Fly by

I've always wanted to capture a moment like this for my blog: Sometimes on patrol at the western tip of the island, dozens of birds of varying species will race along side me on the shore.


Gulls, pelicans, black skimmers, willets, herons, osprey and sanderlings are all plentiful near Ft. Pickens.

I'm still not sure how I managed this shot except that I was using a slow shutter speed just seconds before and then panned this heron as it flew past. It ended up with the heron looking almost transluscent like a watermark.

Ft. Pickens walks

I had not walked into Ft. Pickens national park area since right after Hurricane Gustav blew past us on his way to Louisiana. The first thing I noticed was that Hurricane Ike, on his way to Galveston, had taken out our new Park sign.


The white sand and blue sky was incredibly beautiful.


A stately heron sits atop a large section of asphalt buried in the sand.


Remnants of the old road are all along the shoreline. I don't think this is new damage.


It appears Hurricane Ike unearthed the road destroyed several years ago during Hurricane Ivan.


Hundreds of sea birds were everywhere.


Water so clear that you could easily see fish riding the waves.


The sky on occasion would fill with all types of birds, but this time with pelicans was an extraordinary sight.


What a wonderful day to be on Pensacola Beach.

[Please feel free to click on the photos to enlarge them and get a better flavor of our beautiful beach. You may click on the back-arrow of your browser to return to the post.]

Pelican-back ride

I have to say this is a new one on me. I've heard the term 'piggy-back ride', but never a pelican-back ride!


These two had quite a bro'mance going on.


The pelican would fly off and do his thing when fish started jumping, but once he landed back in the water the gull would come right back and perch on top of him, often standing on the pelican's head while doing a bit of fishing himself.

What a hoot!