Wood stork with a fish

This  picture is from last year and it was taken with the iPad so it does not have the clarity and quality of my better camera. But since I was thinking about the anhinga and how it eats, it reminded me of the wood stork because he has a different way of hunting fish. He basically opens the beak and sticks it in the water.  He then moves his head from left to right and back again.  When the nerves in his beak sense  something touching The beak slam shut very very fast and of course whatever he grabbed he pulls out of the water and rearranges it to swallow it with its headfirst down his throat.  A Very interesting thing about the Woodstork is that he breaks the speed record. Scientists say that his reaction time from feeling something touch the inner part of his beak to his beak snapping shut on his “victim” is the fastest neurological action (From the nerve in the beak to the brain and back to close to beak) of any species including man.  Wow!

An anhinga at Myakka River State Park in Florida

 I got my yearly pass for the state parks of Florida, for the second year in a row.  I’ve been spending time in the largest park in Florida called Myakka River State Park. Many beautiful birds like Woodstorks, herons, egrets, limpkins, ibis, cormorants, and much more. The Following pictures are a series of an anhinga catching fish. It’s said that they swim underwater as well as they fly through the air.  They are a “cousin“ of the Comorant that we see further north. When they swim in the water you can’t see anything but their neck sticking up. So locals have called him the snake bird.  The cormorants also swim and catch fish under the water but he has a hook on his bill.   he grabs the fish between his bills holding it in place with that hook. Then anhinga does not have a hook but has a very sharp beak which he runs straight into the side of the fish and spears it with his beak. Then he comes up out of the water and in almost miraculous manner manipulates that fish off of his beak and tosses it into the air and swallows it.  The fish always is swallowed head first down The birds throat. Here are some pictures I took of that very process. I think there are several fish in this series of photos (I took more than 30 of them) one is larger than the others but it is fascinating to watch. I hope you enjoy them.  God bless you all don’t forget to pray for me.

Resurrecting a blog that died in 2014

I can’t believe that I haven’t blog since 2014. And now I am traveling full-time and actually living in my van as I travel. I don’t really live in the van I live out of the van. I spend more time outside the van then in. All that I own on this earth is in this van. I am finding it an interesting and challenging lifestyle especially with my physical limitations. So I’m going to try again to keep up with a blog to let you know where I’m at and what I’m seeing in God‘s beautiful creation. I Feel so much more alive when I’m dealing with God’s creation because I am communicating directly with the creator. I almost can’t believe that he would communicate with a fool like me, but he does. Being outdoors and seeing his creation ( birds, flowers, animals, and the rest) is like medicine to me. I forget about all the negatives, especially the ones I’ve created myself, when I am concentrating on the beauty, Intelligence, Power, and love of God shown through his created world.  so here we go again. If you want off this mailing list simply email me and I’ll drop you. But there are some friends who have requested that I get back to this. And my lifestyle now suits it better than ever, as I am out almost every day enjoying His creation.

At this point I’m back in Florida for the winter. I’ve only been here two days so I’m just getting to be familiar with the place again. I have seen some special friends I haven’t seen since last year, both human and nonhuman. So I’ll share a few pictures with you now and look forward to your comments later.

At this point I am working with only my iPad so my pictures will not be the quality I had in the past. I will be changing that soon, I hope.  I return to my “old stomping ground” behind the Cracker Barrel in Bradington north of Sarasota. And found lots of my old friends including dozens of Muskovy ducks and dozens of White Ibis.

                                                     Muscovy duck

                                                White Ibis