Manatee Watch

Had a solo outing today, did the weekly manatee survey by myself this week. Too bad you didn't GOYB, cause I saw some wicked neat stuff.  Here's what you missed:

A really pretty dew-covered spiderweb on the fence going down to the shore.

There were a total of about 9 manatees today. We have had a lot of rain, and there was a ton of water coming over the dam which is what was producing all the foam. Didn't seem to bother the manatees any.

 A manatee tail.

A manatee back. The temperature was in the low 70s and rapidly rising while I was out there. Unless it gets cold again, I doubt we will see as many manatees going forward.

This Kestrel was sitting on a pole right behind my car. There have been a ton of them out at the preserve this year, even more than last year. If you want super good looks at Kestrels, just drive down Buffer Preserve Drive (the main entrance off of Babcock.)

Another cool web, this one on the barbed wire by the dam.

The water was all latte like.

This is the water coming over the dam. We do the survey from near the top of the dam.

When I got in my car to leave, I looked up, and there was a HUGE herd of wild turkeys on the berm across from where I was doing the survey. Of course I had to grab my camera and head back.

There are 9 in this picture, but thee were way more, I would have needed a wide-angle lens for that.

 A particularly pretty little egret.

This little guy was also near my car, a palm warbler. I got better shots of him for ID purposes, but this was my favorite shot, there was just something I liked about the framing of it.

It was an awesome morning out there, hope to see you out there on an outing with me.  Remember, you can see stuff like this on TV or the internet, but you can only really experience it if you come out and play with us!