Another Visitor

Yesterday morning Jackson was out on the dock when he came running in and told me he had a surprise for me.  I quickly grabbed my camera and came out to to see this little baby.

It is hard to tell the size from this perspective, but it is a baby!

Anything in a miniature version is oh so much cuter than the real thing!

It was high tide and the water came up pretty high on the beach.

I’m pretty sure that they eat algae and his mouth is like a big suction thing that sucks it up and spits sand and debris out after it gets the algae.

We must have a lot of algae because this little guy stuck around for a LONG time!

The boys really got an up close and personal science lesson.

Of course they had to give him a name that is related to a physical aspect.  Welcome to our cay, Dots!

Hey Dots is better than Ray, which is what they would have named him a year ago.

“Mom, he’s a ray, so we can call him Ray!  Get it?”

If you recall from prior posts on the other Eagle Rays we have seen, they usually are see in sets of two or three.

I wonder if this one got separated from its family and that is why it stuck around so long.

I can hear the mom saying, “If you get lost, stay where you are, I’ll come find you.”

This one did just that…circling around and being a good little Spotted Eagle Ray!

When they want to turn they lift one wing up and push the other one down.

I was trying to get a picture with a boy in it, so that you can tell how small this one was.

Kind of works,  but obviously J is closer to the camera than the ray was.

This is a little better, but if you look at the wheels of the Tonka truck up on the beach you can see the size a little better.

Hopefully we will get to see this little one grow up!