Wilderness

 Bill land I had to go to a doctor's appointment in St Augustine and on the way saw this flash of pink in the trees in this retention pond.  The level is up by 10' at least due to the wonderful seasonal rains we have been experiencing every afternoon.

 This is a grove of cypress trees and there was definitely pink in the trees!

We drove past the mystery and went to the doctors where they apologized for the goof in scheduling and informed us that we have to come back on Monday as the doctor wasn't in the office.  

We headed right back to the pond to do some investigating!

We thought at first they were flamingos!  But they are not. 

 Aren't they beautiful, though?!  They are Roseate Spoonbills and like the flamingos get their pink coloring from eating the crustaceans that eat the algae that gives them their beautiful coloring!  A flock of spoonbills is called a bowl of spoonbills!  There is your fun-fact for the day!

They were tall birds but not as tall as the Sandhill Cranes we have in the yard.

 Here was another guy in the crowd-he is a Woodstork and another first bird sighting for us.

 And there were lots of these pairs of American Black Ducks .  We didn't have anything to offer them in the way of crackers, etc, and they did expect it as the ducks came right toward us for feed!  What a nice wilderness expedition right in the middle of these buildings!

Afterwards, we drove south to Crescent Beach and took a nice walk on the beach until the rain chased us back to the car. So we drove back to SouthBeachGrill and had a lovely early supper!  What a gift of a day!