Sending well-wishes and warm weather from the sunny south

Weather is great down here in Sanibel. We must have sent some north as I heard the ice went out of some of the lakes. We’ve only had a couple showers in the two weeks we have been here but it looks like there are going to be some t-storms tonight.

That should knock some birds down. So far most of them have been flying overhead and not stopping.

We did, however, spot a Western Kingbird—a great bird for this area. It has been here for four days now and most of the birders that frequent the Lighthouse at the end of Sanibel have gotten a look at it.

The first time I saw it, it was battling an Eastern Kingbird for some fruit on one of the trees. There were a couple birders looking at it who thought it was a Great Crested Flycatcher. With one look—even without binoculars—I knew that it wasn’t.

I quickly got out my bird book and camera and figured out what it was before taking its picture.

Word quickly spread and everyone who had a cell phone or looked at the bird hotline was on the island looking for it.

Another bird that was seen by many was the Black-whiskered Vireo which moved around the point by the Lighthouse for three or four days.

This is one bird that had eluded me during several trips to Sanibel but I got to see one a couple of times this time.

The Roseate Spoonbills have been on the increase each night at the Ding Darling Preserve. The first night I went in we only saw five do a flyover.

The next time through, just before closing time, we saw nine of them.

Then on Thursday night (4/18) we had 48 on the sandbar by the lookout tower. The noseums were quite bad that night so we didn’t stand around very long taking pictures.

I let a few in the car when I got back in so I could share them with Karen. Luckily they only smart and burn for a short time.

On the beach there have been more gulls, sanderlings and terns then I’ve seen here before. Also, three Snowy Plovers have nested in the mile of beach between us and the Lighthouse.

There have been lots of fishermen and women casting off the beach and fishing pier. Most have been catching something every time out.

A couple of blacktip sharks have been taken right where we swim. I guess they have enough to eat as we never even know they are around until one is caught.

One fella from New Jersey has been catching the most fish both off the beach and while fishing off his Hobie Cat paddle craft.

One day he was just out by the second sandbar and hooked a big fish. He had to cut his anchor rope or the fish was going to tip him over.

It towed him all the way to the Lighthouse, a mile, then back down along the beach past us for another mile.

Then the fish turned out to sea and took him out of sight of land.

He had called his wife and told her not to call the Coast Guard as he was okay, just battling this big fish.

The fish turned out to be a Bull Shark that was longer than the craft he was fishing from. He only had a ten pound test line and a light pole but the shark finally tired out.

He took several pictures with his cell phone before cutting the line and releasing the big fish.

He was out of sight of land and had to paddle for a long time before making it back to the beach with a fish tale to tell.

The husband of a birding friend of mine who was fishing off the pier caught a couple of nice Sea Trout and gave me the fillets.

I took the fillets over to the Lighthouse Restaurant where they cooked it for me for supper and it was great.

There are a couple of restaurants on the island that will do this service for you.

Our license plate search is going well with only five more states to go. On one bike trip we picked up Washington and Wyoming in the same parking lot, then Alaska passed us while we were biking home.

The toughest ones to find in the years we have been doing this have been Hawaii and North Dakota. I can understand Hawaii, but I sometimes wonder if anyone lives or travels from North Dakota.

One more week of beach bum trivia, but that’s another story. See ya.