Our time in the south is rapidly drawing to a close. We were lucky enough with the weather to get two more kayak trips in before washing and storing them for the summer. Since it was the weekend, we left at 8 AM both days to beat the crowds, and it really paid off, especially yesterday. We wanted to see if there were any nesting birds left on Bird Island, and we certainly were not disappointed. We could hear the din from far away, and it looked like several of the different juvenile birds were trying out their wings and then flying back to the trees.
We only saw a few roseate spoonbills, but the trees were loaded with brown pelicans, wood storks and surprisingly, frigate birds (also called man o' war birds). Frigate birds spend most of their lives in flight, so this was a fairly rare sighting as they must have made landfall and bred on the island.
There was one frigate bird that seemed to be a loner and chose to sit on a nearby piling, instead of with the rest of the noisy birds in the trees. It was quite content to just stare over at the activity on the island.
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On our return paddle to Sewell's Point Park, we came across a pod of dolphins feeding where the deeper water meets the sandbar, pushing the fish up into the shallows. I didn't take any photos, but it was quite an experience with them everywhere we looked. One went right under my kayak too!
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This morning we took one last trip to Sandsprit Park and paddled Manatee Pocket. Despite the fact that the launch ramp and boat trailer parking lots were full, there weren't that many boats motoring in the harbor. That made for a very pleasant time looking at all the marinas, yachts, houses, and... more dolphins! There were four of them this time, swimming very close to the surface and all of them kept very close together. What a great way to end our winter!
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