Sunday, April 2, 2017

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Tonight's picture was taken on the day Mattie was born, April 4, 2002. Peter was with Mattie in the nursery as he was getting cleaned, weighed and given eye drops. What this picture captures to me was Mattie's spirit. He was born ON and very alert, and even just born, he was ready for adventure. 


Quote of the day: A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on. ~ Carl Sandburg

We started our morning with this beautiful sunrise over the Atlantic. We are very lucky we can see such a sight from our balcony.

We visited Wakodahatchee Wetlands today. What an amazing man made wonder. It is a must see and it also has no admission fee. Which is remarkable! 


The park was created on 50 acres of unused utility land and transformed into a recreation wetlands open to the public with a three-quarter mile boardwalk that crosses between open water pond areas, emergent marsh areas, shallow shelves, and islands with shrubs and snags to foster nesting and roosting.

As Peter and I approached the boardwalk, he said to me.... there is either a lot of people talking straight ahead or a TON of birds! I can't get over the number and variety of birds we saw. 

We literally saw all sorts of birds roosting and nesting. This is a tricolored heron sitting on her blue eggs.

But what took the cake today were the hundreds upon hundreds of wood storks sitting in trees. All of them had built nests and were sitting on eggs. Some had baby storks in tow. Not only was it an incredible sight, but the sound wood storks make is unforgettable. VERY LOUD birds. 

 A close up of the storks!

Do you see the babies next to the mom? Mattie would have LOVED this sighting as he was always pointing out moms and babies to me in nature. When he spotted such a pair, he would say.... "they are just like us!"

I don't know how these trees remain strong with all the bird weight they are carrying. In addition to storks, there were anhingas, herons, and other birds. 

A stork in flight. We had many storks flying over us, as they were looking for materials all around the water to build nests.  

I would have to say that the stork isn't exactly the prettiest of birds. Yet when hundreds of them roost in trees, it is an incredible sight. 












Here is the sound of the storks, I have never heard such a racket before:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9dLNvXMNuw

A close up of an Anhinga, sometimes called the snake bird, given the shape of its neck, as it floats in the water. 

The red wing blackbird also has a distinctive sound.... kind of like the creaking of a door. You can't miss them. You almost hear them because you see them.

The wetlands didn't only house birds. We saw a raccoon, which none of us were happy about, since they are usually nocturnal. 

We even saw a brown bunny. 

In the water above, there was also an alligator. We spotted him but so did the birds. They immediately moved out of the water to land. 

 A beautiful tricolor heron.

At the entrance and exit to the wetlands, was this amazing spider and its web. We snapped this in honor of Mattie, as this would have caught his attention!