Fresh Eel Dinner
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.

Ok, let’s get back to some wildlife instead of flowers. I have a lot of images from the 22nd and a few of our walks that I haven’t had time to go through yet…time to get to it.

A beautiful great white egret (Ardea alba) with a fresh catch of a young eel common in the Mystic River estuary. This fellow provided my son and I with a good half hour of enjoyable watching as he repeatedly (and patiently) struck for fish, frogs and shrimp. Catching this eel he took off for a "sandbar" in the estuary to eat and then continue fishing. This is CRW_9996, one of him in flight is CRW_0001 (Rolled it over!) after rolling over 10,000 images!).

In the Nature & Wildlife set I have put the photos in the actual order taken instead of order uploaded.

In other news the entire family had a blast at the Seaport’s 75th Anniversary and it’s 2nd Annual Mystic Community Picnic. They opened up the Seaport to the local community (and anyone who happened to just be in town..) for free from 4pm to 9pm. A great boon to us as we have yet to get a Seaport membership. There were activities for the kids on the green, different bands playing period or sea related music, free rides on the Sabino and of course the picnic itself — bring your own or buy from an assortment of clam shack and bbq offerings. Although it finally rained during the event, it didn’t dampen spirits, especially as it was a light rain that spurted on and off for about an hour only. More later… but it was a great time for all.

Rolled it over!
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.

This is picture 10,000 on my EOS10D! Actually it’s a 100% crop into that image. Of course it figures it would be an image like this. I was tracking this beautiful Great Egret (Ardea albus) flying along the estuary with an eel in it’s beak. Unfortunately as I snapped this shot I tracked right into a bush in between us. Oh,well… there are other shots of this series to be posted soon. Still a keeper if for nothing else than the fact it’s number 10,000. Come to think of it, we have only put 1,500 miles on the car in the same two years! Maybe I should trade in the car for some new lenses and a GPS…I’d get more use out of them than the car! If puplic transportation here was like it is in most of Europe I’d be able to do it in a heartbeat, but as it is I think my wife would object.