Packing to leave, beautiful birds and a flying lizard.

Hi again everyone. Yesterday we got out the suitcases which need to be packed for our return to South Africa on the 24th. I have very mixed feelings about leaving here.

On the one hand, I’m longing to see my family over there. I spoke to my Mom last night, and she’s ‘beyond excited’ at the thought of seeing me again. I’ve missed my sister a lot and also can’t wait to see our daughter and family at Easter. Then of course there’s our home which  is probably wondering where on earth its occupants have disappeared to. I guess I will be excited when our plane flies over the KZN coastline and I see the Indian Ocean twinkling way down there, signalling that we’re almost home again.

On the other side of the coin is the wonderful lifestyle we also have here in Florida, the fantastic friends we’ve made, and the very relaxed lifestyle we’ve become used to, not forgetting our house which we’ve almost finished furnishing and remodelling to our liking. I’ll  miss the lake view just outside our windows and the multitude of bird life which we find fascinating to watch as we sit having our meals. Yesterday we saw several large water birds up close.

Earlier in the day, this Anhinga was sitting drying its wings after a fishing expedition.

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Then we spotted a Limpkin standing very statue-like at the water’s edge

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Suddenly, a Giant Blue Heron jetted past at great speed, and we almost missed getting the photo.

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A white Egret stalked around, foraging for bugs in our neighbour’s jungle.

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It was almost dark when I noticed this Cormorant trying his utmost to get a big fish down his gullet. Sorry the picture quality isn’t better, but you can clearly see that poor fish’s tail.

He battled with it for quite a while, shaking his head this way and that and making weird gargling noises, but in the end he gave up, dropped it and flew away without his evening meal.

I’ve been trying to get a shot of the flying lizards we get here, and yesterday, I was successful.

Actually I’m just tricking you, as of course they can’t fly anymore than pigs can.   They loved to climb up the insect netting around our verandah, and from a certain angle it looked to me like they were flying up in the clouds. This was my last chance to capture this phenomenon, as later in the day the workmen arrived to take down the netting in preparation for enclosing the room with glass and patio doors to create an extra sitting room. I suppose Lizzy has now moved on to the house next door; I’ll miss him, as he’s been with us ever since we moved in.

I guess that every place has interesting things to do and see, and they do say that “a change is as good as a rest,” so I’ll look forward to renewing my acquaintance with our life in Durban soon and will find lots to blog about there too.

Have a great day everyone. Chat again soon.