Dina's City Wildlife Adventures

Moving to Wordpress

2012-01-19T08:43:00.001-05:00

Please check out my new blog at Dina's City Wildlife Adventures. After 2 1/2 years on blogger, I am moving my blog to Wordpress. Thanks for stopping by here and I hope you will visit my new home. I will still be following all of my favorite bloggers on Goggle reader (thanks, Pam, for the quick lesson).

PS. If you want to know why I moved, head over to my new blog and check out my first post "Done with Blogger".

Christmas Eve in a cemetery - Skywatch Friday

2012-01-05T12:39:00.000-05:00

Our pre-Christmas drive into Atlanta. Hubby was driving. It's weird, even though I've lived in Tampa for 10 years now and didn't grow up in Atlanta (from Alabama originally), I feel like I'm coming home when we drive into Atlanta.

A dark dreary day in Oakland Cemetery.

You can just barely see Grady Hospital from the cemetery. I guess it's good that the cemetery is so close by.

View of downtown.

Grant's tomb. This is not the grave of Lemont Grant, who Grant Park is named after. He is buried at Westview Cemetery. I couldn't find any history on this one but it was a big one.

Statue saluting the 3,000 unnamed confederate soldiers buried here.

This is a really cool place, if you think cemeteries are cool. It has a lot of history here and great birds. I think it's now one of my favorite places to hit when visiting. My first trip was in July when it was about a million degrees outside. This trip it was much cooler at 40 degrees. For this Floridian, that was pretty cold. I was bundled up so the only thing that felt cold was my fingers (note to self "bring gloves next Christmas"). The only morning I had time to run over there was Christmas eve. It started out sunny but got cloudy and grey pretty quick. I saw some birds there I haven't seen in central Florida. More on those later.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

Bad shots of my first horned grebe.

2012-01-04T07:10:00.000-05:00

He's got what looks like a shrimp.

He struggles with it for a minute.

Floating around.

Going back down for some more food.

Red eyes!

I did not expect to see this. My first horned grebe. I had heard there were a few floating off the Courtney Campbell Causeway but it would be hard to find them on the 10 mile causeway looking on both sides. I was on my way to Kapok Park when I decided to stop at the small beach before you get into Clearwater to see if there were any unusual shorebirds there. There was only one other car there so the beach was full of shorebirds. Just the usuals though. Lots of skimmers, plovers and gulls. I noticed something floating out past the swimming buoy. Looking through my camera I realized it was a horned grebe. There were 3 of them floating together. They stayed far out into the water. The above were taken with my 500mm lens and heavily cropped.

Osprey with a fish in the backyard.

2012-01-02T14:22:00.003-05:00

Osprey on my neighbor's dock with a fish.

A blue heron lands on the same dock as the osprey.

Then I notice the blue heron is on the top of the boat lift with the osprey. The osprey doesn't seem to mind. He keeps eating his fish.

Eventually the osprey gives the blue heron his evil eye look and the blue heron flies off.

Right before dark, I see a great blue heron on my dock. Looking at something interesting. Maybe a fish?

Scenes from my bedroom window.

Our World Tuesday

Also, check out more birds at

Tiny birds in the grapefruit tree

2012-01-01T07:20:00.000-05:00

Yellow rumped warbler in my dead grapefruit tree. He was showing off his yellow bottom.

Front view of the yellow rumped warbler.

This little bird was also in the tree. It looks a little bit bigger than the warbler. I'm not sure what this is and couldn't exact match it up to anything in the Stokes Birding Guide. Any Id?

Right before dark I saw a few little birds in the grapefruit tree in the backyard. I figured it was just some house finches but I decided to go outside and investigate. I first noticed the yellow rumped warbler. I also saw another bird but couldn't tell what it was. As I was walking back into the house I saw a mullet jumping. I pulled my camera up and was watching right where it had jumped and the fish jumped again in the same spot. They jump all of the time but it's hard to catch them in the act. Occasionally, they jump again but it's still hard to determine where they will come up again. After 7 years of living here this is the first time I've gotten a shot of one. Not a great one though. The sun was going down behind the trees so it was a little dark.

Hoodies down the street

2011-12-31T06:13:00.001-05:00

On my way home, I pass a small pond that leads into an office complex. Mallards are usually the only ducks I see swimming in it. Recently, I was riding in the car with hubby and looked over at the pond as we drove by it and saw hooded mergansers swimming in it. Of course, I yell out "There are hoodies in the pond." A couple of minutes later we were home and I grabbed my camera and drove back to pond. Since it was a Sunday afternoon there was no one around so I parked in the office lot along the side of the road against the pond. I rolled down the window and took all of the above from the car. Even though I stayed in the car, they still kept their eyes on me and stayed on the other side of the pond. At one point the male started diving underneath and came up with a berry of some sort. As I was leaving, I noticed the below tricolored heron was over on the side of the pond in the reeds. He must have been thinking "What is that crazy lady doing in her car?"

Osprey and a parakeet - Skywatch Friday

2011-12-29T14:10:00.000-05:00

"What's that in the sky? It's a bird, a plane? An annoying parrokeet trying to steal my nest?"

"I'm going to steal that osprey's nest all by myself since I don't know where all my friends went."

"I'm here now. Isn't that the Florida law? Once you establish residence, no one can kick you out?"

"That silly parakeet better not come around our nest. We'll serve him up to the eagle since we only eat fish."

I had read on a Florida bird forum post that there was a large flock of monk parakeets trying to take over an osprey nest at the Derby Lane parking lot in St. Petersburg. I stopped by there on a Saturday afternoon and only found one lone parakeet. All of the others might have been out feeding or just flown the coupe. There are at least 8 osprey nests in the parking lot light towers there. Only two had osprey sitting on them. It's a little early for osprey nesting but in another month or two that lot will be filled with osprey starting to couple up. The lone parakeet was sitting on a wire at first but then kept flying over to the nest and landing on the bottom of the branches. I could hear the osprey yelling but I don't know if that was because of the parakeet or another osprey flying overhead. There are large flocks of monk parakeets all over the St. Petersburg area. They are pretty when they fly by and you see a big flash of green but they are so loud. Since this lot is close by work, I'm going to keep tabs on it during the winter and spring to see if any baby osprey arrive.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

Cute or creepy?

2011-12-28T07:18:00.000-05:00

I was driving into my neighborhood coming home from taking pictures one afternoon and I saw three little raccoons on the sidewalk. They were rummaging around in some bushes at the front of an apartment complex right before my street. I pulled over and took some pictures from my car. They looked awful scrawny and little. I wonder if these were three siblings who had lost their parents. I'm sure they are old enough by now to fend for themselves. They stayed pretty close together. I showed these to a friend who shrugged and said "They're just really big rats." I said "But look how cute they are?"

Shorebirds at Fort Desoto

2011-12-26T14:07:00.002-05:00

Sandwich terns. I think that first one is yawning.

This little bird was hopping around on one leg. If he had one raised it was well hidden and he hopped around for while.

Ring billed gull posing for me. I've just recently started seeing them again. We don't see them very often here in the summer.

Red knots feeding along the shore. Several of them are banded with lime green tags. I looked them up and reported them and one of them spends summers in New Jersey and winters at Fort Desoto. The other two had only been reported around the central gulf coast.

More busy red knots. The one on the left stuck his face all the way in the sand.

A couple of weekends before Christmas I headed down to Fort Desoto to look around. The morning started out cloudy but a little later the sun started peaking out. The was nothing unusual at the park but I was excited to see a small flock of red knots at the north end of the beach. They were walking right along the shoreline and not really paying attention to me. Luckily there wasn't anyone else around to spook them. I think the wind and clouds had kept people away. I watched them for a while and then later when I was editing the pictures, I noticed the green tags on several of the birds. I reported them on the Florida Shorebird alliance website, which takes you to the Bandedbirds link. It was fun to see where they had been. I still would like to get pictures of the red knots in their summer breeding colors (which turns them a burnt red or orange color). They are pretty rare to find here since they are mostly here in the winter and by then they are in the lighter colors.

Our World Tuesday

Also, check out more birds at

Florida animals light up the night.

2011-12-24T18:43:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas from Florida!

The Florida Botanical Gardens, in Largo, puts on a nice light show for the holidays. The main gardens are small but packed with lights. I stopped by there after work and it was packed with people. There were carolers, food vendors and craft tables set up. They definitely do it in Florida style. I think it kicked off my holiday spirit. It usually doesn't feel like Christmas until I get to Atlanta on Christmas eve to stay with hubby's family. Since I work in retail, November and December are crazy work months and I don't want to spend the time thinking about holiday stuff. I don't bother decorating my house because we aren't home for the holidays and I'd rather take that rare off time to be out shooting than inside decorating. And for me, it's still hard to get in the mood when it's 80 degrees outside. Once we get to Atlanta, it's a bit colder, the in-laws' house is decorated and I can finally take a deep breath.

Have a great Holiday and thanks for stopping by!

Cloudy windy day at Fort Desoto

2011-12-24T07:46:00.000-05:00

Redhead ducks. The one on the far left is the male.

Short video of a ruddy turnstone trying to eat a dead fish on the beach.

Now the ring billed gull is trying to decide whether he should take a bite.

Camouflaged bird in the old washed up seaweed. I'm going with least sandpiper on this one.

Short video of a plover taking a bath.

It was a quiet cloudy day at Fort Desoto. Since the sun wasn't out and it was windy, it kept the people away. It was nice to have the place almost all to myself. I stopped by the duck ponds before you drive into the park and all I have found was a huge flock of redheads. The usual coots, moorhens and mallards were there along with a handful of ring neck ducks. I was hoping to see something more unusual like northern shovelers but if they were they, they were hiding. My first stop in Fort Desoto was the east beach turnaround on the bay side. All I could find was a few shorebirds and ring billed gulls. Next I headed to the north beach marsh. More on that later.

Boyd Hill butterfly and birds - Skywatch Friday

2011-12-22T12:23:00.000-05:00

Still a lot of butterflies around.

Pine warbler

Which one doesn't belong? That anhinga is telling the great egret to get off his statue.

Sunshine Skyway Bridge from far away. Yes, I took this right into the sun!

Large flock of ruddy turnstones. I don't think I've ever seen more than 2 or 3 together at a time.

It's still pretty warm down here. It would be nice if it would at least stay below 70 degrees for a while. My Saturday morning walk around Boyd Hill Nature Preserve warmed up fast. I had on a tshirt and pants but after 15 minutes I was wishing I had on a tank top and shorts. I'm such a native now. It's 70 outside and I think I have to wear a jacket. Boyd Hill was pretty quiet with birds so I headed down to the end of the street it's off of and found a small park with a boat ramp that faces the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Of course, by then it was after 11am so the sun was right in my eyes. There was nothing interesting there so I didn't stay long.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

Animals at Chesnut Park

2011-12-21T07:44:00.000-05:00

This squirrel was taking a nap in the sun. He didn't move when I walked by but eventually he left when more people came by.

The only shot of a deer far off in the woods. I stood there for at least 15 minutes hoping they would wander closer to the boardwalk. Just as they were about to hit a clear spot in the woods a bunch of loud people came walking by and spooked the deer and off they went deeper in the woods.

I think this is a yellow rumped warbler.

Male cardinal sitting pretty. They love to pose.

Pileated woodpecker.

I try and get out fairly early in the morning. I hit Chesnut Park around 8:30 am. I know that's late by most birder standards but I need my sleep. It was a little cool out (cool for us Floridians anyway) and there really wasn't too many people out. I try and walk quietly so I can hear the birds calling. I don't know any of the tiny birds by sound but at least I know they are there and where to look for them. I know the bigger bird sounds such as red bellied woodpeckers, pileateds, hawks, cardinals and herons (I love the way great blue herons honk when they fly off). I hear some little peeps high in the trees and quietly wait for them to get close. Just as a raise my camera and try and get a shot, here come a bunch of loud walkers. The ones in the back want the ones in the front to hear what they are saying. Off flies the little birdies before I get a shot. Later down the boardwalk it happens again only this time its a group of nordic walkers banging their walking sticks loudly on the boardwalk. Or better, someone walks by with their barking dog when there are large signs that say "No dogs on the boardwalk." I do love Chesnut Park. It has a lot of great wildlife for such a busy park. It's the only place close to my house where I can see deer and not get shot at. But it can really challange a photographer's patience.

Backyard visitors

2011-12-19T13:10:00.001-05:00

Green heron on my dock. You can see the neighbor's pool slide behind him.

The female kingfisher was yelling about something. That's her "I'm on alert." pose with her tail sticking up in the air. Once she saw me in the window she took off down the channel.

Juvenile red shouldered hawk on my neighbor's dock.

Yuck! It was so windy that morning, the osprey couldn't carry that big old fish all the way up to the top of the sail mast so he stopped on one of the bars lower down on mast.

Just a few birds from my backyard last weekend. All pictures taken through a window, either the bedroom or dining room.

Our World Tuesday

Also, check out more birds at

Big Gulp!

2011-12-18T07:26:00.000-05:00

"Oh no, here comes a car. She'd better not steal my fish."

"If I flip it just right, it should go down pretty easy."

"I wonder if she has any hot sauce."

"No? Well, here goes another bland fish meal."

"I'm gonna have heartburn for a week."

I was leaving Boyd Hill Nature Park in south St. Petersburg after a two hour walk and decided to drive over to the other side of the lake where it looked like there was a park there. It was mostly just a boat ramp with lots of parking. There wasn’t much there but lots of coots and cormorants. I was thinking to myself “I’ll just drive through the parking lot and leave.” As I pass the boat ramp I see a great blue heron in the water facing the lake. All of sudden he turned around with a big fish in his mouth. I pulled up right in front of him but was afraid if I got out of my car it would spook him and he would fly off. So all of the above were taken while sitting in my car. It took him a few minutes to swallow that big fish. I think he was waiting for it to stop flopping around in his mouth. After his big gulp, he wandered back into the water and I drove off heading for home and lunch.

Ducky weekend in the backyard.

2011-12-17T07:31:00.000-05:00

Late Saturday afternoon, I look out the window and 2 mallards are sitting in my backyard under the grapefruit tree. They rarely come in the yard.

I walked outside and they started walking towards the end of the dock.

They stood at the end of the dock watching me for a few minutes. I thought they'd jump in the water but they didn't.

I go back in the house and later I see them again wandering around under the tree. They seemed to digging in the grass below the bird feeder. Where they looking for bird seed? How did they know bird seed would have fallen on the ground. Did a little bird tell them?

Sunday morning I looked out the window and a pied grebe was swimming in front of our dock. It was a very ducky weekend.

Yellow flowers everywhere - Skywatch Friday

2011-12-15T12:30:00.000-05:00

My black Friday after Thanksgiving was actually a bright yellow Friday. I headed out to Circle B Bar Reserve with my friend Pam and her hubby for a walk through the park. For 3 hours we hiked the trails and the above was our view every step of the way. I've been told these are bur marigolds. Every year in the fall around mid November they bloom. The park is covered with them. It's a beautiful sight to see when walking the trails. It's still a little early for some of the winter birds to arrive but it's worth going to see the flowers. They should bloom until we get a good freeze sometime in January. I hope they are still there around the holidays because I hope to get out there to look for the white pelicans that migrate in for a short time. Keeping our fingers crossed, they should start arriving by Christmas.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday

Surprise hoodies for Thanksgiving

2011-12-14T07:28:00.000-05:00

After sleeping in on Thanksgiving morning, I went into the living room and pulled back the curtains on the sliding doors and there was 6 hooded mergansers floating in front of our dock. I was so excited I was yelling "The hoodies are back" as I ran for my camera. I had not seen them since early spring. This is the 3rd winter we've had them hang out in our channel for a couple of months. I took all of the above through the windows. If I open the door they start to swim down the channel. Mergansers are diving ducks so they dive down pretty deep to get their food. I just happen to catch the female coming back up with a small fish in her beak. The males are so easy to spot with that big white dot on his head. Out of the 6, three were much darker than the other lighter females so I'm thinking they might be juveniles born early this spring. Since Thanksgiving weekend another male had joined them and I see them swimming around every morning. If anybody steps out into the yard, they take off either flying away or swimming quickly to the other end of the channel. I hope they stay through the winter. I'm sure I'll be taking tons of pictures so I'll keep you posted.

Birds and ducks at Circle B Bar Reserve

2011-12-12T12:32:00.002-05:00

Blue wing teals swimming together.

Coot walking across the water.

I think this is a female blue wing teal coming in for a landing.

Glossy ibis up close. They usually stay pretty far away from the trail but this one was sitting right along the trail. Sometimes I'm so amazed at the colors of a bird. I love the beautiful pale pink perfectly curved beak, the hint of white around the eyes and the deep burgundy in the feathers.

Great egret flyby.

Then he goes for a fish.

Butterflies are still everywhere.

The Friday after Thanksgiving, I headed out to Circle B Bar reserve with my friend Pam and her hubby. We walked the trails for 3 hours and the above was all we found. There were tons of photographers there and everyone was complaining how slow it was in terms of unusual birds or ducks. And of course, still no sign of the bobcat that everyone is taking pictures of. But instead of a black Friday, we had yellow Friday. More on that to follow.

Our World Tuesday

Also, check out more birds at

Botanical Gardens at 50mm

2011-12-11T07:08:00.000-05:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Entrance to the Florida Botancial Gardens.

Fish tiles in the wedding garden.

Kumquats against the blue sky.

English garden (in central Florida).

Yes, it almost looks like fall.

I stopped by the Florida Botanical Gardens over Thanksgiving weekend to test out my new 50mm lens. All of the above were taken with it. It was a beautiful afternoon. After a few cold nights, the leaves are starting to turn. We do have a slight fall here, if you can ignore the palm trees. The gardens were just starting to decorate for their Christmas lights at night. I'm going to try and head back there one night to get some holiday light pictures. The only disappointing thing about the trip is that I saw almost zero birds. I think there might have been a few mockingbirds hanging around. I was hoping to at least see some migrating ducks but no such luck.

Geese at Crescent Lake Park

2011-12-10T07:45:00.001-05:00

Chinese goose swimming across the lake.

These might be siblings.

Drip.

The male anhinga is showing off in front of the goose. The goose is not paying attention.

There's a small flock of chinese geese that live at Crescent Lake Park in St. Petersburg. I think there were only four a few years ago but they keep breeding. And chinese geese are known for good breeding. They look pretty and graceful from far away but can be very aggressive if you get close to them without food. People feed them so they are used to being fed and if you walk by them too close on the sidewalk they come running looking for food. The morning I was there, they were in the water the entire time. Floating around close to shore so they didn't come honking at me.

Camera Critters

Along the Sunshine Skyway bridge - Skywatch Friday

2011-12-08T13:48:00.005-05:00

Dunlins digging in the sand. (Thanks Steve, for the ID).

Two ruddys on a rock.

Ruddy turnstone all alone.

Pelican flying by.

Kiteboarders

Perfect windy day.

I headed down to the outlet mall just south of St. Petersburg. I threw my camera in the car just in case I saw something interesting. It was a cool and windy day so I was not surprised to see a bunch of kiteboarders in the water. I pulled off on the access road near the Sunshine Skyway bridge and snapped a few pictures of them. It looks like fun but it's really hard. My hubby does it and he has taken lessons and still says it's hard. There were a few shorebirds hanging around but nothing unusual.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday

Lesser Scaups and Ring neck ducks

2011-12-07T07:42:00.000-05:00

Male and female lesser scaups and ring neck ducks floating together. They stayed right in the middle of the small lake.

A male ring neck duck flapping his wings. Maybe showing off?

Male lesser scaup in the middle with two ring necks.

"Hey, how'd that sea gull get in there? Does he think he's a duck?"

Something spooked them.

I had read on my favorite local bird site Pinellas birds that there was a lesser scaup at Crescent Lake Park near downtown St. Petersburg. I stopped by there recently and not only found a flock of lesser scaup but they also had ring neck ducks mixed in with them. The group of about 18 of them stayed right in the middle of the lake. At one point something scared them and they all took off flying but then looped around and landed right back in the middle of the lake. I was hoping they would make their way closer to one side but they stayed right in the middle. It's a small lake and on a Saturday morning there were tons of people jogging and walking their dogs. I hope they stay there through the winter. I'm going to check back there after the holidays to see if anything else has joined the group.

Kapok park - the Wilson's snipe is back!

2011-12-05T12:29:00.002-05:00

Florida state bird (mockingbird) posing for me.

The Wilson's snipe that's back for the winter was hiding in the mud under some reeds.

Another eastern phoebe.

Red shouldered hawk sitting in the grass. I've never seen one just sitting there like that. I crept up to him and stood behind a tree watching.

He started pounding on something with his foot. He must have been trying to get a bug. He eventually took off but didn't have anything with him.

Small turtle basking in the sun.

I walked over to the Wilson's snipe an hour later to see if it had moved from under the reeds. He was still there and trying to sleep.

An early morning walk around Kapok Park in Clearwater did not produce anything exciting except the Wilson's snipe. This is the only one I've heard of being in the Tampa bay area. He hung out at this park for a short time last winter. I went there to look for the great horned owls. I had read that one had been sighted there recently. For at least 3 springs, the owl couple have had a baby but no luck this last spring. Here is my post from March 2010 - Great horned owl baby. They were sighted there briefly last spring but never did nest. I really hope they come back this year. I did not find the owl on my trip but I'm going to keep looking with my fingers crossed.

Our World Tuesday

Also, check out more birds at

Backyard critters

2011-12-04T07:38:00.000-05:00

Eastern phoebe sitting on my fence. He's becoming a regular visitor.

I think this is a palm warbler, sitting on my fence.

Flock of white ibis sitting on my boat lift. That first one has a dirty beak.

Male house finch looking at me through the window.

Stray cat hanging around our backyard. I tried to shoo him away thinking he might scare away the little birds. He just kept rolling over and acting like he wanted me to pet him. No way, I stayed far away. He didn't have a collar. He knows he's being cute. I'm sure someone in the neighborhood is feeding him.

I thought spring was over

2011-12-03T07:42:00.003-05:00

Over the long Thanksgiving weekend, I headed out to the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo. I wanted to test out my new 50mm lens. I wasn't sure if anything would be blooming there but of course it's still warm and sunny down here so there were lots of flowers around. The lens seemed to do pretty well with closeups. Next time I want to bring my closeup filter with me to try and do some macro shots on the new lens.

I don't know what type of flower that is in the 2nd picture. It was growing in a pot and didn't have a tag in the pot. It looks like some type of iris. Although, it almost looks like a multi colored Christmas cactus flower. Any ideas?

Sunrise birds at Circle B Bar Reserve

2011-12-01T12:10:00.000-05:00

Just before the sun came up, birds were flying everywhere.

Limpkin in the early morning light.

There's plenty of woodpeckers everywhere.

My only eagle sightings of the day were from far away.

This was the most photographed bird of the day. He must have sat in the same spot all morning as all of the photographers walked down the trail. Everyone at the photo walk that morning got the same shots.

Fish crows doing a blast off.

Pretty flowers everywhere.

All of the above where taken on my photo meetup walk at the beginning of November. There wasn't much bird activity out that day. After the exciting sunrise, we walked the trails and saw very little in the way of unusual birds. Everyone got excited seeing the red shouldered hawk and started snapping away. We saw several eagles from far away. At one point, two eagles were chasing each other high in the sky. It was cool to watch but then we were like "Did anybody get any pictures of that?" It happened so quick nobody got a shot. Things are picking up at the reserve. The yellow flowers are out in full force and a few migrating ducks have arrived. More on those later.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday

Fun things at the zoo

2011-11-30T07:34:00.001-05:00

Cute grasshopper. There's still a few hanging around.

Stork in the African exhibit. At first I just thought he was showing off for me, then I realized a great egret had flown into his space and he was trying to scare him off.

Baby penguin is growing up.

Baby rhino running fast around the exhibit. He was having a blast.

Lorikeets munching on some Halloween leftovers.

Birds in the aviary preening each other.

The weather has just been too perfect. I don't want to jinx it but we've been lucky. On a Sunday afternoon I decided to head over to the zoo and hubby came with me. He even though it was too beautiful to stay inside and watch sports. It was crowded but not uncomfortable crowded. The weather had cooled off in the afternoon and most of the animals were very active. Very different than in the summer when the animals are sleeping all day from the heat.

Chesnut Park

2011-11-28T12:10:00.001-05:00

Female anhinga with something stuck on her beak. These birds always strike nice poses. She's probably thinking "I hope you can photoshop this thing off my beak."

Pileated woodpecker stopping for a picture. There's a handful of them living at the park and even if I don't see them I can hear them calling loudly across the woods.

Red shouldered hawk sitting quietly. He was sitting very close to the boardwalk and stayed there while several people walked by and stopped to take pictures.

Some type of warbler.

Coots in the water. Coots are back for the winter and are everywhere.

A tiny alligator getting some sun.

The weather has cooled off a bit. The morning I went out for a walk at Chesnut Park it was windy and cool. The park is mostly wooded and the shade felt much colder than the sun. There was also a strong wind coming off the lake. Even the hawk was fluffed up trying to keep warm. There still wasn't a lot of interesting birds around. Only the usual that we see all year round. Except for the coots. They are here from the north by the thousands. I only saw the one small alligator. I think since the wind was colder than the water, most of them were staying under water until later in the day.

Our World Tuesday

Also, check out more birds at

Kapok Park

2011-11-27T07:44:00.000-05:00

Stork in the water.

"Where'd he go?"

Black and white warbler. I think this is only my 2nd sighting of one.

Pied grebe all wet. These ducks are everywhere now.

Just a few shots from a recent walk around Kapok Park.

Disney sights at Animal Kingdom

2011-11-26T08:02:00.004-05:00

Waterfall at Animal Kingdom

Tree of Life on a cloudy day.

Some of the details in the Tree of Life. The animals that are carved into the tree are really cool.

Eagle in the Tree of Life.

Mount Everest at Animal Kingdom. What a nasty day!

It's a friday in November. You would think it would be a little less crowded, but no. This was taken near the safari ride in the Africa section. We rode the safari ride twice. This was the most crowded part of the park.

You would think living an hour away from Disney we would go all of the time. We try and make it once a year. Life gets in the way of hanging out at an amusement park all of the time. Plus, you have to be in the right frame of mind to battle the crowds and wait around for your fast pass time to arrive to get on your favorite ride. Not to mention spending a fortune to get in and eating your way around the park. Epcot is my favorite Disney park because I love eating all of the different foods from the countries but we hadn't been to Animal Kingdom in several years so we headed there. The safari ride is pretty cool so we rode that twice in the morning and then spend the rest of the day wandering around the park. I kept thinking "Why aren't all these kids in school?" It was fun to get away for the day.

Sunset - Skywatch Friday

2011-11-24T12:20:00.002-05:00

Just a few recent sunset pictures taken along the Courtney Campbell Causeway for Skywatch Friday. I'm busy spending the day with hubby on the couch watching bad Christmas movies and stuffing myself. Hopefully it will be sunny tomorrow and I can head out to a park to walk off all of the feast.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

Disney birds - no mouse here

2011-11-23T07:53:00.001-05:00

What do you do when you have a day off and it's suppose to rain? Head to Disney. And hope the rain keeps all of the tourists inside. Yea, right. Hubby and I headed over to spend a Friday at Animal Kingdom recently. It was drizzling when we got there and continued for about the first two hours we were there. It didn't stop the crowds. It wasn't as bad as the summer crowds but the park was still pretty full. There were so many different birds to take pictures of. They have a huge aviary that I spent an hour in taking pictures. The park was full of wild vultures. They were hanging around the hippo exhibit as well as in all of the trees all around the park. The rain was gone by lunchtime and the day turned out nice. It was fun to be a tourist for a day.

An eagle and an osprey at Honeymoon Island

2011-11-21T12:27:00.002-05:00

My first eagle pictures of the fall 2011 season are not good. They were taken from far away and extremely cropped. They've been back in the Tampa bay area for at least a month now and I keep missing great shot opportunities. A couple of weeks ago I was on my way to the dentist for a 7:30 am appointment and saw 2 eagles sitting in a cell phone tower that sits right on a main road. On my way to work from the dentist an hour later they were gone. I haven't seen them there since but I know they are somewhere close by. I saw several eagles flying high up in the sky during my photo walk at Circle B Bar reserve but they were so far away I couldn't get a shot. This past weekend was beautiful so hubby and I decided to hike the nature trail at Honeymoon Island. We hadn't been since early spring. The eagle's nest sits all the way at the end of the trail. When we first got there we didn't see any eagles. We wandered around for a while and came back to the nest before hiking back to our car. As we stood there talking for a few minutes, one of the eagles flew in and landed on the nest. Then it flew to a nearby branch for a few minutes before taking off again. The park keeps the area where the nest is closed off so you have to watch from far away. The law states 500 ft from the nest but I've heard the nest is actually over 800 ft from the fence area. As we left, the park ranger said the female was sitting down close into the nest and she was sitting on eggs. Yeah, I'll have to head back there after the holidays.

The last two pictures are of an osprey that had just landed with a fish close to the trail. Soon the trail will be full of osprey starting to nest but it's a little early now. We saw just a few of them flying around.

Our World Tuesday

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Canadian geese by work

2011-11-20T07:48:00.002-05:00

"Head's up guys, here comes someone with a camera"

"I'll do my mean body shake and scare her away."

"Maybe if I flap my wings she'll leave."

"Forget it, she's not leaving. Just keep eating."

"There's good bugs over here."

I had read on Pinellas birds that there was a Canadian geese sighting in the cemetery down the street from my office. I threw my camera in the car and was able to drive through there after work recently. It's a small cemetery right off a busy road. I drove around a little bit and quickly found the flock. They were so close to the road that I didn't even get out of my car. I just snapped the above quickly and left. I don't know if they'll continue south or stay here for the winter. I'll check back in a few weeks to see if they are still there.

camera critters

My neighborhood kingfisher

2011-11-19T07:42:00.001-05:00

"There's that crazy lady again. Staring at me through that window. It's been months since I've seen her. I bet she misses me."

"She can't have any of my fish. I work too hard for this morsel. But I'll show her what she's missing."

"Yum, I'm going to savor this little fish."

"I move to the other dock and she's still watching me eat my lunch. Doesn't she have a life?"

"This one's a mouthful. I've got to close my eyes to fit this in my mouth."

Yeah! My winter belted kingfisher is back in my neighborhood. Finally! I've been seeing kingfishers everywhere but in my backyard. I was getting worried she wouldn't show up this year. She's been hanging around our channel for at least four winters. My hubby was half asleep watching tv and I was doing chores. I peeked out the bedroom window to see if anything interesting was at the bird feeder (meaning anything better than squirrels) and saw her sitting on my dock. I ran to get my camera yelling "She's back." I took several pictures of her eating a fish on our dock then she flew to my neighbor's dock. I went running into the dining room, taking the last two pictures from there. Back and forth I went running across the house as she flew back and forth around the channel for a while and then took off. I hope she's here for the winter.

Skyway bridge - Skywatch Friday

2011-11-17T11:41:00.000-05:00

Finally, after all these years, I get up early (5:30am) to get sunrise pictures at Fort Desoto. Did I see the sun? NO! I met my friend Pam at the east beach parking lot and we walked out to the beach in the dark together. It was suppose to be a nice morning but it was a wall of clouds. Even without the sun it was fun being out there early in the morning when the birds where just waking up and taking off and the tourist haven't arrived yet. It's still beautiful to see the Sunshine Skyway bridge from Fort Desoto in the early morning light. I want to try and get out there again to get actual sunrise pictures so I'm going to have to get used to getting up early on the weekends.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

After work walk at Carillon Park

2011-11-16T07:44:00.000-05:00

Female anhinga posing for a portrait. They love to do this.

I think this is a pine warbler.

Tricolored heron

Green heron on the boardwalk.

There's a small lake with a boardwalk around it about 5 minutes from work (and that's if I hit the one red light). I don't go there that often to look for birds since it's always busy with people jogging and walking their dogs on the boardwalk. But since it was the last week of daylight after work I stopped by for a quick walk. It was such a beautiful night, it was packed with people. I didn't see anything unusual but at least I got a good walk in before heading home. Above are a few things I saw on my walk. There's always a lot of anhingas around and they are not afraid of the joggers or dogs. They will sit on the boardwalk rail while you walk right past them. If you stop or get to close they will wave their beak at you but won't leave. I try not to get too close because I'm always afraid they'll stick me with that beak.

Sun setting on shorebirds

2011-11-14T12:18:00.002-05:00

More skimmers getting ready for bed. The one on the left is yelling "Someone turn the lights out!"

How'd that snowy egret get in the crowd?

Looking at their reflections.

Willet's got a crab.

Marbled godwit getting a snack before dark.

I took these the last week in October. Right before the time change and it was still a little light on my way home from work. I stopped along the Courtney Campbell causeway after work to get a quick walk in before it got dark. The tide was extremely low and most of the birds were far out in the bay. I was walking around in my flip flops but they kept getting stuck in the wet sand so I finally took them off and tied them to my bag. It got dark pretty quick. I had about 45 minutes to walk around. Now I drive home in the dark until mid-March.

Our World Tuesday

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More shots through the bedroom window

2011-11-13T07:30:00.000-05:00

I looked outside and saw the usual, an osprey sitting on my neighbor's dock. But wait, I looked again and realized there was also a blue heron sitting there. It was nice of the osprey to share his space. I'm sure he would not have let that little blue land if he had been munching on a fish.

I've been getting a lot of male house finches at the feeder.

Not one I've seen in my tree before. I think it's a palm warbler or pine warbler.

No, the squirrel wasn't yelling at me. I caught him yawning. I'm sure he was ready for a nap after eating all of that bird seed.

Almost dark in the backyard. All picture taken through the bedroom window. You can see how almost dead the grapefruit tree is. My hubby keeps saying we need to pull it out but it's so nice being able to see all of the birds in the tree. I couldn't see that when the tree was full of leaves all year round.

Boyd Hill on a beautiful day

2011-11-12T07:27:00.000-05:00

There's always an anhinga sitting in this spot.

Life imitating art.

Snowy egret flying in.

Another eastern phoebe.

Based on the short bill, I'm going with a Downy Woodpecker.

Boyd Hill Nature Preserve was pretty quiet on a recent Saturday morning. The few migrating birds I saw were high up in the trees and I couldn't get any shots of them. The eastern phoebe was the only one to get a little lower and sit for a portrait. I was a little disappointed that I didn't see any raccoons, otters or alligators there. I know there are tons of them that live there but they were being scarce that morning. It was a little bit cooler and very windy. I left the house with a jacket on but had it off after my first 30 minutes there. The weather here has been perfect. Anywhere from 70 - 80 degrees and a cool wind blowing. I love this time of year. When it's sunny and 70. Sorry all you folks up north already getting snow. It's time for a visit down south.

A Skywatch Friday Tribute to Klaus

2011-11-10T12:27:00.001-05:00

This past Saturday I attended a photo memorial walk for Klaus Peter. Klaus was the creator of My World Tuesday and Skywatch Friday. He passed away in August, leaving a big hole in the nature photography world in Florida. A group of his close friends put together a photo meetup at one of his favorite parks, Circle B Bar Reserve, in Lakeland Florida. We met early in the morning in the dark and hiked out to the best part of the lake to get sunrise pictures. This was my first sunrise at the park. I rarely get up that early in the morning but knew I had to do this because Klaus always said sunrise was the best time. I had to stop letting sleep get in the way of photography. After a specatular sunrise, we all headed to the nature center and watched a slide show of Klaus' nature pictures as well as funny pictures of him with his friends. There were several members of his family that came from Germany for the event.

For a beautiful post and more pictures on the event, please visit one of Klaus' close friends, Michael, to see his post. Michael's post

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday

Hanging with a hawk

2011-11-09T07:07:00.001-05:00

I don't see red tailed hawks very often. I see red shoulder hawks in my neighborhood all the time. I had been seeing pictures of the bald eagle couple from the cemetery in St. Petersburg on one of my flickr contacts recently (Jim's eagle picture) and decided to stop by the cemetery to see if I could find them. When I got there, several other photographers were standing around talking. They had not seen the eagles come back to the nest yet so the news wasn't good. I stood there for about an hour waiting (which isn't really very long waiting for eagles to come back) and then I had to leave. The highlight of the hour was when a red tailed hawk landed in a dead snag near us. He sat there for a few minutes while a couple of mockingbirds kept trying to bother him. He got tired of them flying close to him and left. It was a dark cloudy morning but at least no rain.

Hubby's first trip to Circle B Bar Reserve

2011-11-07T12:12:00.001-05:00

Great blue heron posing for us.

Snowy egret blowing in the wind.

Small alligator on the rocks giving me a big smile.

Eastern phoebe. I'm starting to see these everywhere.

Lots of butterflies at the park.

Hubby noticed the snake in the tree.

A couple of Sunday's ago the day started off dreary. Drizzle and wind. By noon it had cleared up and after watching tv all morning I jumped off the couch and said "I'm going to Circle B for an afternoon walk." Hubby said "I think I'll go with you." I said "What, you don't want to stay home and watch football and golf all day?" So off we went. The reserve is about 45 minutes from our house. It was a gorgeous day. Cool, mostly sunny and a little windy. On the way there I talked about all of the things we would see. I think he jinxed me. I talked about all of the big alligators we'd see (we only saw 2 tiny ones). I talked about looking for the baby limpkins (no sign of them). I talked about birds migrating through (almost none in sight). I talked about the eagles rebuilding their nest (no eagles). I said we had to keep a look out for the bobcat that everyone had been seeing (no bobcat). Oh well, at least we had a nice two hour walk. The highlight was the snake. And he was surprised at how many butterflies were there. They were flying everywhere. I think I might leave him home on my next trip.

Our World Tuesday

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Hawk in the backyard

2011-11-06T07:19:00.001-05:00

I knew something was going on when my cockatiels flew off their cage screaming. I peaked out the window and saw a hawk on my neighbor's fence. It's funny how the osprey flies up and sits on the sailboat mast and my birds look at him with indifference but when a hawk flies in front of the window they go crazy. Do they really know that the osprey only eats fish? The hawk scared away all of the birds that were at my feeder so I went outside to scare away the hawk (with my camera in hand). The hawk did not want to leave. He let me get pretty close. I think this is a juvenile red shouldered hawk. We have a lot of adult red shoulders in the neighborhood.

As I was standing in my backyard waving my arms trying to shoo away the hawk, I see something flying towards me. It's a great blue heron. I think it had planned on landing on a dock in our corner but saw me standing there and kept on going.

This little guy was not scared off by the hawk. He let me stand under the tree and take his picture. I think this is a palm warbler.

A male house finch was also sitting in the tree.

Gandy beach on my way home

2011-11-05T07:25:00.000-04:00

Skimmers stretching and preening. Getting ready for bed.

Laughing gulls taking a bath.

Sandwich tern flyby.

Little plovers all hunkered down. This was taken far away. They were hiding behind the barricaded area.

I'm not sure what this is. I think it's a least sandpiper. There were a few there bathing right before dark.

Skimmers flying over the beach.

One of my last chances to stop by Gandy beach on my way home from work. Next week it will be dark when I leave work. I got there just before the sun went down behind the trees. The birds immediately went to work getting ready for bed. They were all bathing, preening or stretching. Many of the birds were behind the concrete barricades that block the end of the beach. There used to be signs that say "No driving past this point." but now there are signs saying "No Trespassing." It's just a tiny little spot before the beach turns into rock and seawall. Hopefully that will keep people out and the birds can rest.

I hate it when the time changes. I'm sure most people do. Why does the traffic get so bad in the dark? Now my quick 25 minute drive home from work will become at least 45 minutes. And I don't get to see anything going on in the bay. At least in the summer if I"m stuck in traffic on the bridge I can watch the pelicans and osprey fly by and look for dolphins. Now all I can do is stare at the car in front of me. Oh well, mid March will come soon enough.

View from the house - Skywatch Friday

2011-11-03T12:17:00.001-04:00

I took this a couple of weeks ago when the moon was going down in the backyard. When I opened the blinds while I was getting ready for work early in the morning and saw this I ran outside and snapped a quick shot in my robe.

After driving home from work in the pouring rain, I pulled up in the driveway to this. We've been getting a lot of rainbows lately.

Another shot from my driveway.

Sunset in my backyard.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday

First fall marbled godwit sighting.

2011-11-02T07:35:00.000-04:00

I saw this marbled godwit all alone on Gandy beach last week and thought "I haven't seen one of these in a while." I guess they're back for the winter. Last winter I saw them around Gandy bridge beach and all along the Courtney Campbell Causeway. This guy was by himself at the time but usually I see several together. I love their pink toothpick like beaks. He let me watch him for a while and then when a car pulled up on the beach he flew off.

Backyard Birds

2011-10-31T13:18:00.001-04:00

Juvenile blue heron walking around the channel during low tide.

Doves fighting over a spot on the feeder. Taken through the bedroom window.

Male house finch looking at me through the window.

Downy woodpecker in the grapefruit tree.

Yeah! An eastern phoebe sitting on my fence. Taken through the dining room window. My husband thinks I'm crazy when I go running through the house to get my camera yelling "There's a phoebe on the fence." All he could think of was Phoebe from "Friends".

More backyard birds for Our World Tuesday.

Also, check out more birds at

Creepy crawler weekend

2011-10-30T07:05:00.002-04:00

Moon peaking through the clouds in my front yard.

Spider web.

Creepy black spider at Chesnut Park.

My first praying mantis sighting at Chesnut Park.

Spiny orb-weaver in my backyard. We have two of them in our grapefruit tree. They are not poisonous.

Camera Critters

Boring ole birds at Fort Desoto and a missed sunrise.

2011-10-29T07:21:00.000-04:00

Tricolored heron with a tiny fish.

Bye Bye. I love the way they skip over the water as they are taking off.

Pelican flyby.

Pelican diving for fish.

Lunch at the fish factory (Fort Desoto). The pelicans were diving for fish out in the bay.

It was a gorgeous Sunday morning. After sleeping in, hubby and I decided to head down to Fort Desoto to spend time on the beach. I decided to bring my camera and try my bird luck at the north beach marsh while hubby took a nap in his beach chair. There was almost no birds in sight. Instead I ran into a strange flock of photographers heading down to the north beach sanctuary. I joined them and we had no luck there as well. The poor tricolored heron was doing some fishing so we all took tons of shots of him. Quickly he got tired of us watching him and flew off.

The big story of the day was the spectacular sunrise, which I missed by sleeping in. I got teased for letting sleep get in the way of a great sunrise picture. One of these days.... Check out what I missed - Dan's sunrise video, Jess's post, Michael's post.

St. Petersburg at twilight - Skywatch Friday

2011-10-27T12:07:00.000-04:00

Sailboat lessons going on in the bay. They were just coming into the sailboat basin when we got there. I noticed later when I downloaded the pictures that there's a dolphin coming up for air in the lower left corner.

Sailboat class in front of the pier.

The new Salvador Dali museum. I haven't been since the new building opened.

The sun going down on yacht basin.

The airport across from the St. Pete Yacht Club.

Clouds across the bay.

The St. Petersburg Pier at night.

Some views of St. Petersburg, Florida, from the bay side.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

Roll call in the backyard

2011-10-26T07:07:00.000-04:00

Blue jays and doves are here.

I think this is a house sparrow. I wonder if it's one of the birds that nested in the boat dock.

The osprey is on my neighbor's dock checking things out.

Two mallards trying to sleep just below the osprey.

Blue heron walking along the sea wall.

Female anhinga drying off on our fence.

Bird activity is picking up in our backyard. The osprey comes by every day for a while. I've been seeing the above anhinga hanging out in our channel for a couple of weeks. Still missing is the kingfisher that usually comes to visit every winter. Last year I had seen her by mid-October. It's still early so I'm keeping my eyes out for her.

Rainy day through the bedroom window

2011-10-24T12:10:00.001-04:00

The resident osprey was eating lunch on my neighbor's dock. He usually eats on the sailboat mast but it was raining and really windy so he moved down to the dock.

He was tearing that fish apart. Yum!

Then I noticed a night heron on my other neighbor's dock in the pouring rain. This was taken through the dining room window on the other side of the house.

Wet birds eating bird seed on ground. One seemed to be leaning on a grapefruit that had fallen off the tree.

Mockingbird in the tree.

The doves were all fluffed up from the rain.

A first that I've seen in my backyard. I'm going with a yellow throated warbler. It was hard to get a decent picture of him through the window. It was raining and he was hiding in all of those dead branches. But I was so excited to see him there.

Resting on a branch.

Two weekends ago I was sick. Out cold for 3 days with a sinus infection and sore throat. I picked a good weekend to get sick though, it rained most of the time so I probably would not have been out in a park anyway. Every couple of hours I would drag myself off the couch and peak out the window to see if there were any birds in the backyard. At least I had some interesting things come to visit. All of the above were taken through the window, which I need to clean since the rain is making them dirty again. Maybe this weekend.

Our World Tuesday

Also, check out more birds at

Backyard birds

2011-10-23T07:11:00.000-04:00

Osprey sitting on my neighbor's sailboat.

Red bellied woodpecker in my palm tree.

Dove on the ground in my backyard. Taken through the bedroom window.

Dove sleeping under my bedroom window. I think this is a common ground dove. There's been a big family of them hanging around the feeder.

Blue jay is eating something in the yard.

As mad as I get at the squirrels for eating all of the bird seed, they do make me smile. They are so cute.

More shots from the bedroom window.

Chesnut Park - a new bird!

2011-10-22T07:03:00.001-04:00

Pileated woodpecker

At first I thought this was a pine warbler. Then I found out from one of my flickr contacts that this was a yellow throated vireo. After studying them both the only difference I could see is that the pine warbler has light pink legs and the vireo has dark legs. Anyway, I was excited to see this guy. I had to use my flash since he was hiding in the trees so the background was blown out but I was able to get the details in the bird.

Male anhinga posing for me.

It was a quiet morning at Chesnut Park. The weather is starting to break a little and wasn't so miserably hot. There weren't too many interesting birds there. The highlight was vireo. There are so many types of little warblers and vireos. I was excited just to get a new bird.

Camera Critters

My new bird feeder - Skywatch Friday

2011-10-20T12:01:00.001-04:00

"That crazy lady staring at me through the bedroom window thinks I can't get to her bird feeder. I'm going to show her."

"This is way too easy."

"Oh, wait, I think I might fall."

Finally, a bird. But it's just an ole blue jay. He'll probably scare way all of the small cute birds.

Ibis on our neighbor's dock in the rain.

Our resident night heron comes to visit as the sun goes down.

Perfect ending to the weekend.

Yes, I made it way to easy for those squirrels. I put the bird feeder too close to the branch. I'm going to try and move it farther out and lower it. I might try and find something to put over the top so they can't slide down so easily. I know, squirrels always figure out a way. At one point I had one squirrel on the feeder and 3 others on the ground below it chowing down on the seed that had fallen. Any suggestions?

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday

Please don't shoot the deer, except with a camera!

2011-10-19T06:01:00.000-04:00

Now I know where some of the deer hang out. At least for the last two trips to Chesnut Park. As I drove into the park early on a recent Saturday morning, I saw them wandering around in a wooded field. I parked and walked into the field which is heavily shaded. I didn't get too close but eventually the deer wandered pretty close over to me. At one point I had to walk back because they had gotten to close for me to get any shots. With no sun it was a challenge to get them but I used my flash and cranked up the ISO. I think it was on 800 here. I watched them eat for a while and then headed over to the boardwalk.

Birds at the St. Pete Yacht Club

2011-10-17T12:06:00.001-04:00

Pelican in front of the pier.

Which one doesn't belong? There's a small ruddy turnstone 3rd from the left. I guess he figured there was safety in all of those laughing gulls.

At the boat ramp. Some guys dumped their bait fish in the parking lot before driving off.

Laughing gulls flying in for the bait fish fest.

You can usually find green herons around marinas. We have several that hang around in the channels by my house.

Great blue heron posing.

My friend Pam has a key to get into the gate at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club so an after work photo walk got scheduled pretty quick. We headed down there right after work and had about an hour and a half before it got dark. The docks there sit across the lagoon from the St. Pete Pier (in the first picture). It was neat seeing everything from a new angle. I had never been out on those docks before. We saw the usual water birds there. Lots of pelicans, great blue herons, great egrets and tons of laughing gulls. They were pretty quiet and getting ready for bed since the sun was about to go down. We had a lot of fun and headed back to our cars well after dark. I almost got a parking ticket from running out of meter time but we got back right as he was writing me a ticket and gave me a warning instead. Those guys are so nice!

Our World Tuesday

Also, check our more birds at

Kapok Park after work

2011-10-15T07:43:00.002-04:00

Little blue heron standing on the boardwalk rail. He didn't want to move. I finally walked around him.

"Yea! The kingfishers are back. Still haven't seen the one in my neighborhood yet but it's still early. Not a great shot because they are really skittish here.

Boring ole blue jay watching me.

Hawk flyby.

My first alligator sighting at this park.

Cute caterpillar.

Another walk around Kapok Park after work. It's getting dark earlier so I only had a little over an hour before the sun went down behind the trees. I was hoping to see the red tailed hawk again but could only find a red-shouldered hawk soaring overhead. Two kids on skateboards asked me if I had seen the alligator swimming in the middle of the lake. I'm thinking to myself "In the 3 years I've been coming here I've never seen an alligator." I said to them "No, I haven't." They were so excited to point him out as he swam right towards the dock. It's amazing how alligators are so mesmerizing to kids. I don't know how long he's been in the lake. I always thought the baby duck count never seems to go down here like at other lakes. Maybe he's fairly new.

Camera Critters

Mount Rushmore and Needles Highway - Skywatch Friday

2011-10-13T13:49:00.000-04:00

"The heads" (as the locals call them) from inside the park.

From the trail that goes underneath the heads. You can get pretty close.

The main entrance. We were trying to guess the state flags without looking at the state (at least the southern ones anyway). I must have slept through that class.

The view from the parking deck at Mount Rushmore. It was just starting to cloud up.

Looking over at Needles Highway.

Driving through Needles Highway. It was a tight squeeze at some points.

Going through the tunnel. There were several of these that we passed through.

One last post from my trip to South Dakota.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday

Baby Limpkins at Circle B Bar Reserve

2011-10-12T07:01:00.000-04:00

"This looks really yummy Mom."

"Hey, wait, that's my bite."

"Let's go get more snails Mom."

"It's break time. Mom's tired of dunking her head under water for snails."

"Look at my cool wings. Soon I'll be flying"

"For now I'll just have to walk."

I had heard there were baby limpkins at Circle B Bar Reserve while I was on my trip to South Dakota. It seems late for babies but better late than never. I couldn't wait to get back and go looking for them. I'm not sure how old they were when I took these, maybe 3 to 4 weeks old. They grow up fast. I walked down to Wading Bird trail and didn't see them at first. Mom was in the water looking for snails and I think the 2 babies were hiding in the nearby bushes. All of sudden out pops mom and the babies on to the trail. She had brought them out to feed them on the side. After a quick bite, they headed back into the bushes along the water. About half an hour later they came back out with another snail. There were originally 4 babies and now it's down to 2. There's lots of alligators in water at the park. Hopefully, the last 2 will make it.

Nothing new at Circle B Bar Reserve

2011-10-10T13:57:00.002-04:00

Black bellied whistling ducks says "Oh no, here come the photographers".

"Get my good side".

Red bellied woodpecker says "I'll stop for 4 seconds so you can take the picture. Then I'm back to banging on this dead tree."

Great blue herons says "I caught one this big."

Red shoulder hawk says "I'd be king of the jungle here if it wasn't for that annoying eagle."

Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland was calling my name. I hadn't been there since mid-May. It was still miserably hot there at the end of September but I had heard there baby limpkins there. There's no better reason than that to drive 50 minutes across central Florida. The reserve was pretty quiet. It's still a little early for many of the fall birds so there wasn't too many photographers out there. I didn't see the eagles flying around. I saw very few small migraters such as warblers. But, I did find the baby limpkins. They were so cute! More on those later.

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Our World Tuesday

Wild things at the Great Plains Zoo

2011-10-09T07:19:00.000-04:00

Robins where everywhere.

Cute little chipmunk with some kind of food in his mouth. I think this is food from one of the zoo animals. I don't get to see chipmunks in central Florida so I was excited to see them here.

Beautiful butterflies were everywhere.

The zoo was full of canadian geese. They were sleeping or grazing in most of the exhibits.

Since my sister lives close to the zoo in Sioux Falls, we decided to spend a little time there walking around on my last day of the visit. It was sunny and 70 degrees so we had to get out after spending so much time in the car driving back from Rapid City. It's a small zoo but very nice. They had a large variety of animals there including wild geese that seemed to be resting on their way south. It was a perfect way to end a visit in South Dakota.

Animals in Custer State Park

2011-10-08T07:08:00.001-04:00

There are big signs all over the park that say "DO NOT FEED THE WILDLIFE" but yet here we are,watching the car in front of us feeding the wild mules. Obviously a lot of people feed them because the mules were lined up along the road waiting to be fed.

A cute baby mule staying back from the road.

My only pronghorn sighting. It was far away in a field. This is the fastest land animal in the United States. It didn't move an inch while we were there.

The herds of buffalo were far off the road.

More bighorn sheep. We found this herd at the Blue Bell lodge in the park. They were wandering close to the parking lot.

My only upclose buffalo sighting. We were able to pull off to the side of the road here and take it's picture. We found it all alone and near the exit to the park.

Camera Critters

A Sunday in the backyard - Skywatch Friday

2011-10-06T12:42:00.003-04:00

A hawk was sitting on my neighbor's sailboat in the morning.

Blue jay screaming at the hawk.

Blue-gray gnatcatcher sitting in the grapefruit tree. It's the first time I've seen a blue-gray in our backyard. I think he was watching the blue jay at the top of the tree.

Later, as the clouds moved in I noticed the downy woodpecker on the same (almost dead) grapefruit tree.

Another downy picture.

The resident osprey showed up later with a fish.

Creepy clouds moving in right before the sun went down.

Our grapefruit tree is going to have to go soon. It's about 75% dead. It covers around 25% of our backyard and has been there since the house was build back in the 60's. It's been great for shading part of the house and I'm going to miss it (except for picking up rotten grapefruit for half the year). I don't know what I want to replace it with. Something that's already half grown so we can get some shade fairly soon. We don't want another fruit tree since it's just too much work to pick up the fruit. Our soil is sandy and the tree would sit in between our house and the seawall. It would get lots of sun. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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Wild animals in the Badlands

2011-10-05T06:46:00.000-04:00

Our first sight into the Badlands Park was of some deer bouncing across the fields.

Badlands bunny.

The prairie dogs were so cute. They made a lot of noise. They kept barking the whole time we were there. It almost sounded like they were singing to each other.

Munching on some leaves.

Bighorn sheep along the road. I had to get a picture of the smaller baby. The adults would not turn around.

More bighorn sheep along the road. I took this while my sister slowly drove by since we were in an area where there was no place to pull off. We didn't see any males with the big horns, only females and juveniles.

Our three hour drive through Badlands National Park was full of wildlife. I think my favorite part was the prairie dogs. They were scurrying around the field. The biggest disappointment was that I only saw one bird. A lone vulture flying high up in the sky. Well, I also didn't see any snakes. There were signs at all of the paths and boardwalks to watch out for rattlesnakes. It would have been cool to see at least one from far away. Lucky, I haven't crossed any in the parks in Florida although I've heard there's a few at Fort Desoto. After the Badlands we stopped in Wall, South Dakota before heading to our hotel in Rapid City. Wall has a 76,000 square feet tourist shop. We bought some fudge and hit the bathrooms before heading out. Next stop, Mount Rushmore!

An after work walk around Fort Desoto Park.

2011-10-03T13:57:00.003-04:00

Juvenile black bellied plover. I wish I had found this little guy when he just a baby. He would have been really cute and tiny.

Adult black bellied plover. He just kind of stood there like "What do you want?"

Snowy egrets and a great egret fishing off the jetty next to the fishing pier. The sun had gone down behind some nasty clouds.

Snowy egret got a fish!

"Mom, feed me" says the juvenile sandwich tern. Although he's probably big enough to fend for himself, they tend to beg for a while at that age.

Great blue heron thought he had a fish but it was just seaweed.

Cute raccoon hanging around the picnic area.

Our World Tuesday

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Vacation in Sioux Falls and the Badlands

2011-10-02T07:38:00.028-04:00

My trip started in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. My sister lives there and it was time I paid her a visit. The falls run through downtown Sioux Falls. We walked around Falls Park for a while. It was cloudy and a little chilly (well, for this Florida girl it felt chilly.)

The next morning we got up early to drive across the state to the Badlands and Mount Rushmore. We had to stop at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center (rest stop, Yea! bathrooms) in Chamberlain. It sits over a bluff looking down on the Missouri River. It was cloudy and cold. We didn't walk around too long here.

We make it several hours later to the entrance of the Badlands National Park. Yes, the sun came out for us. It warmed up to a little over 70 degrees. It was a perfect day for the Badlands. The first thing you pull into is a boardwalk that goes out over a large portion of the mountains.

After driving down a hill, we stopped at the only lodge in the park and had lunch,

We continued on through the park stopping to get out and walk around at all of the viewpoints. There were beautiful yellow wildlflowers everywhere.

The sections near the end of the park had the prettiest color.

I spent 5 days roadtripping around South Dakota with my sister. It is a beautiful state. One regret was that I was too late for the sunflowers. We passed hundreds of miles of sunflower fields that were almost dead. But the nice thing about going in September is all of those summer tourists are gone. Nothing was crowded. The weather was perfect and stayed warm most of the trip. More on wild animals in the park, Mount Rushmore and Custer State Park later.

Photo things I learned after my trip:

1)Don't go to cool landscape parks without a wide angle lens. I should have at least rented one. My regular 18mm - 105mm lens did not do the scenery justice.

2)Should I have taken a polarized lens filter? I have one I bought to take to the beach but only used it a few times. I felt like it made the shots less sharp. I wonder if it would have cut out some of the haze that's in the 3rd and 4th picture. When I was editing, I couldn't seem to get rid of the haze where the sky meets the land in most of the pictures. Any suggestions?

3)Take my newly bought monopod with it's new ballhead. I bought it weeks before my trip to use in the parks when I'm hiking instead of lugging around my heavy tripod. I should have at least stuck it in my suitcase. It would have helped when it got rainy and cloudy and I was loosing sharpness.

4)Spend more time reading up on landscape photography, which isn't something I had been doing in the past (landscape photography that is, not reading). I should have studied up on how to pull out the colors and what settings I needed to be at more closely.

5)Slow down. I was always in a hurry because I wanted to see so much and fit too much in the trip. There was so much to see in the Black Hills.

These are just some of the things that came to my mind as I was editing and reading up on landscape photography. Now I'll know for future trips.

Neat things at the Lowry Park Zoo.

2011-10-01T07:29:00.001-04:00

The baby penguin is getting big.

Flamingos trying to sleep.

A new baby rhino, born mid-July. The kids were going crazy watching him run around with his mother. He was so cute.

Pretty bird in the aviary.

One of the elephants cooling off.

Just a few neat things I saw on my recent trip to the zoo.

Skies over Tampa bay - Skywatch Friday

2011-09-29T13:17:00.000-04:00

Yes, that's an osprey sitting on the top of the boat. I wonder if he left any fish guts behind.

Another abandoned boat. Kay, a fellow blogger, made a comment recently about abandoned boats. They are everywhere here. I guess in this economy, people can't afford them anymore. Some are still in good shape and I think must have just gotten loose in a storm and it takes a while for the owner to find out and get it back. But, there are so many that are stranded that look pretty bad. And they sit there for months. The big one stranded across from Fort Desoto is still there. That's been sitting there for several months. It's really sad.

Beautiful skies over Tampa Bay.

Clouds over Tampa, from across the bay.

Another stop at the Safety Harbor fishing pier on my way home from work. It was a rare night that it wasn't raining. I thought the summer rains were suppose to stop by the end of September but it keeps happening here. I try to get out after work and most days its either pouring or about to. I wish I could get a really big fan and blow the rains across the gulf to Texas.

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Wild things at the zoo

2011-09-28T06:27:00.000-04:00

First thing I saw at the zoo was a red bellied woodpecker. It was right at opening and no one else was around. The trees were full of them. Later when I was leaving I noticed they were all gone.

The zoo was full of these yellow flowers, which were full of bees.

Another late bloomer. The above baby moorhen was swimming around the gibbon exhibit.

More butterfly art.

Yes, that's a gibbon holding on to the wing of an ibis. I was standing there looking at the baby moorhen when I heard a screaming from a bird. I looked over and the gibbon had grabbed the ibis by the wing when the ibis had wandered to close to the edge. I guess the gibbon thought it would be fun to play with. It was the mother gibbon who grabbed it. The baby gibbon was standing to the left of her.

The ibis started to peck at the gibbon with it's beak. The gibbon let go and was holding a handful of white feathers. I was about ready to jump in the pool to save the ibis (I'm sure the zoo would have loved that).

The captured ibis flew over to the wall once it was released. It seemed to be okay, just missing a few feathers.

On a recent weekend I was on call for work and needed to stay close to home. Since the zoo is only 15 minutes away I ran in for an hour. I hadn't been in several months. The last time I was there the baby spoonbills had left the nest and all I saw were a bunch of empty nests over the alligator exhibit. They won't be back until January or February. It was a pretty quiet morning. The biggest excitement was when the gibbon grabbed the ibis. Everyone was watching. I didn't have the exposure correct on those pictures. I was focusing on the baby moorhen which was swimming in the shadows but when I heard the screaming from the bird I looked over and snapped a couple of pictures really quickly. The manatee hospital had two newly injured manatees that had arrived. Both were injured from boat strikes. They were in the back pool being fed.

Chesnut park

2011-09-26T12:56:00.001-04:00

That's a big pine cone he's got.

Female cardinal staring at me.

Carolina wren looking up in the trees.

This is either a Louisiana waterthrush or a northern waterthrush. They are so similar. I'd have to see them side by side to compare. It was a first one for me.

Butterfly art.

Still pretty quiet in the parks a few weeks ago. It's hard to get out and find different things when I've only got Saturday mornings to look right now. Things have been pretty busy with work and a trip to South Dakota (more on that later). I took the above on a hot Labor Day weekend Saturday morning. But things are looking up. Migration is happening now (although work is keeping me from a most of it) and soon things will cool off a bit.

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Oh, deer me!

2011-09-25T06:54:00.001-04:00

Finally! After going to Chesnut Park in north Pinellas county so many times in the last 2 years, I get some pictures of the deer. It was 8:30 in the morning and I was pulling into a parking spot when they came running by. They stopped at the edge of the woods right in front of me. At first I thought they would run into the swampy woods before I could even get my camera out. Four of the six did but two hung around along the edge for a while. I opened my car door and stood next to it and took the above quickly. Eventually, they all headed into the woods. I looked for them on the boardwalk but never did see them again. Last week, one of my coworkers said she saw 17 deer on the baseball field while biking one afternoon. One of these days I'm going to head up there later in the day to see what else I can find that I don't see in the mornings.

Rain on Gandy beach

2011-09-24T07:33:00.001-04:00

Laughing gull taking a bath.

Least sandpiper taking a bath.

BIG and little. Juvenile laughing gull on the left and least sandpiper on the right. I forget how small those sandpipers are until I see them next to a gull.

Least sandpiper walking around.

Dowitcher digging around for something.

Sandwich tern with a mouthful.

I stopped on the Gandy bridge beach on the way home from work hoping for some lightning pictures. The rain came but no lightning.

Almost night in the backyard - Skywatch Friday

2011-09-22T12:41:00.000-04:00

A Saturday night in the backyard. The sun was going down behind the palm tree.

More sunset.

Blue heron on my neighbor's dock. The sun was almost down and I tried to use my flash to get better light but I didn't have much reach.

My shutter frog came out a little early. I usually only see him after it's dark.

A lizard on a plant in my screened in porch. They sneak in under the screened door but we have to make sure they don't get in the house.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.