February 26th, 2020

I cannot remember the name of this bird. (all 3 photos are the same bird)  I thought it was a kind of commorant, but on the way out, we noticed a sign with pictures and names of the local area birds and this one had a different name.  Something long and multisyllabic and I cannot for the life of me recall what it was.  But whoever he is, he really thought he was Mr. Big.  Lots of attitude there.  Birdittude I suppose.

Over this past weekend, after running other errands and getting stuff done all day, Tim and I wanted to step away for a little bit but we didn't want to go far. Too tired!  So instead of researching to find some place we'd never been, we returned to the Rookery right here in Venice.  It's off island but not far.

I have visited before with Joy but it was Tim's first time there.   And he was pleasantly surprised.  There was far more to see and be entertained by than a person might expect.

It's a pond with an island in the middle and a path all the way 'round.    Some people just sit under the covered area and watch the show, but we opted to walk the path, of course.  We saw all sorts of birds and birds and other birds.  Which stands to reason, it's a Rookery after all.  And as I've said before, I do not know my birds so while I enjoy them, I honestly don't know what I'm looking at half the time.

But we didn't only see birds. We saw other stuff too.  Like flowers and greenery and water and pretty leaves and well all sorts of  stuff:

At one point, we were just standing quietly at the water's edge peering out to see what there was to see and this little head pops up out of the water and immediately submerges again.  Tim and I both jumped and looked at each other, "What the heck was that?"  I raised my camera and got it ready and the head popped up for just a split second again.  (the photo is bit blurry because I didn't have time to close focus)

What do you think?  Otter maybe?  

The walk kind of energized us so when we left, we were not ready to go home yet.  Instead we first drove to the jetty to see what there was to see there.  The water was very calm even though it was kind of breezy out.  We fully expected some serious waves.  We were wrong.  But, no matter, the ocean is always beautiful.

So that was that!  Being outside, no matter the weather, regardless of the temperature, even if there is nothing really going on, is always my favourite place to be.  Which means you guys are stuck looking at these photos.

​Maybe I should apologize?