See Through Canoe

Young trash pandas nursing in my backyard yesterday.
When I saw this mother walking towards my backyard after raiding my neighbors trash I grabbed my camera and telephoto lens in the hopes of capturing something cute. Mission accomplished.
#cute #animals #nature #wildlife #trashpandas

It's hard to see below the surface of the water because of wind disturbance and sun glare. Wearing polarized glasses fixes those issues and will allow you to see what's around you in the water much, much better. Still have to pay attention though.

Guy walking in the gulf as a manatee approaches from deeper water. Fortunately this was just a friendly manatee, but it illustrates how easily something really big can sneak up on you in the water, especially if you aren't paying any attention.
#nature #animals #beach #ocean #florida #wildlife

Winters in Tampa Bay are #awesome! There's so much #wildlife that moves into #tampa bay, #Florida during the winter. Large gatherings of hundreds of #manatees, thousands of #rays, big schools of spinner and black tip sharks, and numerous species of fish and migratory birds.
#nature #animals

That comment is mostly true. And turtle herpes, which this turtle may have had, is rampant in some areas here. That being said this turtle was still healthy and showing no signs of distress at all. I've been filming & documenting a manatee with no tail for about 7 years now. NOAA is aware of it too

It certainly didn't "act" like it. It had no problems swimming normally or submerging. It wasn't listing or looking confused. It was acting perfectly normal. Fish DO often gather around turtles and other large animals, or anything at all in open water.

Something very fishy about this sea turtle. I often see 1 or 2 fish (usually cobia) following sea turtles, but this is the first time I've seen a school of fish (amberjacks) following a loggerhead sea turtle. St Pete, Florida.
#nature #animals #awesome #ocean #turtles #fish #wildlife

yep. seeing is believing. 😊

Spinner Shark Spinning. Spinner Sharks get up to 9 feet and rush their prey from beneath while spinning and breaching the water or when they reenter the water. This shark was trying to catch a fish on the edge of a large group of Cownose Rays.
#nature #amazing #animals #ocean #shark #wildlife

A VERY jumpy dolphin. This dolphin did about 10 jumps after a large boat passed by in the intracoastal waterway in St Petersburg, Florida.
#nauture #awesome #animals #dolphins #wildlife #florida

no worries :-)

I don't know where you're getting "6 feet turtles" from. The only time I mentioned 6 feet in the post was in reference to the cobia. Cobia eat other fish and crabs, loggerhead turtles eat crabs, jellyfish, fish and almost anything they can find.

Your comment makes me wonder if dolphins & other sea creatures think humans look silly and cumbersome in the water and graceful on land.

2 sea turtles checking each other out at the surface of the water and a small school of cobia passing by. Cobia grow to about 6 feet and are often seen hanging out with manta rays, large sharks, sea turtles & manatees.
#nature #seaturtles #animals #ocean #fish #florida

Many of them introduced themselves. Every one of their names started with ray, but they ALL ended differently. Raygun, Rayban, Raygin, Raysputin, Raybert, Raysin, Raybob, Raybeam...

migration and mating. There is one other species of ray that gathers in comparable numbers, mobula rays.

The largest group of rays ever filmed. Here's a link to the entire video in 4k high resolution wide screen format on my youtube channel for anyone that's interested. www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4vW...
#nature #amazing #animals #wildlife #ocean #florida #naturephotography

When the tide is slack & the water is dead calm and most of the sharks rise to the surface. The sharks were hanging around a shoal of fish in the gulf about 1/3 mile from the beach near Clearwater, Florida. The fish were mostly bluefish.
#nature #fish #sharks #animals #ocean #florida

I've been taking notes on my observations for about 30+ years so I always know where, and when, to see things. I note the date, time, tide, wind, moon phase and locations of things I see. :-) I highly recommend taking notes.

Hammerhead Shark stalking a circling school (aka fever) of Cownose Rays. The rays are circling in an effort to confuse predators and keep from being singled out.
#nature #amazing #animals #sharks #wildlife #ocean #naturephotography #sea

take your pick :-)

Slippery Mullet! The first fish got lucky, the second one got launched. Fish aren't easy to grab, even for a dolphin. That's why some dolphins develop hunting techniques like stunning fish with their tails so they can grab them easily when they land.
#nature #amazing #animals #fish #wildlife #yeet

White Pelicans herding fish at the mouth of Tampa Bay in Florida. White Pelicans have a wing span up to 9 feet. Unlike brown pelicans, white pelicans don't dive, they herd fish.
#nature #amazing #animals #birds #wildlife #florida #tampa

Manatees eating mangrove leaves at the water's edge. Manatees eat any kind of vegetation they can find or reach, not just sea grass. During high tides they are often able to reach lawn grass and other vegetation.
#nature #animals #awesome #wildlife #naturephotography #florida

yes :-)

Lots of sea turtles along the coast in the St Pete / Clearwater area this month in addition to all the rays. There are sea turtles along the coast here all year, but I've been seeing a lot more than usual lately. Most are 100-400 feet from shore. #nature #animals #awesome #ocean #turtle #wildlife

A school of bluefish swimming through a school (fever) of rays near Clearwater, Florida. I thought it was cool the way the morning sun was reflecting off the bluefish.
#nature #fish #amazing #animals #wildlife #ocean #sea #naturephotography

which one?

I just finished doing a grid count on this group of rays (aka fever) I filmed recently in the St Pete/Clearwater, Florida area. This still isn't the largest group I filmed though, I'll share that one soon.
#nature #amazing #animals #awesome #wildlife #ocean #fiddythousandflappersflapping

That's a great question and was definitely something I had considered. I took the video in 6k at 60fps & was able to isolate still shots & zoom in well enough to see its doral fin at the base of the tail.