Louis In A Box

I don't know why, but I just thought this was funny. It's Louis Armstrong in a box. Well, it's not really Louis Armstrong, but a sculpture by Niki de Saint Phalle, one of the artists participating in the Sarasota Season Of Sculpture. This is the only artwork not being displayed on the bayfront, but that's where I saw it first, still tucked away in it's shipping crate. They later carried it down the raod a bit to the Ringling Museum. They have him on display down there now, but he's out of the box.

Fish Story

I think I've mentioned that I was in Boca Grande this past Sunday to shoot some pictures. I wandered around a corner and happened upon the scene you see above. At first I thought there was a small wedding going on, but I couldn't figure out what the bride and groom were doing in the water. I snapped a couple of shots and started to amble in that general direction. Before I could get very close, I saw them push what I at first thought was a large rock back into the water, then everyone cheered. I had to look at the pictures I had snapped and zoom way in before I realized that someone had caught a giant grouper, and everyone was huddled around it taking pictures. You can see the size of this monster in the blurry enlargement below. I wish I could have gotten closer before they released it and gotten some nice pictures, but I was glad that they let it go. This fish probably weighed between two and three hundred pounds! And the guy caught it on that little fishing pole you see him holding up. Now that's fishing!

Sunset Yesterday

You gotta love living in a place where you can get sunsets like this pretty much any day of the week.

Bird In Distress

Not long after I spotted the ospreys I mentioned a few minutes ago, I came across this little tern. Stumbled across is more like it, because I almost stepped on him. He didn't fly away so I knelt down to take a few pictures. It worried me that he wasn't flying or walking away like these guys normally do, so when I was done shooting, I walked over to him. Something was wrong because I was able to pick him up. His wings and feet seemed to be in good shape, he just didn't seem to have any energy. I took him over to the lighthouse and found a park ranger, but we weren't able to get hold of anybody due to the Super Bowl starting in a few minutes. I put the guy back on the beach where I found him and checked on him a few times later. He seemed to be a little better, walking around instead of just laying there. The park ranger assured me that she would check on him in the morning. I feel bad that there wasn't anything more I could do for the guy. The two shots below aren't typical of the way he was behaving, so don't look at them and think he was broken. Those are after I set him back on the beach and before he got his bearings. But even in the picture above, you can look at his eye and tell something's not quite right...

Osprey Action

I found my first pair of mating ospreys this season down on Boca Grande this afternoon. The one above was skittish and flew off as soon as I walked up, but his (or her) mate just sat there and watched me until I got bored and wandered away.

More From February

The image for this week in February is a close-up of a cormorant. You've really got to get in there close before you realize that they have beautiful turquoise eyes. I'm not sure this picture even does their eyes any justice. They are amazing up close. Maybe the eye color helps them to see underwater better, I don't know.