Sakura Matsuri 2018

Farewell!

A week well-spent.

Special Effects

I'd never seen this bird before -- a lovely deep, dusky indigo songbird. (I've done my best to normalize the colors before posting, but unfortunately, I shot it in "vivid" mode so the colors are inaccurate.)

Eastern Grosbeak

Here I tried to capture the luminescence of moon behind clouds, an effect I seem to recall seeing in some Asian pottery:

moon in clouds

The frog was very patient for its close-up, but was curiously difficult to capture in the available light:

frog at night

Postcards from Paradise

 

strutting down the branch

 

heron, stalking

Moorhen

gator in log pose

 

gator in C-pose

 

osprey

 

We'd never seen an anhinga nesting before; the blue around the eyes is very striking.  I assume it's special breeding plumage.

female anhinga, nesting

gator tracks

We saw a water snake among the mangrove roots; first swimming, then making its way on the mud in a curiously tentative approach.

 

orbital spider

reddish egret

 

pelican

 

 

  

great blue heron

Last night, we saw a civilian boat surrounded by fire and police boats.  It was a little hard to tell in the gloaming, but the roof looked a bit scorched to me. It was still there this morning, so I went gawking.

A Wreck, But Not of the Hesperus

 

at least it's pelicans overhead, rather than vultures...

starfish and shadow