Peacock (Not Peahen)

I think I mentioned the peacocks of Longboat Key a few weeks ago. Well, here's a quick shot of one from this afternoon. There must have been twenty of them wandering around while I was there. Unfortunately, none of them were doing the classic mating display of the tail feathers, so this head shot is all I have to share. Not too shabby though.

Birds & Bridges

I can never pass up a shot of a big bird in front of a bridge.

With And Without

Today's lesson: The polarizing filter. Take a look at the shot above and compare it to the one below. I took these two pictures today about 5 minutes apart. The one above was through a polarizing filter, the one below without the filter. You can see the shot above has bluer skies and deeper green water. You can also see items in the water that are obscured by reflections in the shot below. That's what the filter filters, reflection. Now you know. What you're looking at, by the way, is a sand dredge. It's removing sand from the bottom of the canal at the north end of Anna Maria Island, and pumping it up onto the beach a few hundred yards away.

No Flowers, Yet

It may not be a pretty flower, but it's a little exotic. I don't know the name of it, but the little group of plants you see here are some sort of orchid. Each of the bulbs is an individual plant, and each one sprouts a single leaf. Later on in the year, each of these will put out a single sprig of flowers. The only place I've ever seen these is along the Manatee River in the Desoto National Memorial in Bradenton, FL.

Where, Part Deux

Here's another hint for those of you who are slow on the uptake.

Where In The World Is Ernie (Not Bert)?

Wanna guess where I was this weekend?

The Middle Of February

You don't live in Florida for very long without getting very close to some alligators. I stumbled across this guy at the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island here in Florida. I didn't hang around him any longer than it took to get this picture.