Birds and ducks at Circle B Bar Reserve

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

Chesnut Park

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 on a cold day

Grackle eating a slice of bread that someone had dropped in the lake for the turtles. These birds almost look black but when you see them in the sunlight you can see their different shades of blue and gray.

Glossy ibis that has been hanging around the park for a while now. This was the first time I've seen it close to the boardwalk.

 

I was walking on the boardwalk when the above anhinga popped out of the water. She swam back and forth in front of me and seemed to be showing me her prize. She swam under the boardwalk to swallow it so I was not able to get a shot of that. I'm assuming she did. She swam back out with fish parts stuck on her beak.

Wet pied grebe had just popped out of the water.

 

I think the duck on the left was saying "Stop splashing me while she's trying to take a picture you ole coot."

By cold I mean a high of 72 degrees. A couple of weeks ago we had a cold blast in central Florida and I slept in that morning and headed out to the park later that afternoon. Someone had just dropped an entire loaf of bread in the lake and grackles were diving down for them. It turned out to be a nice day and I didn't even need my jacket.

Chesnut Park birds & an alligator too.

I think this is a red bellied woodpecker. Cobb, can you confirm?

Another grebe. I'm seeing these ducks everywhere now so they must be migrating in for the winter.

One of the resident bald eagles that live at the park. He was very far away and off the beaten path. I probably would not have seen this guy if it wasn't for a couple of audubon members who were at the boat ramp boardwalk and showed him to me through a scope. They were nice enough to tell me which path to take to get a better view. This was still highly cropped with my 500mm lens.

I heard an osprey calling but couldn't find him. Finally, I realized he was right over my head in a pine tree.

Coot and reflection in the reeds.

I only saw the above baby alligator. Usually I see several.

After a very successful trip to Chesnut Park back in late September, I had to get back there again. I was hoping to find the kingfisher I had seen diving for fish but I couldn't find him on this trip. I did, however, manage to find a bald eagle with the help of some great Pinellas county birders. I got to the park early, around 8:30, which is early for me. I headed straight for the boat ramp boardwalk and ran into some birders watching an eagle with a scope. We all chatted for a while and swapped favorite park stories. It was a great morning even if I didn't see any deer. Great deer sighting there is one of my goals. I think this may become one of my new favorite places to walk. At least for now.

Bird variety at Kapok Park

Mallard swimming around. I love the colors on these guys - orange feet, yellow beak, green head.
American coot taking a bath.

This osprey looked strange. He doesn't seem to have as much brown on his head. It makes him look like a ghost bird.

Great blue heron eating with turtle friend.


Busy getting a snack!

Mockingbird sitting pretty.

The last couple of visits to Kapok Park had not been too exciting. I went this past weekend and there were more signs of life at the park. There were at least 3 opsrey flying over the lake trying to get lunch. Lots of ducks there. Soon there will be lots of baby ducks swimming around. Two specific things I was looking for but did not find were otters and owls. I have only seen the otters from far away and was not able to get any good pictures. I had heard the owls were back at the park but did not see them this past weekend. I also saw a picture of a bobcat that people say lives there. I'm going to be on the lookout for him as well for my next trip.