Jewels115

This woodpecker took its time checking out the tree before finally deciding on a place to peck. Some things just can’t be rushed.

Came across a few Rosaete Spoonbills at the J.N. Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge off the Indigo Trail. One in particular caught my attention because it was obsessively cleaning its bill. While I only captured little over half a minute on film, the spoonbill cleaned its bill for over 10 minutes.

Alligator crawls out of water to rest on land at the J.N. Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge.

This very vocal little squirrel seemed agitated over something. It was most likely warning other squirrels danger was near. Was I the perceived danger or was it something else?

This is a continuation of the Great Egret on a Perch. The same Great Egret had flown down and stood visible in the vegetation. While being filmed again, it became camera shy and found a good place to hide.

These two vultures were seen resting on a large nest visible from a birding tower located at Tigertail Beach.

These two ducks kept walking together back and forth along this fence. Others in the flock were off to the left, but didn’t join these two.

My new camera can get an even closer view of the moon than I thought. Watch an exploration of the half moon’s surface and its absolutely striking! Enjoy!

At Barefoot Beach on a cold day, there was a small amount of sea foam washing up on the beach caused by the recent red tide flare ups, so I decided to film the shore waves. One wave surprised me by pushing water much further up the beach than the rest.

Beautiful illumination of the waxing crescent moon on 1/19/21 from Southwest Florida. Apologies for the shakiness of the video. It’s very difficult to maintain camera steadiness while zoomed in at 83x.

Great Egret’s, while a wading bird, are commonly seen away from shore. This one was seen on a perch at a farm. It rested there for a while, then flew to the ground.

Believe it or not, this colorful bird is a pigeon, a Nicobar Pigeon. Definitely looks nothing like the pigeons found in cities such as New York and Chicago.

Feeding stingrays shrimp by hand for the first time. Have to say it was a strange feeling as the stingrays grabbed the shrimp.

This little squirrel was moving noisily through the vegetation so I was able get a video as it took care of an itch. Once it spotted me watching, it ran away.

Tigertail Beach on Marco Island is one of Collier County’s best shelling beaches. Here is its shoreline during the later part of the afternoon. It was cool and windy this day, but so beautiful.

Sea Lion’s are adorable and have a tendency to beg for food like dogs. This cute one is braced and ready to catch a fish. The Sea Lion does, like a pro, but then begins fumbling the fish around never quite getting it in the position to eat.

This goat started blowing raspberries at its friend. Maybe it was flirting...

Penguins look so cute when fluttering around in water.

A Gopher Tortoise journeys home to its burrow before sunset at Naples Preserve. This video was taken from the pedestrian boardwalk. Gopher Tortoises are land-dwelling and don’t swim. They are a protected species, thus if you happen to come across one, please do not harass, harm, feed, move or touch them or disturb their burrow.

A living Fighting Conch on a beach in Naples Florida uses its sharp foot to shift and hide under its shell when a woman picks it up. Maybe it was just camera shy.

Living cockles, conchs and other sea life have been seen on shore in Naples Florida since the recent red tide flare up. Here a woman is holding a cockle. It surprises her when it swipes at her hand with its foot. After dropping the cockle she did check to make sure it was ok then left it on the beach. Please note: only take empty shells from the beach, leave the living shells behind.

At Barefoot Beach, this cute raccoon was seen eating atop the trash receptacle by the beach walkway in the parking lot.

For over 15 minutes, I watched this raccoon impressively maneuver through the habitat at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary before it reached the pedestrian boardwalk. At one point, it appears to be stuck not able to proceed on its path, but then discovers the way out is to go high. Finally on the boardwalk, it gave me a quick glance of recognition, then continued on its journey.

A peaceful walk on the 2.5 mile nature boardwalk of the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary can sometimes lead to close encounters with wild animals like this raccoon. What do raccoons do when they need to get past a human? Make themselves taller, by climbing the boardwalk to the railing, cautiously proceed toward human, then scurry past, climb down and continue.

This evening time-lapse was taken at Seagate Beach in Naples, Florida. Watch the beautiful transition from day to night.