Hallowe'en

BOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I decided what would be more appropriate than GHOSTS on Halloween. Imagine my surprise when I went to dictionary.com and typed in Halloween and it said NOT.


Seems the correct spelling is Hallowe'en and I lived 65 years and never knew that fact. Plus a few more facts I don't know, I am sure.


If you want to know where, why and when and how on Hallowe'en, just click on THIS LINK and it will take you to more than you ever want to know.

Per Wikipedia, the whole thing started in 7th century, as an All Saints Day to remember the Saints, Hallow means make holy or sanctify, Eve means of course evening. A day was set aside to remember them. The origin of the festival of All Saints as celebrated in the West dates to May 13, 609 or 610, when Pope Boniface IV

In the 9th century our ancestors started changing things and over the century's since then it has been All Souls Day, Day of the Dead and many other creative names. the ghost part comes in when they called it the day of Veneration of the Dead. which means a day of respect for the dead that have gone before us.

Somewhere along the thousands of years, we came up with what we have now and i don't even want to go there. what once was is no more, Look what we have done to Christmas and Valentines day. Commercialism at its worst.

This is my post on Halloween and I am sticking to it. My Ghost's are all FRIENDLY.

The Point IS, this started out as a Christian Holiday and I am going with that fact.

Have a BOOOOO ti FUL day......

Abundance of Egrets!

An egret is any of several herons, most of which are white or buff, and several of which develop fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Wikipedia
Egrets are very much a known prescence here in Bradenton. They are as common as the Ibis and can even be seen in yards sometimes and parking lots of restaurants. Most of them stay close to the water. Above photo was taken at the Yacht Club that is in the front door of our City Hall.

they love to strut their stuff at the beaches.

Use what talents you possess

“Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.”

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.”Henry VanDyke”

Waiting for fish from the fisherman on the dock at Fort Desoto Beach

Call this one Courtship of the Egrets, or Dancing with Egrets on Longboat Key.

Posing for my camera at Jungle Gardens.

6 AM on Anna Maria Island, not enough light, but you can see there were flocks of them, we estimated over 100 Egrets, hundreds of gulls and pelicans, all in one place fishing. I regretted it was to dark to document.

Egret with attitude

Egrets are waders and fishers

God loved the birds and invented trees, man loved the bird and invented cages. Jacques Deval

these Beautiful Birds almost made the extinct list. In the 19th and early part of the 20th century, some of the world's egret species were endangered by relentless hunting, since hat makers in Europe and the United States demanded massive numbers of egret plumes and breeding birds were killed in locations all around the world.

Ibis

For years we watched these birds as they wandered through our front yard, picking at the ground. sometime 3 sometimes a flock of 20. At certain times of the year they can be found in just about any neighborhood.

Until I became addicted to my camera click, I had no idea what they were. my friend Diane, told me they are Ibis.

On one of our photo trips at Emerson Preserve, these birds were sitting in a dead tree and she said, that is an Ibis. I said get real, you said the white bird with the ugly beak was Ibis. Her reply, was this is a juvenile Ibis.

I said, you mean like in delinquent? are they bad? The answer is they are this color when they are young. In my googleing I found they come in several colors. These are the ones we see the most in our part of Florida.

there are Scarlet, Sacred, American, Australian, Black, Strawnecked, Glossy and even a Northern Bald Ibis. None of which I have seen. I would love to see the red one.

these are American White Ibis and very common in Florida. here is a bit of trivia on the White Ibis that I found on wikipedia

The mascot of the University of Miami is an American White Ibis. The ibis was selected as the school mascot because of its legendary bravery during hurricanes. The ibis is the last sign of wildlife to take shelter before a hurricane hits and the first to reappear once the storm has passed. Miami's sports teams are nicknamed "The Hurricanes".[7]

Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover

Birds are attractive to us because, like humans, they are visually oriented, vocal, and exhibit lots of intriguing behaviors. Bizarre Beach Bird Behaviorby Dave Grant
More Birds, Just for Ginny

this is the funniest bird I have ever seen and I have no idea what kind of bird this is, but there were several hundred of them on the beach at Lido Key. Proof, not all birds are beautiful. But they were really funny to watch. they talked to each other and chased and fluttered, quite a show, and all for Free.
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To see how NOT pretty the Stork is, click on the photo. Stork is on the left. The not so pretty little one is and Ibus. We will have a post on Ibus soon.

You know I love the pelican because he is not pretty, i thought this was hilarious.

Common Moorhen, nice colors, but not really PRETTY

UPDATE: this is NOT an Anhinga, it is a Cormorant, Cormorants and shags are medium-to-large seabirds.

All are fish-eaters, dining on small eels, fish, and even water snakes. They dive from the surface, though many species make a characteristic half-jump as they dive, presumably to give themselves a more streamlined entry into the water.
After fishing, cormorants go ashore, and are frequently seen holding their wings out in the sun. All cormorants have preen gland secretions that are used ostensibly to keep the feathers waterproof. Some

Anhingas are definitely NOT pretty, close to Ugly. but so much fun to watch when they dive. Or when the spread their wings to dry off.

I leave you with my mothers advice to me

Beauty is only skin deep.Beauty is from the heart, Pretty Is, Is Pretty

does......

Osprey @ Coquina Bayside

All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all. Alexander

On December 21, 2007, my friend Diane and I, had plans for a morning sunrise. The sunrise that morning was not spectacular, but the rest of the morning show was.

As we stood on the bank and watched for the sun, we saw many sail boats with anchors down for the night. In the peaceful scene the squealing cry of two osprey, male and female, soared and soared, music to our ears. At first we could not see them, but as the sun rose higher in the sky, we spied them on a mast, one on each boat.

We quietly waited and listened to see what they would do. Ospreys hover over the water, plunging feet first when they spot prey. They fly with slow wing-beats interspersed with glides. Ospreys form pair bonds through aerial flight displays and courtship feeding.

This male osprey lifted off into the air and we watched as he sank towards the water with talons outstretched, scooped up the fish and to our amazement flew to the top of the light pole we were standing under.

we watched through our cameras for many minutes, snapping and clicking. He ignored us completely as we moved from side to side looking for the best shot. Several times, he stopped eating and looked down at us as if to say, What? you've never seen an Osprey eat before? the answer was NO, never before and never since.

Ospreys live near rivers, estuaries, salt marshes, lakes, reservoirs, and other large bodies of water. They are rare along rivers in the shrub-steppe zone, as they prefer water surrounded by forested habitat. They can be found near fresh or salt water, as long as the water can sustain medium-sized fish.

The Osprey is a unique bird, the only member of its genus. It is believed that Ospreys followed a different evolutionary path quite early on, so that they are quite different from other raptors.

The osprey's family habits are also colorful and interesting. They generally pair for life and reuse old nests, adding new material each season. Their nests, in high, dead trees or on man-made elevated platforms, can weigh hundreds of pounds and are easily observed. Osprey refurbish their nests annually with grass, lichens, and sticks

The osprey is the only species in the family Pandionidae, which is sometimes considered a subfamily of the hawk and eagle family

Click on the video below to hear what we heard as we waited for sunrise and don't miss the detail of this awesome bird, click on the photos.

Job 37:14 says

"Stand Still and consider the wondrous works of God."

Growing Guacamole

Great Things Come in Small Packages

No Tree Pictures Today!

Eight years ago, my husband ate an Avocado that someone gave him. He took the seed that looked like the above, and stuck it in the ground where the air conditioner dumps its water. In a few days, there was a sprout.

Eight years later, we have fruit that looks like this. Last week, the winds were blowing to 25 knots, and in one day 8 of the avocados fell to the ground. We gave a couple away, and the rest were in the fruit bowl waiting for bob to eat them. I can not stand the taste, he loves them. the dogs eat them when they fall to the ground and get sick. but that is another story.

this is a small one about the size of a pickle that a squirrel knocked down, the dogs love this size if we don't find them first.

today, one of the ones that fell a week ago, turned brown and Bob opened it and this is what we found.

It had started to sprout inside the fruit, no need to plead with it to grow, it is ready NOW.

From this small and ugly little seed will come a tree 40 to 50 feet tall and hundreds of fruit thus piles of Guacamole

I took the photo because it is a fascinating ugly little thing and called out to my camera.
I found this little short movie on growing Guacamole fruit, if you have a minute watch it, if not and don't care. just shut this post down and have a wonderful day.