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.

Pretty flowers and a cute little snake

Where did all the birds go????  I headed out to the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo for a long walk on a recent hot Saturday morning. The rain was coming later in the day. The only birds I saw there were mockingbirds and moorhens. Did all the birds fly north for the summer?  Don't they know it's hotter up there than it is down here?  There were some beautiful flowers there so I was glad I brought my small lens along. I changed lens for the morning since I didn't need my 500mm. I wished I had also brought my close up filters to use. It was really to hot to focus on getting some macro shots though. I had to keep moving. If I stopped for more than 30 seconds I felt like I was going to pass out. My last stop was the car before stepping over the little black snake on the trail back.

Florida Botanical Gardens and a new park

One robin says to the other "Man, this Florida living is nice. I'm never going back up north."

Red bellied woodpecker says "No, this is not a berry in my mouth."

Mallard says to moorhen "Stop chasing me." Moorhen says to mallard "Then why are you running? You're much bigger than me."

Yellow rumped warbler says "I'm all alone."

The big yellow flower says "Spring is already in Florida."

The first turtle says "Last one out gets eaten by an alligator."

Spring flower says "No snow down here."

It was a couple of weekends ago that is was freezing (by Florida standards). It was the last cold weekend we had for the season. I got to the Florida Botanical Gardens around 9am and my car said it was 42 degrees outside. I thought "This is crazy. I should have stayed home in bed." But the sun was out and it warmed up pretty quick to about 60 degrees. There weren't a lot of flowers out but I did find a few that were blooming. A big flock of American robins flew by and a couple landed on a tree right in front of me.

Before I headed home, I decided to try out a new park close by the botanical gardens.  George C. McGough Nature Park in Largo is a small nature park. I had recently read that the resident owl who has lived at the center since being orphaned as a baby was missing. Someone broke into the center after closing and cut open his cage. The owl never learned to hunt for himself.  My thought is the people who did this thought they were doing the owl a favor but the owl will probably starve to death. Which is right? Set him free to starve or stay locked in a cage for life? The owl visited schools for learning programs and to teach kids about conversation and wildlife. At this point the owl has not been found.  The park sits on the intercoastal waterway and has a nice boardwalk that goes out over the water. The day I was there it was so windy. I didn't see any birds at all on the whole walk. Only some turtles and flowers. I'll have to give the park another try soon.

Below is an attempt to record a cardinal singing.

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