Backyard visitors

Green heron on my dock. You can see the neighbor's pool slide behind him.

The female kingfisher was yelling about something. That's her "I'm on alert." pose with her tail sticking up in the air. Once she saw me in the window she took off down the channel.

Juvenile red shouldered hawk on my neighbor's dock.

Yuck! It was so windy that morning, the osprey couldn't carry that big old fish all the way up to the top of the sail mast so he stopped on one of the bars lower down on mast.

Just a few birds from my backyard last weekend. All pictures taken through a window, either the bedroom or dining room.

  Our World Tuesday

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After work walk at Carillon Park

Female anhinga posing for a portrait. They love to do this.

I think this is a pine warbler.

Tricolored heron

Green heron on the boardwalk.

There's a small lake with a boardwalk around it about 5 minutes from work (and that's if I hit the one red light). I don't go there that often to look for birds since it's always busy with people jogging and walking their dogs on the boardwalk. But since it was the last week of daylight after work I stopped by for a quick walk. It was such a beautiful night, it was packed with people. I didn't see anything unusual but at least I got a good walk in before heading home. Above are a few things I saw on my walk. There's always a lot of anhingas around and they are not afraid of the joggers or dogs. They will sit on the boardwalk rail while you walk right past them. If you stop or get to close they will wave their beak at you but won't leave. I try not to get too close because I'm always afraid they'll stick me with that beak.

Birds at the St. Pete Yacht Club

Pelican in front of the pier.

Which one doesn't belong? There's a small ruddy turnstone 3rd from the left. I guess he figured there was safety in all of those laughing gulls.

At the boat ramp. Some guys dumped their bait fish in the parking lot before driving off.

Laughing gulls flying in for the bait fish fest.

You can usually find green herons around marinas. We have several that hang around in the channels by my house.

Great blue heron posing.

I have a friend who has a key to get into the gate at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club so an after work photo walk got scheduled pretty quick. We headed down there right after work and had about an hour and a half before it got dark. The docks there sit across the lagoon from the St. Pete Pier (in the first picture). It was neat seeing everything from a new angle. I had never been out on those docks before. We saw the usual water birds there. Lots of pelicans, great blue herons, great egrets and tons of laughing gulls. They were pretty quiet and getting ready for bed since the sun was about to go down. We had a lot of fun and headed back to our cars well after dark. I almost got a parking ticket from running out of meter time but we got back right as he was writing me a ticket and gave me a warning instead. Those guys are so nice!

  Our World Tuesday

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Crescent Lake Park

Green heron sitting on a metal stick that was in the lake.

A late bloomer. Mon only had the one with her.

A strange looking duck family. That white one is sticking his neck out like "Look at me!".

Wild parrot that lives in the water tower next to the lake. They hang out on the ballpark fence.

Staring at me like "What is she doing?"

Before I head over to downtown St. Peterburg to walk along the big pier on the bay, I like to stop at a small park nearby. Crescent Lake is surrounded by houses and small apartments and it's always busy with people jogging, walking and walking their dogs. The wildlife there is nothing spectacular but it does have a few neat things. A flock of geese live there all year. At first there were only a handful of them but last spring one of the couples had babies and now there's a big family of them. They are pretty aggressive because people feed them. There's a large flock of wild parrots living in the water tower at the corner of the lake and they are loud. I would hate to live across the street from that tower. Those parrots were squawking the entire time I was there. I can usually find the usual great egrets and great blue herons. On this trip I saw the green heron but he took off pretty quick. After a lap around the lake I headed to downtown St. Pete.

Birds at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve

Green heron hiding in the trees.

Great blue heron posing in front of the St. Petersburg downtown skyline (way off in the distance).

Tricolored heron

Male anhinga looking up.

White ibis looking down.

Nothing different or unusual about these birds. This was all I could find at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve. It was a hot walk and most of the birds were resting either high in the trees or close to the water to get a good breeze. The birds all looked lazy and sleepy. This was around 9am so they were already getting ready for a morning nap. I don't blame them. I managed to walk around the park for about 2 hours and then went home for my afternoon nap.

Little critters at Sawgrass Lake Park

Green heron. One of the few birds I saw there.

Looking down the river from the end of the boardwalk.

Dragonfly season is in full swing.

Butterfly. (or moth?)

Another butterfly.

I stopped by Sawgrass Lake Park after work a couple of weeks ago. It's pretty close to work. It's starting to get hot and muggy. There weren't a lot of birds there. This park is usually more of a miss than hit when it comes to birds. I almost always see green herons and anhingas but that's about all. Of course, I usually only go after work and there might be a different crowd there in the morning. I can usually find good critters there though.  I don't know my butterfly species at all. I barely know the bird ones so it will be a while before I start to learn them. They are pretty though, when they sit still. While I was there I got bitten several times by big brown flies. I had a good coat of Off on and still got bit. Those biting flies are worse than mosquitoes. The bites itched for days. No amount of hydrocortisone cream or calamine lotion helped. If anyone has a great remedy, please let me know.



Chesnut Park birds and animals.

I was walking along the boardwalk and heard a scream. I backed up thinking "that's a hawk close by". I look all around and found the above screaming right above my head.

All of a sudden he notices me. He looks at me like "where'd you come from" and took off.

I found this male anhinga posing on a stump. I like the way his white feathers stick out on his head.

I found this green heron poking around in the reeds.

My goal every time I go to Chesnut Park it to get pictures of the wild deer that live there. This is all I got. I saw it right as it was dashing under the boardwalk and ran deep in the woods. My husband said "Why do you keep taking pictures of deer butts?" Cause that's all I keep seeing. One of these days though...

This small alligator seemed to be smiling at me. Alligators are like dolphins in that they seem to both have a permanent smile on their faces.

Circle B Bar Reserve in December - Part 2

Yes, this cattle egret ate the frog. Down in one gulp!

Osprey flying over me.

 

The osprey finally got a fish. I tried to get him hitting the lake to catch it but it was directly in the sun and did not come out well. As he flew past me I was able to get the above.

Turkey vulture peeking out behind the tree.

 

Green heron in the lake.

More birds from my pre-Christmas trip to Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland. The place is finally hopping with variety. Lots more from my post-Christmas trip later.



Lots of animals at Carillon Park.

Lots of turtles in the lake at Carillon Park.  Now that it hasn't rained in a while the water is really low. There were turtles all along the edge of the lake.

Limpkin giving me the eye.

Green heron walking along the railing.

Cute bunny on the sidewalk eating some grass.

Blue jay in the tree before sunset.

This looks precarious but there are metal bars along certain parts of  the lake. This was taken just before sunset.

Opsrey sitting on a palm tree with a sliver of the moon behind him.

One last trip to Carillon Park before the time change and it's dark after work. It's a small lake surrounded by office buildings. There's an amazing amount of wildlife there considering it has office buildings and a hotel all along the lake. Since the weather had cooled off a bit there were tons of joggers out on the boardwalk. I didn't see any small migrant birds, only water birds. I might have to try and get over there for a quick walk during lunch when the weather gets really cold (under 70 degrees).