Standing at my kitchen sink doing the dishes, looking out over the Florida creek that is in essence our backyard I notice there are ripples in the water. That’s usually an indicator of 1.) a boat has just passed, 2.) a dolphin or group of dolphins have just passed or 3.) manatees are nearby. No boat sounds but lots of turbulent water and kinetic splashing. I walk down to the dock to discover to my delight a group of 4 adult dolphins swimming under and around our dock. They are herding a school of fish against our sea wall, blocking their escape - easy pickings for dolphins when they work as a team like this. It is a cloudy grey-black evening sky just getting ready to rain - the sky is reflected perfectly in the creek - turning it the same shades of grey. Standing on the dock I watch these 500 lb behemoths swim just below the surface turning on their sides to maneuver the fish more efficiently. They gaze up at me as they pass by, so close I could touch them if I were to reach my hand down. Their light white-grey underbelly and darker slate-grey dorsal area allow them to blend so perfectly that they seem as if from a dream, ghost-like as they skim by. As I watch, two Roseate Spoonbills fly over, heading to their evening roosting site, bright pink against the darkening sky. This morning I woke to two Red-bellied woodpeckers on the palm tree in the back yard near the Frangipani (AKA: Plumeria) which is in full bloom.
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