Sunday, October 4, 2009

Peacocks in Paradise!

Wow!  Take a look at these beautiful birds!  I took my friends to a little restaurant on North Longboat Key tonight and we came across these colorful creatures.  They were as interested in us as we were in them.  The male strutted right up to the car and the female followed.  There is a flock of these beautiful peacocks inhabiting a certain section of Longboat Key and their territory is very close to MarVista Restaurant, our dinner destination. 

I stopped the car and grabbed the Blackberry out of my purse to take these pictures; of course, the camera was charging at home!  My girlfriend, Kathy, was amazed that she could get so close to them.  The males evidently lose their tail feathers after they mate, and it was apparent that they had.  The tails on the males were just starting to regrow and some were showing signs of molting.  By the beginning of the next mating season, their tails will be long, beautiful, iridescent blue plumes that fan out behind them as they strut their stuff in hopes of attracting the ladies.  Actually the females haven't totally been ignored when it comes to having a little influence on the males.  The ladies' necks are adorned in little, iridescent green feathers and when the sun hits them just right, they sparkle.  You should see the chicks!  So cute!  They look like little ducklings with 3 or 4 T-shaped feathers standing perfectly straight on the tops of their heads.  The mommas wouldn't let us get close to their babies and were making very sure the little ones laid low in the grass.  But you could still see those little feathers sticking up like little weeds or blades of grass.  Mother Nature has done an amazing job providing camouflage for its next generations, hasn't she? 

To top off the evening, we sat outside by the lagoon under the live oaks; drank Margaronas (a margarita with a 7-ounce Corona turned upside down in the glass - delicious!); devoured our dinners of crab-crusted scallops, stuffed flounder, and shrimp scampi; and finished off sharing a piece of creamy Key lime pie.  Yum!  Our waiter, Anthony, was a treat as well - very cute!  And when dinner was done, we walked back to the car by the light of a gorgeous full moon shining on the dark, still water of Sarasota Bay. 

And tomorrow I'm going to make cards again, influenced by the blues, greens, and silvers of a wonderful evening spent with great friends in.....Ahhh, Paradise....

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