I followed this Great Egret all over the place and took many shots of him...but this one is totally my favorite.  He hung out on this piling for the longest time...as if he was just dying for me to get him and his message.  Before we headed to the fishing spot this day, I bought a guide to Florida's Gulf Coast Birds at the bait shop...thank God I did or I would have had no idea what he was.  Also...it shares that during mating season this wading bird displays long lacy plumes on it's back...that was one of the things that most drew my attention when I first saw him was those beautiful strands feathering off it's back.

Pelican Stare Down

 We went to Mom's for her birthday and spent Sunday afternoon under the Sanibal bridge fishing...well actually I was chilling, taking in some sun, breeze and a few pics.  I found a couple piers and while I was looking at them...this pelican swooped down and landed on the end of the pier in front of me.  So I inched out toward him.

He noted me...but didn't seem intimidated...although he kept an eye on me.

After awhile he seemed to get comfortable and settled in.

Then I guess I got a little too close...he extended his neck and stared me down...and showed off that wicked claw on the end of his beak...yikes! So I decided to leave him be...it was a gift to have gotten that close to begin with.

Christmas Eve Sunset

Mom and I headed to the Sanibel causeway to catch the sunset for Christmas Eve...the beach had quite a few folks doing the same.  The sun was huge and such a contrast to the cool blue water. Merry Christmas to you and your families! May you all be blessed.

Dark Sky

This was taken a couple summers ago from the water at the Sanibal lighthouse beach.  Clearly there was a storm brewing...but it was so awesome in the water...we (along with a lot of others) stayed until the rain came. But I just had to get a photo because the dark sky against the blue/green water was too much for me to resist.
To see more skies from around the world visit Skywatch Friday.