We moved four miles inland from our former home on the Gulf. Now rather than the expanse of the Gulf of Mexico, our daily nature fix concentrates on the Pithlachascotee River, called the Cotee River locally for obvious reasons. The Cotee starts north at Crew’s Lake and flows 23 miles south then west through Starkey Park, Grey Preserve, and the city of New Port Richey to the Gulf. The designated easy Florida paddling trail for this river starts just west of our neighborhood at the Grey Preserve access point, and goes west for six miles to the Gulf.
As we settle into the house, I try to take a daily walk to the river near our home. This Tri-color heron greeted me one day. More correctly, he watched but ignored me as I slowly walked by on the bank. The river is narrow here, so caution is understandable. I stopped just past him and watched as first fishing (no luck there) then preening occupied him. Suddenly, something I haven’t the acute senses of a bird to see or hear spooked him, and off he went.
Another day I heard rustling in a nearby small tree. I approached carefully and took this photo of a Gray Catbird. I walked around as far from the perch as I could, but the spit of land didn’t give me many options.
The weather is past the cold, or cold for this area, phase of winter and we look forward to starting our RV road trips again in the next few weeks as we put the finishing touches on our new home base.
Nichter Photography PLUS 