Sanibel Island Day 5

What a day.  I slipped down to the beach one more time before I went to J N "Ding" Darling
National Wildlife Refuge.  I think I got addicted to gathering shells too.
Some of them are gorgeous.  These are on the beach.  I will have to take a picture of
the ones I picked up.
Woke up to another gorgeous day.  No cloud, blue sky.
The J N "Ding" Darling reserve is closed public on Fridays. That is the drive through
part.  The walking part was open, so I had planned on the drive through on Saturday.
Linda was going to do a craft show, so I was free to check out the reserve.
I arrived about 9:00.  What an adventure.  Let's just say I drove the 4 miles in a bit over 3 hours!
There were plenty of places to stop and observe the wildlife, mainly birds on that day.
There were a lot of people doing the same thing.  Some were birders, others just checking out what
this was all about.  Plus you had your bike riders, who were there for the exercise.
It is one of the best refuges I have seen.  It is on the bay, so there are small islands
that are part of the overall refuge. The tide plays a part in where there are good times to
see the birds.  Sandbars show up, so you can see a lot of the shorebirds.  Except for the
pie-billed grebe's I did not see other ducks.  A lot of the big birds, herons, bald eagles,
egrets, were visible.  You could just stop when and where you liked.

One of the birds everyone was looking for was a white pelican that was not American.
I think they said it was from Africa.  It had shown up last year for several days. Would you believe
I showed up February 1 and again was spotted on the 2nd, but to my knowledge, no one saw it on
the 3rd, the day I was there.  There were a lot of American white pelicans.  Now when I was was
there a lot of them were sleeping. I think she could be hidden,

This a picture of the pelican that had been there on the 1st.
As you can, this one does have a bit of a different look.  She is quite a lot bigger then
the ones we see up North.
I had such a great time.  I sighted for me quite a few different birds.  I still have to
report my list on e-bird yet. Need to get busy.

I stopped in to see the craft show Linda was doing. It was going only until 2:00,
and I wanted to see her work.  This is Linda.  She and a friend have this business together.
The each make different things using all natural materials.  There are some accents, such as
beads, and or ribbon that are added.  I am very impressed with there work.
Lin said they had a pretty good day, so she was pleased.
I help in their profits by purchasing a couple of items.

They use gourds and pine needles.  Linda can etch designs and color them on the gourds.
There are different things in the bottom of the baskets.  The one I purchased had a stone, that looks
blue.  They have a way to weave and sew that is gorgeous.
They have an etsy shop as well.Creations from the Ground Up.

The head of a brown pelican.  Working on my photo skills.

Here we are.  This is the selfie I took!  I may be getting better at this.

It was so fun seeing her and Bob.  As I have always said, sometime a  little

time is better then no time. 

I had to travel to Naples from there.  Did make a stop on the way.

What a beautiful hotel.  Supper was on the beach.  I didn't get there until it

was dark out, but it was still nice to be sitting by the ocean enjoying my meal.

All good.  What an elegant place.

Have great day.  Mine have been beautiful.

Mary