I thought spring was over

 

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? 

 

Butterflies, bees and a bird.

Big lesson learned when I arrived at the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo. I get to the park and pull out my camera and immediately want to take the picture of the above Carolina wren that was close to the parking lot. I knew he wouldn't sit there long. Yes, I drove to the park with my air conditioning blasting. Yes, my lens fogged up. I had my cleaning cloth with me in my backpack and tried to wipe off the fog but it just kept fogging up. Now, while it's still so hot and humid, I drive with the windows rolled down to the park. And to top it all off this was the only bird I saw worth taking a picture of. It was so hot and fall migration had not started yet. So I settled for a few bee and butterfly pictures.

Flowers and bees

Just a handful of flower and bee shots I took at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. I could have stayed there all day and taken pictures but it was reaching 96 degrees outside and I was hungry. Above are a few of my favorites.

Wild things at the zoo

I'm probably one of the only people that goes to the zoo and looks for non-zoo animals. There's always a lot of wildlife hanging around zoos. It's a good place to steal a handout. I almost always find the above great blue heron hanging out at the pond at the cheetah exhibit. He's eating the little fish that live in that pond. Usually, I find tons of wild water birds but a recent visit only provided a few. The above yellow flowers where covered in little critters and the zoo was still full of grasshoppers eating their way through the plants.

Quiet morning at Largo Botanical Gardens

I went for a walk at the Largo Botanical Gardens last weekend and didn't see too many birds. In fact, I think the only thing I saw were moorhens. The above picture is of a juvenile moorhen. I didn't see any alligators there and usually they are everywhere. I'm assuming they are hiding under the water. There were tons of butterflies and dragonflies buzzing everywhere. If it wasn't so hot I probably would have spent more time trying to get different pictures. After two hours in the heat I headed home.

Small things that fly or jump - Atlanta

While there weren't a lot of birds at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, there was still a lot of wildlife there. Lots of bees and butterflies around. They had a pond that was full of frogs. Not just ordinary frogs. They were big beautiful bright green and yellow frogs. I've never seen them that pretty here in Florida. Watching the frog pond was worth the price of admission.

Atlanta Part 2 - Bugs & Bees

On a recent trip to Atlanta, I noticed a lot of bugs and bees were starting to come around now that the weather was warming up a bit there. I had some time to kill one afternoon while visiting the in-laws and was trying to practice taking pictures of up close bugs. I did manage to get one bee in flight, which is really hard. I was trying to get close enough with my shorter lens but they would start to buzz around my head. I'm not sure what type of bug that is in the middle picture. He was very tiny. I know, I need to get a macro lens (it's on my wish list).