Spatter

Camera Critters - Dinner On The Beach

While walking along the beach on Sanibel Island last weekend, I came upon this gull having a bite of dinner.  I never did see him come out with anything so can't be sure if what he was after were maggots or intestines or both.

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Photo Hunt - Thankful

I'm sure I won't be the only one with this take on this week's theme, but it's still the take I want to post!  I'm thankful to be part of this loving family.





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Flashback Friday - Beach Times

I spent a lot of my time at the beach when I was in high school...not surprising considering that I grew up in south Florida.  This tradition started soon after our move down from New York. 

 

Don't you love my brother's sailor hat!  I guess I have to give him credit for knowing enough to not to wear his Davy Crockett raccoon cap and go for a more nautical look while at the beach.  And then there's me...ever the practical one...with my little pail...ready to do some serious construction work in the sand.  The car?  That happens to be a Mercury...early 1950s circa. 

Back in those days, we lived in Miami, so our beach was Crandon Park.  Back then that's where the zoo was too.  Here we are on another day. What's this...a different hat for my brother?  Looks like a life guard let him wear it for a while.

Our tradition continued for a while after moving to Ft. Lauderdale, though I haven't any photos to prove it.  But by the time I was a teenager, our family was going in separate directions. Family outings gave way to going there with friends...slathered in baby oil...which, by the way, I'm paying for now. 

I still did picnics, but with my other family...my friend Meg's family.  Those were fun times.  My mom was always invited, but she never came.  Tired? Shy? I'll never know now.  Here's a picture from one.  That's not Meg...but another friend. 

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Breakfast Is Served

While at the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge this past weekend we happened upon a red shouldered hawk nest.  The mother hawk was busy bringing in food.  Here she is coming in with her bounty:

She paused a minute to decide if we were a threat...

 

...and when she  decided we weren't, she started in on it...

Mmmm, good!

Wordless Wednesday - Flame

bydamanti 

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Lake Worth Street Painting Festival

The town of Lake Worth, Florida held its annual street painting festival this past weekend.  It's a wonderful event where artists...both serious and not...transform a patch of pavement into a creative masterpiece.

That one above turned out to be a giant Candyland game board. Here are a few other offerings:

In addition to these, there were some intense work going on in the children's sections:

And of course there were the usual festival attractions...food, karaoke, and live models posing as statues:

It was a great time...and a bit of a change of pace from all the birds I've been shooting lately!

Macro Monday - Captiva Gate

bydamanti


  hosted by Lisa

Monochrome Monday - Cow Lashes

bydamanti

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Nowpublic.org

There's no money to be had, but I'm still tickled to have been asked to have one of my photos used on nowpublic.org...a participatory news network blog.  They say I retain all rights, but even if I've given all away, it's OK.  Just  getting a little hoot was enough for me to say yes.  This is the photo:

and this is the link to the story about brown pelicans in California.  I guess it didn't matter that my pelican lived in Florida.  Smile. 

So what is NowPublic.org?  Well, as noted above, it's a platform for citizen journalism.  According to its "About Us" page, in the twelve months since its creation this Vancouver based company has become one of the fastest growing news organizations.  During Katrina, it had more reporters in the affected area than most news organizations have on their entire staff; in 2007 Time Magazine named it one of the 50 coolest websites; and in 2009 the site was nominated for an Emmy for Advanced Technology. 

Go take a look...



 

Camera Critters - Watch The Birdie

I came upon the following scene at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island: an ibis and a little blue heron minding their own business...tending to their morning meal. 

Now look at the sequence of events that takes place in the following shots...be sure to watch the birdie!

The ibis successfully thwarted the gull's plan to take the worm for himself.  It seems attempts at stealing the fruits of others' labor is a common gull activity.  You might recall that there was a gull chasing an ibis for his worm in my post the other day.




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