Colder and stormy weather at the beach - January 8-14

On Monday we had a round of golf booked at Heritage.  It was a colder day so we dressed accordingly.  We stopped at Huntington for a quick 45 minute visit and enjoyed seeing a few birds.  What amazed me the most was this Osprey that flew overhead and he kept hovering above us like he was watching what we were doing.  It was the perfect opportunity to take a picture.

There was a female Merganser with a juvenile swimming around which was enjoyable to watch as well.  Because of the temperature, a lot of the birds were hiding or found a place to keep warm.  We did enjoy seeing a few more.  One of my favourites was the Red Bellied Woodpecker.

On Tuesday we were hit with all kinds of weather.  High wind alerts, tornado watches, severe thunderstorms and flooding all throughout the day.  The wind was so strong that it started to cause our sliding door to open so we had to keep it locked. It was a good day for book reading. I did get a short walk in, first thing in the morning and was amazed at the number of pelicans that I saw fly by.  I counted over 150 and I'm sure that I missed a lot.  It was amazing to see.  I did however, get caught in the rain as I misjudged my distance and how quickly the storm was rolling in.

The sun came out on Wednesday but the temperature was still a little cool.  I went for my morning walk and this time I took my camera.  Wouldn't you know it, not one pelican flew by.  I did however see a starfish on the beach and expected to see more shells but there certainly wasn't many that were deposited by the high waves.  Oh well, we have lots of days to go shelling.

Thursday we went to Huntington Beach to enjoy the birds again.  While it's not particularly busy with birds, we always see something which is fun.  

Friday we went golfing at Aberdeen with Lawrence and Teresa.  The course was really wet from the rain and our round was very slow (5 hours).  Oh well, it's still nice to get out into the fresh air.  On Saturday morning I went for a walk and I found 14 sea urchins which were washed up on shore.  That was pretty cool.  I spent some time during the day getting them ready and let them dry outside over night.

John and Grace arrived as did Liz who was visiting with Harry and Marian.  It was nice to see them all make it here safely.  We enjoyed a nice dinner with John and Grace and Lawrence and Teresa on Saturday evening and had coffee and a nice get together on Sunday with everyone.  In between sermons Ralph and I went to check on the eagles and to see how they were doing.  To our delight we were able to capture a picture of one of the eaglets (I think there might be two).  We saw a beautiful red tailed hawk and some ibis as well.

See the little head popping up.  Estimated age is just under two weeks.  

All in all it was a really fun week.

A New Year 2024

It's a New Year. Welcome to 2024. We enjoyed watching some Fireworks outside of the condo during the evening hours. There was a lot to see up and down the beach although it was really chilly. I hope that 2024 will see us and our family and friends enjoying good health, peace and love. 

On Monday morning, I woke up as the sun had already started to rise.  I guess that happens when you stay up late the night before.  It was an amazing sunrise and I was running around the condo trying to get my camera set up on the tripod, changing lenses etc.  That's me. Ralph is always teasing saying I'm stressing about getting the shot.  But it was so pretty.  In the end I had two camera's going.  Mine and his.   It really was beautiful with all the colours and clouds.  Did I ever tell you how much I love clouds?  I think I got this from my Mom.  It's usually one of the first things we talk about when we are on the phone or in person.  

We booked our first round of golf for the year at River Club.  The temperature was forecasted to be around 14c but ended up being much warmer.  It was a lovely afternoon and the perfect day to get started again with swinging the clubs.  We golfed with two singles (Josh and Jim).  It was nice to meet them.  

We decided to go back to Oyster Bay on Tuesday morning to see if there was any activity at the eagles nest.  They seem to be sitting a little higher in the nest but it's hard to tell. The morning was really cold and windy so there wasn't very much bird activity today.

Heron

Northern Mockingbird

Ibis

Eagle sitting on the nest

In the evening we welcomed Lawrence, Teresa, Harry and Marian to Myrtle Beach.  We enjoyed a nice dinner together.  We ordered some pre-made meatloaf from Fresh Market and it was very delicious.The butcher was really nice and made two different ones to accommodate food allergies.  We had a pork with all the spices and bread crumbs and a beef with all the spices minus the bread crumbs (making it gluten free).  We both were very good.

On Wednesday we were off again to Huntington.  It was nice to see that the eagles there were active.  We saw them flying around at least 4 times.  The osprey are also around again this year.  So far we have counted 3.  Today we didn't see the spoonbill but the snow goose was still there.  Someone reported seeing a 2nd snow goose which was nice to hear.

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Great Blue Heron

Merganser

Little Blue Heron

Bald Eagle

Great Egret

Mergansers

Tri-colour Heron and Snowy Egret

Little Blue Heron

Eagle - off to get nesting material

Snow goose

Osprey

The weather turned a little cooler and more windy on Thursday.  We went golfing at Oyster Bay with Lawrence and Teresa.  This is the first time that we have played this course.  It sure is pretty.  Because of the wind and temperature, there was very few birds out and the eagle was sitting on the nest trying to keep the egg's or eaglets warm.  It was a fun round of golf and we'll definitely be back to play this course again.  We were surprised to see a gator on the course as they usually aren't out this early in the year.

Eagle on the nest

Merganser in flight

Bufflehead - very interesting colours

We spent the day on Friday doing some grocery shopping and relaxing at the condo.  It was a great day to read and enjoy the day.

Saturday brought rain for most of the morning although I was able to get out for a walk in-between the down pours.  The afternoon cleared up nicely and I was out walking the beach again this time with the intent of finding some shells or sharks teether.  I found some shells and a few of them are really nice.   

Canon Ball jelly fish

Brave surfer - the water is pretty chilly.

So happy with these beauties

Small crab

Today is a day of rest.  We went to Faith Presbyterian for the morning service and watched our home church service on line this afternoon,  We had two really good sermons and feel really blessed to have willing preachers who are coming to our church during our vacancy and also we are really happy that Pastor John Irwin is still preaching at Faith.  

In the afternoon I went out for a walk looking for a few shells and also took my camera out with me as it was so fun to watch the Sanderlings running along the shoreline.  Last year we didn't see that many.

Sanderlings

Pigeon

It was a great week.  We also heard that Hailey and Jordan's flights are booked and they will be visiting with us between February 17-25.  We're really looking forward to the visit.