Rosie Pays Us a Visit

Thursday, 3 December 2015
Gulf Waters RV Resort — Port Aransas, Texas
Temps: Hi 62F (17C) / Lo 53F (12C)

After a week of mostly overcast weather, the sun finally came out today.  Nice to have bright sunshine and blue skies even if the temps are on the coolish side.  Normally we go for our beach walk first thing in the morning, but I waited for the temp to reach the day’s high before going out … Mui was excused to work on a project in the coach, but more on that later.

Anyway, I had just returned to the pad after my walk when what should I see across the pond but a roseate spoonbill.  Granted, its coloring was rather pale — a juvenile would be my guess ... but it was a roseate nonetheless.  The bird was inching its way along the edge of the pond, its bill constantly sweeping below the surface of the water for a tasty tidbit or two.

I’ve seen roseates at wildlife refuges before, but this is the first one that has come visiting here — on our first fully sunny day in a while, too.  So, I grabbed the camera, moved stealthily to the front of the pad, sat down on the grass, and started clicking the shutter.

I was rewarded for sitting still … it helped that the Fuji X-T10 has a near-silent shutter … a nice change from my DSLR, which can sound like a machine gun when shooting in burst mode.  The bird approached closer and closer, stopped to check me out, and deeming me non-threatening, foraged right in front of me for a bit before continuing on its way around the pond.

I love close encounters of the wildlife kind — anytime … anywhere.  But especially when they just go about their business like I don’t even exist.

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