Monday March 8th 2021

Today was another day with a strong north wind. It was stronger than Sunday’s wind and kept the temperature from rising much above seventy. As long as you had a little bit of shelter from the full force of the wind, it was a beautiful day.

After my visit to Robinson Preserve last week, I wanted to visit the other side of the Manatee River today. On the northern bank of the Manatee river were it empties into Tampa Bay is Emerson Point Preserve. It contains trails, and ponds, as well as river and bay access. I walked about a mile loop on two of the trails before driving out to the point. The preserve seems to be very popular for watching the world go by on the river and in the bay. Many people had brought chairs to sit in the sun on the shore.

I saw the usual complement of water birds along the shore and in the ponds. While taking pictures of some of them the grass about fifteen feet in front of my position started to move. A raccoon was prowling the grass. It spotted me about the same time I saw it. After freezing for a few seconds it turned toward me picked up speed. I thought I was about to be attacked by a rabid raccoon, but it had something else in mind. About five or ten feet in front of me was the dirt bank along the trail. The raccoon disappeared into a borrow in the bank.

The raccoon wasn’t the only out of the ordinary animal sighting today. A few minutes after the raccoon sighting I saw an otter crossing the road. It was crossing from the pond on one side of the road to the canal on the other. It was way to fast to get a picture.

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