For The Birds - Photos From the Big Sit

Just About To Catch The Fish

Sunday's "Big Sit" at the Blue Hole was a success - at least for me. I captured some decent shots of the wildlife, and even spotted a couple of bald eagles, though they were too high to snap. Carlene Edwards, a volunteer from the Key Deer Wildlife Refuge identified them with her binoculars.

The Big Sit is a bird watching event, but not all the animals were avian. Big Pine Key's Blue Hole -- an old rock quarry that has collected a fresh water lens on top of the salt and is now more green than blue -- is home to a 5 1/2 foot alligator, a host of iguanas, some red sliders, a puca, tarpon and some other fish that don't belong there. The tarpon and the 'gator are native.

While I was there on Sunday afternoon, we saw osprey, ablue grey gnatcatcher, an anhingha drying its wings, and more turkey vultures than we could count; though we tried.

On the way home, I saw a flock of ibis in the parking lot at the fish market. They didn't count for the "sit" but they counted for me.

More photos from the day below and even more on Facebook.