More Scenes and Birds from the Canal

The entry to the drainage canal from the sea is broad and flanked by low growing red mangroves.


Farther up the canal where the water is fresh rather than brackish, there are steep banks.
On the right bank, you can see ferns cascading down toward the water.  In my previous post, I had a photo of the ferns.  
Mixed in among the ferns were beautiful Lycopodium, also called club moss.
On the left bank, where the soil is bare, there was a spotted sandpiper scrambling along.




















It didn't fly off as I floated by in the kayak, letting me take some photos as I went.



It bobbles its tail up and down as it goes.
After reaching the end of the canal, I turned around and went slowly downstream toward the sea, eventually reaching the mangroves.  In a protected sort of bay surrounded by mangroves, there a number of herons and egrets.  
The light was terrible for photography, and it didn't help that the birds were far away and against the grey sky.
Never-the-less, the shots were good enough to ID this bird as an adult Little Blue Heron.


I was able to do a bit better with this individual that was considerably closer and cooperated nicely with the camera.
Its colors are quite subtle with some pale blues and pinks along the base of the bill.


The legs are greenish yellow and eyes are yellow.
It turns out this is a juvenile Little Blue Heron before it begins its color change from white to blue.

A lovely bird; one of the exceptions in which the juvenile is more striking than the adult.