Life is good in the excellently named Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge
I have been thinking about birds lately — possibly because I managed to identify the orangey-red smudge on one of our old Seychelles photos as a Madagascar Red Fody (will have to get a better picture this time, in the meantime, just picture a sparrow that fell into a paint bucket) — and suddenly remembered this guy.
We encountered him on Sanibel Island in Florida on our wedding trip three years ago (time flies). It was February and I imagine he was enjoying both the sun on his back and and the warmth rising from the dark tarmac. What I loved about him was the self-assurance in his assumption that those funny non-winged creatures would go out of their way to make sure not to disturb him (a reasonable call if you live in a wildlife reserve). And if they hung around and kept staring at him, surely it was only to admire his magnificence.
Help with identification (Julia?) very welcome.
That’s a darter, anhinga or snakebird depending on what you want to call it, but I like snakebird myself, because they spend a lot of time in the water with just their long, snake-like neck sticking out 🙂
Thanks, I knew I could count on you.:) I like descriptive names, too, so snakebird it definitely is!
Great Pictures!