What a Day for a Daydream (SONG)
Oh, I told you all that we were going to have a nice weather week...and boy have we! Daytime temps in the low 70's, nighttime temps in upper 50's. A little bit of fog to start the day (not FOG like I knew when I was a kid!), but by noon the sun is shinning, the birds are singing, and Indy and I are out and about enjoying it all.
This tour boat, above, is the Sponge-O-Rama's Dolphin Cruise Lines. From $15 to $30 they will take you out, try and find some wildlife which includes Dolphins, Manatees, Whales (rare), Birds and such. The more expensive cruise is the sunset cruise. No sunset or animals guarantee, but they are sure to inform you of the local sponge business, the various islands, and I think they stop at an island for a short time period. There are other cruises that not only explain the sponge business, but they will have a diver go down and pull a sponge up onto the boat...problem is, it is one that has already been caught, cleaned, and used for this "EXHIBIT" cruise, because everyone would probably loose their lunch if they pulled up a real, smelly, living sponge.
A bit of fog along the Gulf of America (above), the Anclote River facing east (below). The river is essentially the Northern Boundary of Tarpon Springs, though the city limits extends just beyond it. Holiday, an unincorporated city, is just north of Tarpon Springs, and that is where we live. We live in Paco County, Tarpon Springs is in Pinellas County...the River is only 29 miles in length, and most of it is in Pasco County...now you know the logistics of it all.
The rest of today's blog will be some pictures of birds, starting with Eagles, then Ospreys, then other birds.
EAGLES
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| (This is a new nest I have found, but will be harder to get pics of) |
OSPREYS
OTHER BIRDS
LOVE those bird pics, and especially the eagles and ospreys!!! I've never EVER seen a live sponge. Interesting that they are stinky!
ReplyDeleteThe Greek Community exists here due to the Sponges. Marcia's biological father was a sponger, as they call them. The "living organism" which is found within the sponge dies, and stinks like hell. They have to beat the sponge to break up the living, now dead, organism, and rinse and repeat over and over and over again until they once living organism found within it is gone. When you walk along the docks, you can see them doing this, but it is in the final stages and the smell is pretty much gone. They have a sponge exchange at the docks where they sell the sponges. The docks remind me of a smaller version of the tourist area of Pier 39 and the Embarcadero / Fisherman's Wharf area of San Francisco.
DeleteGreat photos!
ReplyDeleteThanks Karen
DeleteThat information about the sponges wasn't explained to us.
ReplyDeleteWe did the boat tour back in 13. the temperatures dropped while we were on the Island. We ended up sick for a week.
Great pictures of the Birds. Ospreys like to use Light Standards in parking lots to make their nests.
Be Safe and Enjoy the Spring weather.
It's about time.
Yes, humans have put platforms on top of some lights which Osprey use to make their nests.
DeleteLove your eagle and osprey pictures! Well, all of them actually. That boat tour sounds interesting. Thanks by the way, now I have that song stuck in my head!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Florida!
DeleteMajestic birds. Great shots.
ReplyDeleteThank you Phillis...and NO AI PHOTO ADJUSTMENT (but I do use photoshop to make slight adjustments from time to time...)
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