Feeding at Ding

Snowy Egret

White Ibis

Our Corgis, Phoebe on left, Abby on right.

Here are some more shots I took at Ding Darling NWR. The Snowy Egret looks like its walking on water and has angel wings. This was part of a feeding frenzy in a ditch, where so many snowies were dragging their feet and dipping their heads and coming up with tiny fish, as you can see this one has in its bill. I have so many photos from this event. You just never know, when you drive through Ding, what exciting photo ops you will come across. We came across this type of feeding frenzy twice during our stay.

The second photo is of two White Ibis, one with a food item, the other wanting to grab it. White Ibis feed by probing their long down-curved pink bills into the muck and getting aquatic animals. Most of what we saw at Ding was feeding behavior of birds. When one White Ibis has food, it may be fair game for another ibis to try and grab it, or a gull to lurk nearby and snatch something from it.

The third photo is of our Pembroke Welsh Corgis, riding quietly in their crates, which were complete with cushy mats, water dishes, chewies, cookies and toys. Sometimes we would lift the tailgate and let them watch us birding. Passersby would comment on what nice Corgis we had, saying "they probably never bark, do they?" And we would reply "nope."

(If you are a Corgi owner reading this, you know what a lie that is, although wonderfully, they are quiet in their crates, but not when they are out of them.)