Fort Desoto - Skywatch Friday

Least tern looking for fish.

Laughing gulls chasing a least tern.

Nice hair day. Snowy egret catching the wind on a lamp post.

Manatee snuggling up to a raft.

Another beautiful Sunday afternoon at Ford Desoto beach. I had already walked down the beach to the fishing pier and had come back to hubby at the beach chairs. We were sitting under the umbrella contemplating whether it was time to go home or should we stay a little longer. Then hubby says "Far down the beach, there's a big brown blob in the water. Is that a manatee?" We knew the dolphins wouldn't get that close to shore along the stretch of beach. We had never seen a manatee along the beach line. I've only seen them on the other side of the park, in the lagoon area, when I was kayaking. Then people started pointing to it. The manatee swam up to few people who were swimming along the sand bar. I grabbed my camera and took some pictures. I waded out until I was waist deep holding my camera on my head. People were swimming near it and weren't sure what to do. One little kid went screaming out of the water. I kept telling people to just stand still and let it swim up to them, which it did. It's pretty cool to have one swim up to you in the wild, at a place where you didn't have to pay to swim with them. He was so close I could only get pictures of his snout. All the while hubby was watching from the beach chair. When I got back to my chair he said "You're such a tourist." I'm glad we stayed a little longer.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.