An afternoon on the beach

From there, a quick stop for a much-appreciated Diet Coke, and then over to the beach.  It was absolutely gorgeous, and it felt great to sit on some driftwood for a while and just enjoy being at the ocean.  And we weren't the only ones to feel that way - check these guys out!

Hey guys, there's room for one more, right?  Right there in the middle?

wood stork

 Snowy egrets playing follow-the-leader.  They also played hopscotch.  It was such a treat to watch them in a group!

snowy egret

 That island is just covered in pelicans.  They had a one-in-one-out policy, like I try to have in my shoe collection but seldom achieve.

brown pelican, great egret, wood stork

 I kept trying to make all of the herons into tricolored, but this one stubbornly refused.

great blue heron

 Their beaks are really down in there, and so open!

wood stork

 We left the beach and headed to a river, because I had mentioned wanting to see a tiger heron.  I mean, I wouldn't say it's a ~goal~ to see one, but when someone asks, a tiger heron seem like a good thing to say.  I also said harpy eagle but Ersel just laughed at that one.  :-)  Actually he said next time we'd plan things differently and try to find me one, which made me laugh!  Anyway, we went to a spot where they launch the river boats for people wanting to see crocodiles.  It was beautiful and we saw a lot.

Okay, even stilts occasionally look a little goofy.

black-necked stilt

 Osprey!

osprey

 Tiger heron!  It was quite far away, this was taken through Ersel's scope (by Ersel, who does this every day and did a ~much~ better job than I did) on my phone. Thanks Ersel, I love this guy!

tiger heron

 This guy was hilarious to watch.  Look at that beak!  There was also a purple gallinule there and some sort of rail that I was happy about seeing but I don't remember what it was.  The whole day was packed, and we headed back to our hotel tired and happy.

whimberel