April 2010 Florida Trip Photos: Part TWO, (otherwise known as Meet Harry, Herbie and Howie):

As promised, here are more pictures of our Florida trip.

But these are going to be

a

little different.

You see....

we had this cute little "60's" style hotel

that was on a causeway

directly

across the street

from

the ocean and beach.

The hotel was clean, really economical and had a little kitchenette in it.

We were so grateful to have found it, because we ended up staying

in Florida longer than expected.

It had the tiniest pool we had ever seen, right next to the docks on the causeway.

But for me,

it was perfect.

All I needed was to get wet and suntan...

if I wanted to swim, we just crossed the street to the ocean.

But the causeway?

It was amazing.

We saw dolphins swim right next to us!!

and

we saw a MANATEE!

(Dang, they were too quick for me to get a photo of them, though).

But what I am getting to, is that the fisherman on the causeway have practically trained

the tropical birds there to stop by frequently

to look for fish.

Every day, we had tropical birds that landed by this tiny pool

to get a drink of fresh (albeit chlorinated!) water.

Three birds in particular.

Which, forever more...

for us....

will be named HARRY, HERBIE and HOWIE.

I would like to introduce them to you:

 

Don't tell Herbie and Howie, but Harry

the Great Heron

was my FAVORITE!

Here is a shot of Harry (the Great Heron) and Herbie (the large Ibis) just hangin' out at the pool with us!:

(Don't you LOVE Harry's one long black feather that is on the top of his head?)

You see...

up in the U.P.

it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to get this close to a Great Heron

or a blue heron of any kind.

They are wild birds and I am thrilled whenever I can ATTEMPT

to get a shot of either type of heron.

So you can IMAGINE

how thrilled I was to get this close to a Great Heron.

Meet Howie, the smaller Ibis.  Howie was VERY tame (more about this later):

This is Herbie, eating some fish the kind fisherman gave us to feed them:

Harry had quite a personality.

Often, when I was laying out getting a tan..

I SWEAR

he came and mocked me....

by coming beside me and spreading his wings for some sun.....

SEE???

Do you SEE what I mean?:

(A real wiseguy....that Harry!)

But, I forgave him...because just LOOK how pretty he was!:

(I SO wanted to take that ONE head feather!)

Look at his face!:

He was forever primping.  Cleaning his wing feathers.

Look at his wingspan!!!!:

(I was singing: "You're so vain!"...he didn't appreciate my humor)

I have many more pictures of Harry, Herbie and Howie to show you next time.

So that I won't be accused of being partial to Harry

(which I admit, I was)

here is one last shot of

Herbie, the Ibis:

I DID

love Herbie's

fluffy, white tush...

those soft white feathers

that looked like a horse's mane...

Next time, I will tell you about how tame Howie (the small Ibis) was.

How's that about a cliffhanger?