Waz and I took the silver windscreen covers off this morning ahead of the pending rain storm, and sprayed them with Clear plastic on both side. He had done the one of the port side, but only the back, so it was time to finish the job this morning while there was little wind to blow them away.
We took them over to the cabana closest to us and put them over the picnic tables to spray. They dried quickly in the heat, of course, so we were able to get both sides done at once.
Meanwhile...sitting on the fence waiting...we watched (as is one of our favorite occupations) a small cattle egret 'fishing'. Of course we had to make up a commentary for the spectacle, just because that's what you do...isnt it?:)
All the birds at one time or other, sit (stand?) on the tether ropes from boat to dock. These ropes get taught when the wind pushes the boat back, and slack when they rebound. We watched the bird bending towards the water when the rope was slack, and then straighten up, looking like it was ruffled, when the rope tightened. Just to add insult to this injury, a Bittern decided that must be a good fishing spot, and entered the rope from the Electric box end..i.e. Dock end. The Egret look most affronted and moved in it's direction (I hope you can picture all this!) to warn it off. The Bittern obviously decided it wasnt worth a fight, and hopped onto the dock.
The rope slackened again, and our Egret was back on bended knee, head almost into the water, fishing. He came up with a right wriggler!!! But the fish was wriggling so much he was losing balance on the rope. We willed him to get up onto the dock in order to finish the catch. He must have heard us cajoling him, coz he did just that. The fish continued it's useless fight and down the hatch it went. We love watching the bird's necks when the fish/shrimp go down...these wrigglies keep their wriggling up, and the neck takes on a life of it's own. Usually the birds then have a drink to ease the passage, and go back to looking for more food.
Sorry about the poor quality of the photos...I took these in Florida in February, in low light with my cell phone, but this is exactly what birds all over are doing everyday for their food, and what we observed this morning.
This one got his fish!
Just the prettiest little things. This one wasnt afraid of us, though he watched us carefully as we walked within about 6 feet of him.
We are off to Barnes and Noble Bookshop for a browse of their Atlas section. We want to find a large atlas that we can trace our path on and keep as not only a reference, but as a keepsake. As there is a strong possibility that we will do the Great loop more than once, it will be good to see where we have been each time. Who wants to do the same thing twice? well, when you REALLY look at the map, there are a multitude of possibilities out there that a lifetime will not show you. Twice may only be the beginning of us spending more time in each place, or a variety of places.
Stay with us, and find out:)
Ciao for now.
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