Nature Sightings on the Property

It has been a long time since I made the decision not to let Spencer run loose when we take our morning walks through the property. While I really don't like to keep him tied up all of the time, the wildlife on our property agrees with the decision and my nature sightings have increased. I've seen so many interesting things that I think it's time I start carrying the camera with me again. So, for now all I can do is describe what we have encountered.

One day we walked into the large spring area and watched two Little Tinamou birds taking a bath in a shallow pool. I kept a large distance between the birds and watched them for several minutes. They never saw us and we quietly backed away and left them alone. On another walk I spotted two Sunbittern birds in the Rio Viejo. The pattern on the underside of their wings made them easy to identify. On a different outing we saw an entire flock, about a dozen, White Ibis feeding in the river. I have seen this bird several times but never a whole flock. The most recent bird sighting was a sole Green Ibis. I watched that bird for quite a while in order to correctly identify it. According to my bird book it's not supposed to be in our area, so I feel lucky to have seen one.

A few weeks ago Spencer and I spotted two Mexican Hairy Porcupines in a tree next to the river. They both saw us and one immediately ran away while the other chose to go higher up the tree. Unfortunately there was no where for the animal to go once it got up the tree and it had to come down to the ground to scurry off. We watched the porcupine for about ten minutes while he decided the best escape route. The latest sighting really surprised me. I saw what I thought was a dead snake in the river. I watched it as I decided if I was going to step over it or go around. It was about a foot long and about 3/4" in diameter. I decided to take my normal path and step over it and as I did it swam behind a rock. Now I knew it wasn't a snake but instead a freshwater eel. I looked for it on the other side of the rock but all I saw was the small, circular opening it went into on the underside of the rock. I certainly didn't know there are eels in our rivers.