July 01st, 2021

Are you ready for another Photo Safari Report?  Here we go!  

The rainy season was delayed here in Venice, but once it arrived, it came with a vengeance.  I'm not complaining, understand, We need the water, but many of the preserves that Joy and I usually hike are by rivers.  And right now, they are full to over flowing which means flooded trails and loads of mosquitos. Neither of which appealed to us yesterday, so we opted for the Caspersen Beach Hike instead.

It's been awhile since we hiked that particular trail.  It's not literally on the beach, but it's right next door. And in fact, if you follow any of the side trails that go west, you will find your, eventually, on the beach. Never a bad thing.

If you follow the side trails that go east, suddenly you are perched on a "cliff" high above the Intercoastal Water Way.  So unless you have a collapsible boat in your pocket, ala Inspector Gadget, there is only one primary trail in which is the same trail out.  Impossible to get lost.  I like that in a hiking trail.

And that is why I am calling this one Another Caspersen Beach Hike.  It's been at least a year since we hiked this particular trail and so we were curious.  What's new?  What's different?

Well for one thing we saw more cardinals than I think we have ever seen on a single hike.  I very nearly called this the Cardinals Hike but alas, while we saw literal flocks of them, I only captured a few in a manner that was worth sharing.  Mrs. Cardinal was particular elusive.  Camera shy perhaps,  she managed to be partially hidden in every single picture I took.  Clever girl.  

Mr. Cardinal, however, was bolder, braver and well perhaps he likes having his picture taken?

There had been so much rain the night before and we arrived so early that we were able to get a few really nice raindrop photos.   It also means we had damp shoes the entire hike but at no point did we have to wade through water or build "bridges" or double back due to a flooded trail. So we can put up with a little dampness and some sand in our shoes.

There were other birds of course. And I even managed to get photos of a few of them.  Sometimes I am so captivated by what I'm seeing that I forget that I'm standing there holding a camera ........  and then it's gone.  

One of the coolest things we saw had to do with turtles.  Sea turtles I mean.  This is sea turtle nesting season and you can see nesting sites marked all over the beach.  But this time we saw the actual tracks of the mama turtle (unfortunately not the actual creature) as she made her way to the beach and then back out.  So clearly we only missed seeing her by a very short time.

There were also tortoises.  We only saw two yesterday.  The first one we saw just as he was sliding back into his little house.  The other one, just calmly watched us walk by.  It was very clear to him that we did not pose a threat.  Good!

I am happy to say that there were some lovely wildflowers, most of them fragrant, which I love, and many of them being visited by various sorts of insects.

Some of the side trails, that I mentioned are picturesque all on their own.  They look mysterious and compelling and maybe a little magical?

So the only thing left is the rando photo category, which as you all know is my favourite: