5/19/13 Happy Place - no kayak. Google Map of Happy Place

We went to the Happy Place on a walk with the dog on a Sunday morning and I took these pictures.

At first this year we thought there weren't as many nesting birds as last year.
But we have found that there are more, just in a different place.

I don't know what kind of bird this is.

Even zoomed in  I still don't know.

These next pictures were taken panorama style.  I took the first then panned right to take the second, etc.  So if you can imagine them all side by side, you can get a feel for how many birds are nesting this year.  First there is a map of the happy place that shows where the pictures were taken from.

We're probably all getting bored of Cattle Egrets by now, but some pictures are still pretty cool.

As we were leaving we saw this Water Moccasin swimming by - if you look close you can see his tongue out.

Again, I think the tongue is pretty cool.

All these pictures are taken from the same spot, just cropped differently to show different levels of zoom.

Kind of creepy huh?

5/18/13 Happy Place Caleb

On this day I rowed and Caleb took all the pictures.  I think he did a pretty good job!!

These Gallinules are a little out of focus (but the reeds look great!!)

Anhinga

I thought this was pretty cool how he got this Anhinga with his neck twisted around like that.

Various shots of Cattle Egrets

Anhinga

More Cattle Egrets

This White Ibis was right in front of us but I hard the hardest time getting Caleb to see it.
It was kind of funny really.  The picture is a little blury but still cool.

Little Blue Heron in flight.

5/25/13 Happy Place Solo

Last Saturday I took the kayak out to the Happy Place for a couple of hours by myself.  I was able to get really close to some nesting herons:

I snuck up on this Green Heron sitting on her nest.  The pictures aren't clear because the nest is surrounded by trees.

You can see in this picture she sensed or heard or smelled that I was near.
I was moving incredibly slowly and quietly, I tried to move past the tree that was blocking my view,
but when I did she hopped away and left me with a view of...

...the nest.

In this zoomed our picture you get a little better feel for the size of the nest.

Right around the corner some Little Blue Herons were nesting.  Again, I was able to get really close,
but my view was obstructed by the trees.

Nice tongue!!

This is the Little Blue Heron nest.

As I was driving out I saw this.
This is a terrible picture, but it is the first time I have ever seen a Brown Thrasher out there.
I was just getting into focus when he flew off - the one that got away as it were.