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Wordless Wednesday - Tranquility

bydamanti 

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Wordless Wednesday - Sunset Gull

bydamanti

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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 - Warm

bydamanti
 
A lone seagull basking in the warmth of a sunset.  There is not much that rivals this setting to bring a sense of serenity over me. 

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Sanibel

My weekend at Ding Darling NWR proved to be filled with fog and void of birds.  Visibility was poor, sunrises or sunsets were disappointing, and the lack of birds meant, of course, not much to photograph.   We were told that just the week before there had been birds everywhere, but this week, it was pretty darn dead...I guess it was the weather, the moon phase, or maybe both.   Still, I had a great time.  We did get some shots...me fewer than some since I don't have a super-telephoto lens and most of what we did see was pretty far out.  And too, the group of people I was with were terrific...lots of bonding took place. 

With Ding Darling mostly a bust, we found ourselves seeking out other sights like storm chasers.  We found a dock that had some bird activity.  Among other things there was a gull trying to get a worm away from an ibis...just like those scavengers! But the ibis wasn't in the sharing mood.

While there, who happened by but a dolphin...

We didn't realize he was there until all of a sudden he thrashed about in the water...I guess catching some dinner.  It surprised us so that we couldn't capture that moment.  These pictures were taken after the fact as he was turning around to go back out to sea. 

We also found ourselves at the beach by the lighthouse where there was a lot of activity.  Snowy egrets were surf fishing

 

I think this was the first time I'd ever seen a snowy egret at the beach.  They were pretty and funny at the same time...cocking their heads for a better view of their prey...

Almost every jab proved successful...

And then there were the pelicans.  They were just funny...coasting along, then climbing, up to a crescendo before diving in for their dinner.  I could've watched them all day. 

By the end of it I had taken about 3,000 shots, which quickly got reduced to about 200 and is now down to around 50, and of those, I'm guessing there are about 20 that I will end up liking enough to publish.  That's about par for the course...and a good thing too since otherwise, my hard drive would quickly fill up.

Wordless Wednesday - Lost In Thought

bydamanti

 
A solitary woman lost in thought..or was she just blissing out in the sun?.


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Photo Hunt - Nautical

bydamanti

I was wishing I had a nautical themed photo that also had some obvious Valentines Day motif, but no...so I decided on this.  Perhaps it can be made so by imagining a romantic get-away where these are waiting for you and your love to sail away on them!

I'll have little, if any, computer time this weekend...I'll try my best to catch up when I return home.

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Monochrome Monday - Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse

bydamanti



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