Nothing new at Circle B Bar Reserve

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

More black bellied whistling ducks

These ducks are just too cute. They almost look like a cartoon character. On my last trip to Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland a couple of weekends ago, they were all over the park. They kept flying overhead in circles. They are mostly considered a non-migratory duck so hopefully they will stay at the park through the summer. It would be nice to see some baby ones this year. It was interesting to see a large flock of sandhill cranes hanging out with the black bellies. They would all wander around together. So far, Circle B is the only place in the Tampa bay area that I have seen these ducks. I'm not sure why they love this place so much. Well, yes I do. I'm heading back there soon.

Duck, duck....(no goose) - Skywatch Friday

Black bellied whistling ducks flying by.

Black bellied whistling duck staring at me. What is it about these ducks that are so cute?

The marsh fields were full of black bellies right before sunset. They all had their heads stuck deep in the muck feeding when a hawk came flying overhead screaming. All of their heads shot up and searched the sky. They seemed very concerned.  After a few minutes they went back to eating. I shot this far away across  the field. They were all standing at attention.

Ring necked duck. I don't see these very often.

Blue winged teal with a little green showing.

Blue winged teal staring at me.

Lots of ducks at Circle B Bar Reserve right now. They are reporting record numbers of black bellied whistling ducks. The marsh fields were full of them on my late afternoon trip recently. There's such a huge variety of ducks there. The ponds are also full of coots. Soon most of these ducks will be migrating back home to the north. 

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Black bellied whistling ducks

Back in my pre-birder days, I thought all ducks looked alike. They were something that floated and quacked. But then I learned that not all ducks quack. Some whistle. Well, it's more like a wheezing noise. At Circle B Bar Reserve, you can hear them flying across the marsh by that distinct sound. The black bellied whistling ducks should win the duck fashion award (yes, I recently watch the Golden Globes) with their pink legs and feet and pink and orange beaks. The brown and creme wings make a nice pattern as well. 

There's a large quantity of them at Circle B right now. More than I've ever seen there at any one time. They were in small groups everywhere. It's funny to watch them stick their bright pink beaks deep into the mud and pull them out all wet and brown. I'm not sure if they nest in Florida. I hope to see some babies this spring.

Circle B Bar Reserve in December - Part 1

White pelicans flying by a few trees full of storks. Yes, we have winter in central Florida. Everything was brown and red. All of the pretty yellow flowers are gone.

Glossy ibis in flight.

Black bellied whistling ducks sleeping. They look so peaceful on the side of the trail.

Black bellied whistling duck preening with that bright pink beak.

Why did the warbler cross the road? To get the bug in the middle of it.

Glossy ibis preening.

The Tuesday before Christmas I decided to head to Circle B in Lakeland before we drove to Atlanta on Wednesday. It did not start out good. I got about 10 minutes away from the reserve and got a flat tire on Polk Parkway. Thank goodness for AAA. I've had it forever and that's the first time I've had to use it for a flat tire (and hopefully the last). He was there in under half an hour at 8am in the morning and it took him about 20 minutes to change it. All was not lost. I still headed to the reserve since I was almost already there. It was a quiet morning there. All of the birds seemed to be resting or preening. Since I knew I needed to head back to Tampa to get the tire replaced before the Atlanta trip I only stayed for two hours. I did manage to get a lot of pictures in that short time. More on Circle B to come.

First fall trip to Circle B Bar Reserve

I'm thinking this is a palm warbler. 

I'm thinking this is a pine warbler but I could be way off. There's a ton of little birds that look like this. Any ID would be great.  It was so tiny and flew by quickly. This is extremely cropped.

Black bellied whistling ducks. It's great to hear them go whistling by.

Pied grebe above. Recently I've been seeing them everywhere. They duck under water so quick.

Snowy egret taking off.

I hadn't been out to Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland since May. It's just been too hot to hike around an inland park. In the beginning of October we had a cold snap (meaning 80 degrees) and I had to go. I got there around 9am, which is late for birders but I really needed to sleep in. It was already hot. There weren't a lot of birds there but I did manage to catch a few tiny ones. I think I was just a little early for the big birding season there. Any id's on the first 2 little birds would be great. I looked them up but they all look alike. I'm planning on many visits there between now and spring.

Birds at Circle B Bar Reserve

Little blue heron in green (with a small blue dragonfly buzzing over him).


Black bellied whistling duck was giving me the eye. They should be called Pink feet whistling ducks.


Male anhinga drying off after a swim for food.

Purple gallinule trying to hide. This is my first picture of this bird. They are beautiful with their purple feathers and red beak with a yellow tip. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a picture of his big bright yellow feet. They are very skittish and he kept trying to go deeper in the grass. I didn't want to spook him so I left him with only the above picture.

Last weekend I made a trip to Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland. I hadn't been there in a while and was curious to see what was still hanging around the park now that the heat had set in. It was so hot, even early in the morning. I had heard it was alligator mating season and to be careful of them but I only saw one small alligator. The bigger ones must be deep in the cooler water now. The park was full of dragonflies and butterflies (pictures of them coming) and you could hear frogs croaking all over. There was only a handful of birds there. Now that all of the wintering birds and pelicans are gone it seemed a little empty in the park. It's still an amazing place though and I'll probably go back several times this summer even though I swear I won't until at least October.

Circle B Bar Part 1 - Fog

Spiderwebs in the fog.

Fog at Circle B Bar Reserve. You could still see all of the amazing yellow flowers everywhere.

Black bellied whistling ducks stomping around in the mud during the fog. This was one parent (orange beak) with 2 immature ones. They don't get their orange beak until later.

Great egret scratching in the fog.

Hiding in the fog - spoonbill, stork and black bellied whistling duck.

Spoonbill flying overhead in the fog.

This Sunday morning I went to a flickr meet-up at Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland. There were about 22 other photographers there. When I got there it was very foggy. At first I was bummed that it was so foggy but when I started walking out to the trail I noticed how everything was covered with spiderwebs. You could really see them because the moisture from the fog was on them. It almost looked like there was snow everywhere (except for the 80 degrees). I met up with everyone out at the bird pond. Most of the birds were sleeping (which is what we should have been doing). It was a challenge for me to get any shots of anything. I was able to get some of the above which shows wildlife a little differently.

There were so many different types of birds there. It's such an amazing place. The fog eventually lifted and I took so many pictures that morning. I'm breaking up this visit into several parts. Keep an eye out for Part 2.