Birding and other things

I went birding today, which is so unlike me that people should laugh.  Honestly, who could imagine me wandering around in the wilderness, trying to trophy shoot, albeit with a camera?  Plus, birding is boring!!!  Especially compared to my hobbies of pen and camera collecting.  Seriously, those hobbies are positively high intensity compared to bird watching.

That said, my visit to the Ding Darling Fish and Wildlife Refuge was pretty fun.  I am such a novice, and true birders just laugh at me.  For example, a birder might describe a bird I took a picture like this: "The Roseate Spoonbill is 71–86 cm (28–34 in) long, with a 120–133 cm (47–52 in) wingspan and a body mass of 1.2–1.8 kg (2.6–4.0 lb).^[5] The tarsus measures 9.7–12.4 cm (3.8–4.9 in), the culmen measures 14.5–18 cm (5.7–7.1 in) and the wing measures 32.3–37.5 cm (12.7–14.8 in) and thus the legs, bill, neck and spatulate bill all appear elongated.^[6] Adults have a bare greenish head ("golden buff" when breeding^[7]) and a white neck, back, and breast (with a tuft of pink feathers in the center when breeding), and are otherwise a deep pink. The bill is grey. There is no significant sexual dimorphism."

I would describe it as a pink bird with a bit bill thingy.

That said, I had fun, and I think I actually did pretty well.  I "captured" white Pelicans, the second largest bird in North America--only the California Condor is larger.  I got a twofer with a shot of an osprey chick and some type of a woodpecker.  I think I like the round red leaves of a sea grape and I liked the other tree/plant thing.  But the best shot was of an alligator snoozing in a ditch.  Mind you, this is not in a zoo and there are no fences or anything like that.  Yes, it is good that I can tell that it is an alligator rather than a crocodile but I would rather be able to do that from a bit further away than I was at the time.  The last photo is of a Florida moon that looks pretty much like a moon I might see in Minnesota

I am not going to make to Key West--too much driving time.  I will find another little adventure tomorrow