S is for spoonbill and pardalote
We stopped for caffeine and bathroom break in a small town as we were traveling north. The bathrooms were at the local park. The park had a small lake with an island. The spoonbills had taken over the island. It was the best bathroom break ever. These birds are hilarious. They use their feathers as a display/aggression/mating feature. The overall look is not terribly intimidating, IMHO However, it apparently works on other spoonbills! Just think these birds are so fun to watch! On the other end of the spectrum are spotted (and striated) pardalotes. I had one of Scott's pics of these little ones on my laptop for quite awhile. Such a unique little bird! This area has been fun to explore. We found a local winery to visit for Scott's birthday and came back with a half dozen bottles. This family winery has 3 different locations with different grape growing conditions so it was fun to taste some of the differences. We also saw salination fields (pulling salt out of the water) as ...