After finishing my 7:30 am meeting a few days ago, I grabbed my camera and a fresh cup of coffee and headed down the sidewalk to the salt water lagoon.  I could see it was mid-tide, perfect for watching the fiddler crabs waking up below the high tide line and the morning (bird) foragers throughout the lagoon.  The migrating birds were starting to arrive for the winter, but not many so far this month. As I got to the path that leads to the edge of the lagoon where I like to take my breaks, I spotted a wondrous bird I had never laid eyes on:  a White-faced Ibis! 

Stunned, I started taking pics.  After done with that angle, I walked down the path to my usual perch to just watch it, enjoy my coffee and the other wildlife neighbors, waking up just like me. While still keeping an eye on the Ibis among us, I was nestled amidst a flock of snoozing Mallards who had arrived about 4 weeks ago. By now, we were a coffee klatch.

I continued to drink my coffee and take photos of the Ibis from this new angle. From across the lagoon, a gull, spotting me, thinking I had breakfast biscuits to hand out, flew over and crashed the klatch.  The first victim the Gull flushed out was a cinnamon teal I hadn't even noticed!  The mallards were a bit ruffled, the Ibis, nonplussed, just observed.  I, of course, was now totally focused on the cinnamon teal, the first I've seen this year.

This was the best 10 min coffee klatch I can recall!

© Bev-Sue Powers