Feb. 27, 2022 - Sanibel - Misc. Photos

One foggy morning during our trip to Sanibel Island, Florida, I stopped along the wildlife drive at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. Imagine my surprise at seeing a Flamingo in one of the pools. It turned out to be a decoy, used by a team of bird banders attempting to capture Little Blue Herons. They stretched a net above the water near the decoy to capture the birds as they flew in.

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Here’s the first Little Blue Heron they caught that day. They are putting it in a cloth sack to hold it while they take measurements of the bird and record them.

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The bird is ready to be released. Notice the very thin wire sticking out behind its tail. That is the antenna for the tracking device attached to the bird’s back.

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This bird was not a happy camper and was determined to leave an impression on the bander.

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I found this spikey plant at the Bailey Tract on Sanibel Island. When I submitted a photo of it to a plant identification site, they told me it is Gray Nickerbean.

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I was talking with a volunteer on the boardwalk at Corkscrew Swamp when we spotted this snake. She identified it as a Florida Banded Water Snake.

To see all my photos from our Sanibel trip, here’s a link to my TRIPS galleries. https://www.earlorfphotos.com/Trips

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