Ducky weekend in the backyard.

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.

Kapok Park

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.

Little birds at Chesnut Park

Pied grebe looking back at me.

Male cardinal in the tree.

Female cardinal eating something on the ground.

Gray catbird. I've been seeing these everywhere lately.

Cutest tufted titmouse.

Another titmouse.

Lots of little birds at Chesnut Park recently. I didn't see any rare migrants. Only the usual above. I walked along the boardwalk at the boat ramp and hardly saw anything. Nothing but coots and moorhens in the water. Then I hit the nature trail. I found all of the above on the nature trail.  Later I stopped by the picnic area to walk along the water to see if there were any water birds around. When I headed toward the lake I walked into a wall of gnats. At first I panicked because I thought they were mosquitoes which seemed to just be coming out. When I realized they weren't biting I thought "Okay, annoying but at least no bites." Boy, where they annoying. I was covered in them within minutes. I had to cover my nose and mouth to breath. I decided it wasn't worth it and left. I still got in a two hour walk but was hoping for three. I went home instead and did much needed chores.

Lots of birds at Kapok Park

Juvenile blue heron walking around in the dead reeds.

Anhinga's got lunch.

Pied grebe is shaking off the water.

Warbler posing on a branch.

Grackles and cowbirds (below) are always on the boardwalk.

There was a pretty decent variety of birds at Kapok Park in Clearwater for a Sunday afternoon. I only had a few hours and didn't want to go to far away so I stopped off at the park to walk around. There wasn't anything unusual at the park. The highlight of the visit was the above anhinga getting a fish. 

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.

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.

Lake Seminole Park

White duck looking for a handout.


Lone limpkin

Grebe all wet from diving under for food.

Great blue heron trying to hide in the reeds.

Saturday morning I paid a visit to Lake Seminole Park. I hadn't been there in while. It was pretty cold and windy when I got there. I wasn't sure if I would see much wildlife. There were a handful of birds there. The usual osprey, herons and ducks. This past spring there was an osprey nest with babies and a great blue heron nest with babies at the large center pond. I'll have to check again this spring to see if they are back. When I was driving out of the park I saw a big group of ducks by one of the small parking areas. I pulled in to see what kind of ducks where there. As soon as I drove into a parking spot the ducks all came running to the car. They have obviously been feed there often. When I got out with my camera they came running up to me as if to attack my feet. I jumped back in the car and took a few pictures from the window. The ironic thing is there is a big sign there that says "Do not feed the wildlife" with a picture of a duck.