another first

yesterday we had our first visit in the two winters we have been here from a pair of roseate spoonbills.

this was very exciting because they usually do not feed in fresh water areas and of course also because they are so amazingly colorful

and the mottled ducks showed some beautiful blue under their wings that I hadn't seen before when they were in the water.

this one shows his spoon shaped bill which is of course how they spoonbills get their name (LOL)

in flight - a bit blurry but they sure are beautiful aren't they?

and look at the beautiful blue these guys have been hiding when swimming by...

the anhinga drying - you can see pretty much every feather!

now he is a regular visitor - our little gator...

so another interesting day on the river - so full of life- that we frequently would miss in our day to day rush of activities... what a gift it has been to slow down enough to enjoy getting to see and know something about these "friends" in nature...