Egret in Flight

This is the same photo I posted earlier today (see below). As promised, I processed it in Photoshop to sharpen it a little, crop it, and adjust the color slightly. Better? I think so. You be the judge. If you double click the photo, you can see it in a larger size. You might be surprised.

Egret

This is an untouched photo of an egret in flight as we sat parked at the edge of Tampa Bay near St. Petersburg. (I'll clean this up a little when I have time and repost it.)

This is not the egret in flight from above. This was another one sitting very near our parking spot.

It always amazes me how many birds and other wildlife that you see in Florida around most any body of water. We've lived in Florida 6 1/2 years and definitely don't take it for granted, but I'm surprised how many who've been here many more years that do.

You can't see it from this photo, but there was a big pile of trash very near this spot. It amazes me how some people have not appreciation or consideration for others or our nature friends.

White Ibis

I'm not crazy about the shadows in these pictures, but as Linda often says, wildlife doesn't always care about the wants and wishes of their photographers.

I had double knee surgery several weeks back and after three weeks in a wheel chair and two days on crutches, I just had to get out of the house this morning. I took these pictures out of the passenger side window.

Florida Sandhill Crane

This morning we saw a pair of sandhill cranes out for a morning stroll. The ground was soft from all the rain we've been getting. We watched them for several minutes and I snapped this picture out of the passenger window. They were pretty successful finding worms for breakfast.

Rain - At Last

Our desert rose's love the sub-tropical climate of the Tampa Bay area. They like it dry, but seem to take massive amounts of rain without too much trouble. This one sits on the front porch and took the full brunt of 2 1/4 inches one recent afternoon and evening.

We hadn't had rain for 5 or 6 weeks at our house, but when it rains in Florida, it REALLY rains. We got 5 1/2 inches in a week. The beds in the front of the house appreciated it. The crown of thorns and coleus plants appreciated it.