A Little Blue Heron and an Apple Snail

I always get excited to see a new species in the backyard and today we had two! 

First of all, a little blue heron was fishing across the canal.  I have seen them twice in nearby wetlands parks but those sightings were very rare.  So it was delightful to see one right here.  We often have great blue herons, green herons and tricolor herons but not little blues.  This one seemed to be pretty successful grabbing little minnow-sized fish and scarfing them down.  It would be great if he comes back.

Little blue heron scoping out the local fish situation

It looked like there were 2 of them

The other new species to be totally visible in the backyard was an apple snail.  I have seen limpkins with what looked like an apple snail in their beaks though never could confirm it, as well as seeing what probably were apple snails in the water.   And I've seen their eggs attached to the dock posts.   Apple snails, which are about the size of a small apple, are the most favorite food of limpkins.  When the canal water was lowered a few feet today there was a mucky beach that appeared on the edge and that was where the snail was sitting.  Apple snails are basically aquatic but do come out occasionally.  It wasn't trying to get back into the water, just sitting there looking around with what I presume was its head.  Hopefully it went back into the water before a limpkin came by!  Apple snails are actually considered an invasive species here in Florida.  I suspect limpkins are happy that they invaded!

Apple snail surveying the beach

Out adult gallinule was all the way up in the backyard yesterday, scrounging for seeds that the ducks left behind by the ficus bush.  He must have gotten thirsty because he perched on the edge of the white water bowl and drank from it.  They usually just go down to the canal for a drink.

The Muscovy mom and babies came by in the morning yesterday, still numbering 4 babies, and got involved with the big ducks a little.  They were getting picked on so they moved to the bougainvillea and then under the bushes by their pool where I had put food.

A couple of siblings resting after dinner

The kids relax under mom's watchful eye

Today they arrived after the big ducks had eaten which is kind of annoying as we have to feed the big ones again so the babies can eat in peace.  They returned in the early afternoon for another feed.  I'm glad they didn't return at night which is prime cat visit time.  One of the babies actually chased away a mottled duck who got too close to the baby pool where they were eating.  Go baby!
  

The usual other Muscovy boys and girls visited including females Cutie2 and Cutie Tips, Pretty Girl, Blackie2, Chirpie, Smiley, Sweetie and males Blanco, Black Foot, Lazlo and Big Boy and their other friends.  At night there were up to 14 of them.

The pigeon was here in the morning today right in the middle of the big ducks.  I walked not a foot away and he didn't move from the seeds so he appears to have no more fear of me.  Or at least I was not as scary as the seeds were enticing.

The geese have not been visiting for the last few days after several days of daily visits.  Have they again flown off for another vacation somewhere?


There were lots of fish in the canal vying for the bread I was tossing out with a very mossy turtle and a duck also trying to get a share. 

The anhinga has been drying her wings on the dock post daily.  Yesterday she was waving them slowly to encourage them to dry.  At that point it started raining which seriously impacted the process.  Today she was again on her dock post but moved to another one when I went down to feed the fish.  She kept complaining for a while but eventually flew off.  She has been spending almost the whole afternoon there on the dock so she probably was perturbed that I had the nerve to disturb her.

I called this post, so it's mine!

The weather lately has been exceedingly humid and damp, with frequent rain showers.  Even when it's not raining, the humidity is so high that the camera lens fogs up when I go outside and it takes a while to clear.  With all that dampness, a crop of different kinds of mushrooms has been growing in the crevices of the wood on the dock.   Here are a few of the varieties.  I don't see any of the animals eat or disturb them so I don't think I will either.  They were pretty colorful, especially the larger ones that were almost 2 inches across.  The little one had a slender stem and was just an inch in diameter.

A stack of these clung to the side of the dock floor

This one poked right out from between the boards on the dock