Amazing Rays

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I am blessed to live in a beautiful and amazing place. Saturday I had the opportunity to behold a fabulous sight: hundreds of stingrays frolicking in the water beside the bridge that leads to our island. They were flapping the tips of their wings out of the water...almost appearing like hundreds of small fins. While not initially sure what kind they were, there was a fisherman who had caught one on his small trout rod. He had to fight it about 20 minutes before he was able to land it...enabling me to get some good close ups and (with help from family) determine that at least that particular one was a Cownose Ray

When I first saw them they were encircled by pelicans.

Don't worry, he (she?) wasn't hurt...this was to get the hook out of his back...and to give you an idea of the size of the ray. The ray was released and appeared none the worse for wear...

After the pelicans moved down a little way toward the channel, the loons came in.

I can't resist some flying bird shots...while I tend to call them all gulls, Mom reminded me this is a tern.

 

There are two bridges that lead onto our island. We were one-lane for about seven months while they repaired the smaller of the two. We had about two weeks of two lanes before they started working on the drawbridge:

While it may be inconvenient, it beats having the bridge fall into the water, and allows for some nice photo ops for me!