Ron in Atlanta Posted April 20, 2018 Report Share Posted April 20, 2018 Towed the boat down to Central Florida last week. Stopped to see Ray and the crew in Ft Pierce for a fix to the rigging tube issue. They are the best! Got me in and out in a short time in the morning and they even washed the boat when they finished! Not only the best boats in the world but best customer service as well. Spent a few days near Lake Wales in the Kissimmee River and Lake Kissimmee. This is home to the endangered Snail Kite, a beautiful bird... We took great care to stay away from the nests so as not to disturb them. Couple of Sandhill Cranes on the river bank. On to Blue Cypress Lake (the headwaters of the St Johns River). Over 500 Osprey live here. Then to Deland and the St Johns River and side creeks... Little Blue Heron, white phase, just starting to turn adult blue. Here is the result on his older buddy... Green Heron Red Shoulder Hawk and the usual Florida welcoming committee. A great trip, a great state. Gotta move there one of these days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imsnookyrd Posted April 20, 2018 Report Share Posted April 20, 2018 Phantastic Photos as usual Ron, I always enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffD Posted April 20, 2018 Report Share Posted April 20, 2018 Always look forward to your pics!!! Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Posted April 21, 2018 Report Share Posted April 21, 2018 I don't know how you get those shots.. Just amazing clarity and color.. I drove to Naples last weekend, and I saw 5 Snail Kites along Alligator Alley working the canal edge. Just one male.. I was glad to see them all, as they have it rough with water quality. No Swallow Tailed Kites tho.. Thanks again, Ron ! Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bernieNC Posted April 21, 2018 Report Share Posted April 21, 2018 What did the rigging tube issue end up being? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron in Atlanta Posted April 22, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2018 11 hours ago, Moderator said: I don't know how you get those shots.. Just amazing clarity and color.. I drove to Naples last weekend, and I saw 5 Snail Kites along Alligator Alley working the canal edge. Just one male.. I was glad to see them all, as they have it rough with water quality. No Swallow Tailed Kites tho.. Thanks again, Ron ! Marc 11 hours ago, bernieNC said: What did the rigging tube issue end up being? The Snail Kites are doing OK. They had problems a few years ago, their food supply, the Apple Snails were disappearing being replaced by an invasive species snail, the Island Apple Snail. The Island Apple Snail is much larger than the native Apple Snail and the Snail Kites have learned to eat them, successive generations even developed a longer beak to extract the larger snail from its shell. They have also moved north from the Everglades to where these new snails have invaded the wetlands. Lake Tohopekaliga and Lake Kissemmi are seeing growing populations. You are right also about the water quality and human activities having a negative effect on these birds. We did see a dozen or so Swallow Tail Kites scattered throughout our trip, from Florida Bay to Blue Cypress Lake to above the Fla Turnpike. The rigging tube was declared too long and replaced with a new, shorter rigging tube. Truthfully, it looks like the splash well is just not big enough, fore and aft, for the tube to fit when the engine is tilted all the way up but that is a much bigger fix. They also cut some holes and installed short tubes to allow stubborn areas of the bilge to drain into the main bilge. Thanks for your interest guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanaflatsfish Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 Great stuff as always Ron....keep'm coming...I've been off the Nikon for too long...but, I"ll be back on it. dc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishmanjj Posted April 25, 2018 Report Share Posted April 25, 2018 Awesome pics Ron !!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonV Posted April 25, 2018 Report Share Posted April 25, 2018 WOW, great pictures! The Little Blue and the Green Heron were really nice, really nice! There are a couple Green Herons that seem to like my boat lift and they are just amazing when the sun reflects off their backs and they stretch their necks out as shown in your photo. Thanks Ron!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubble Posted April 25, 2018 Report Share Posted April 25, 2018 Ron I’ve spent a lot of time in Lake Wales. It was kind of a second home for a while. Very familiar with K River Park. We stay on Tiger Lake at Bud’s RV Park. Great Park with Great people. After many years we finally learned how to fish Tiger. We always ran to The big lake thru Tiger Creek and would blow by the canal to KRPark. Lots of birds in the Creek. Even more in the creek from Rosalie to Tiger. Very shallow in spots but we made it all the way thru that creek in the 2000v. If you ever want to fish Tiger I can help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron in Atlanta Posted April 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2018 9 hours ago, DonV said: WOW, great pictures! The Little Blue and the Green Heron were really nice, really nice! There are a couple Green Herons that seem to like my boat lift and they are just amazing when the sun reflects off their backs and they stretch their necks out as shown in your photo. Thanks Ron!!! Glad you like the Green Herons, you're right, great color. They are also great Moms, here is Mom Green Heron with her chicks... They tend to catch tiny fish, so they need to feed the kids a lot of them... See you out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueMojito Posted May 24, 2018 Report Share Posted May 24, 2018 A bit late to the party, but you have some serious talent, my friend. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCFD rtrd. Posted May 24, 2018 Report Share Posted May 24, 2018 Ron, it's been too long since you posted photos. Great work. On a side note, we've lived in the same lake front house for 35 years and never saw a Kite type bird until recently. We've had a, what I assume now to be a Shallow Tail Kite around our house or about a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron in Atlanta Posted May 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2018 36 minutes ago, SCFD rtrd. said: We've had a, what I assume now to be a Shallow Tail Kite around our house or about a year. Swallow Tails are very distinctive birds. White with black trailing edges of wings and tail. Split tail, very good flyers. Try and get a photograph of one! Good luck . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishmanjj Posted May 25, 2018 Report Share Posted May 25, 2018 Great work Ron ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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