Circling a protected rookery island at sunset in Bonita Springs, Florida
this last November, we looked up to see a flock of Ibis arriving from the
west. In the center of this snowy-white convoy, dressed in a deeper, richer
red than I could ever have dreamed, was a beautiful Scarlet Ibis preparing
to perch for the night.
Not twenty minutes before, we had been admiring a flock of White Pelicans
riding high circular waves into the sky, and those twenty minutes in
between were occupied by wild bottlenose dolphins chasing us through the
bay, babies in tow.
I couldn't have planned and staged a better cruise. And I wonder if I will
ever see the Scarlet Ibis again.

Joanne Burtch
Kirkland