White pelican

Friday
Our last day on Anna Maria, before crossing over to the east coast of Florida tomorrow. It was a lovely morning, and it proved to be a wonderful morning for birding. We decided to check out a new (to us) nature preserve. We have passed Perico Reserve many times, when taking the bridge to the mainland, but I’d always assumed it was really small, as it appears from the road to have big houses around it. However, more research online showed it was larger than I thought, and actually connects to Robinson Preserve, which we have visited several times by driving further. Most of the birds we saw were concentrated in one spot, funnily enough in the garden of a large home which backed on to a waterway forming the edge of the Preserve. For some reason, masses of egrets and at least half a dozen roseate spoonbills were clustered in this back garden, on the dock, on the grass, along the edge of the waterway! We were viewing it through trees on our side, but I managed to get a number of shots. Also in the same spot but on our side of the water we spotted an anhinga, and a yellow-crowned night heron. I’ve added a few extra shots. On our way back to our house, we stopped at a boat dock near the bridge, where there’s a place for fishermen to clean their catches, and the birds, particularly egrets and brown and white pelicans hang around hoping for some scraps! This was where I captured the star of my blip, the beautiful white pelican. It was about mid afternoon by the time we got down to the beach, and by this time it had somewhat clouded over. We took warmer clothes with us, thinking we might stay for sunset, at a little after 6 pm., which is what we did. The last hour or so before sunset, the clouds and changing light conditions were quite striking, and it culminated in a glorious sunset - see extra. A glorious day to end our stay here on Anna Maria!
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