Last week I spent 4 days in Florence, Alabama (next door to Muscle Shoals) and then 2 days in Birmingham. Consistently met wonderful people throughout my travels. Got back to Pensacola late yesterday afternoon and captured some photos just before sunset. According to my 4-year old [Canadian] “niece” in Walnut Creek, California, this blue heron’s name is “Six-Six”. I assume she saw the stick-like legs and altered the pronunciation a little.
Unrelated: Check out the real estate listings in Florence. I stayed in an AirBnb in a well appointed 4-bedroom / 2-bathroom home in a great neighbourhood. It’s listed for just $146,000! Got me thinking . . .
Hmm , houses as cheap as $ 40,000 on a 1/2 acre but in foreclosure.
Some from $ 85,000 and up.
Question though, any of them damn red fire ants ?
Sorry, John, this I do not know.
Check the elevation and history of flooding. That map hints at flood plain.
There’s often back taxes on the property that have to be paid in addition to the purchase price.
We’ve Pier fished a few times down south and were amused by the number of blue herons wandering around begging for fish. Cheeky buggers would get quite close.
Now ice fishing on my local pond here in Michigan, there’s a blue heron with a gimpy that over winters, begging fish from the ice fishermen. He’s been there for the past three years now.
What’s Florence like?
I thought Florence was rather charming. There’s the historic downtown where I was staying. Got pizza one night and breakfast another morning. Both very good! Oh, also got Polish food nearby! I spoke with many people. Some were born there, others had relocated there. Everyone said they loved it! I need to be back during warmer times to get a better appreciation for what it’s like when everyone isn’t so bundled up.
Clark Gillies passed away (suddenly by the sounds of it).
https://nypost.com/2022/01/23/clark-gillies-death-hard-to-process-for-all-who-knew-him/
Happy time, relaxing time — consuming photos from a great photographer! Thanks, Robert.
Nice photos there.
Heron regulate Koi pond populations, keeping prices up for prized specimens.
Blue Herons delicate appetite:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v5w0UK2SvE
Herons will eat anything that flys, walks, crawls, swims or slithers.
They got a killer stab going on with that pointy beak.
The perfect little T Rex.
Hey, Robert,
Thank you for those lovely bird photos.
That second one, of the heron head, is priceless. The light. I m going to draw that head, if you don’t mind. Heck, I will give you the drawing if you want it.
Oh, and thanks for the Muscle Shoals link to Lynyrd Skynyrd.
That brought back fond memories.
In the early 70s, before some of the band died in a plane crash in 77, I enjoyed a concert of the original band….maybe round 1973, in Sudbury, Ontario.
They opened for Edgar Winters White Trash.
I still think Edgar should have opened for Lynyrd.
Don’t know still to this day how I drove back to North Bay from Sudbury that night.
Were drugs involved? Certainly not, to my recollection.
Some really great music came out of Muscle Shoals.