Wild things at the zoo

First thing I saw at the zoo was a red bellied woodpecker. It was right at opening and no one else was around. The trees were full of them. Later when I was leaving I noticed they were all gone.

The zoo was full of these yellow flowers, which were full of bees.

Another late bloomer.  The above baby moorhen was swimming around the gibbon exhibit.

More butterfly art.

Yes, that's a gibbon holding on to the wing of an ibis. I was standing there looking at the baby moorhen when I heard a screaming from a bird. I looked over and the gibbon had grabbed the ibis by the wing when the ibis had wandered to close to the edge. I guess the gibbon thought it would be fun to play with. It was the mother gibbon who grabbed it. The baby gibbon was standing to the left of her.

The ibis started to peck at the gibbon with it's beak. The gibbon let go and was holding a handful of white feathers. I was about ready to jump in the pool to save the ibis (I'm sure the zoo would have loved that).

The captured ibis flew over to the wall once it was released. It seemed to be okay, just missing a few feathers.

On a recent weekend I was on call for work and needed to stay close to home. Since the zoo is only 15 minutes away I ran in for an hour. I hadn't been in several months. The last time I was there the baby spoonbills had left the nest and all I saw were a bunch of empty nests over the alligator exhibit. They won't be back until January or February. It was a pretty quiet morning. The biggest excitement was when the gibbon grabbed the ibis. Everyone was watching. I didn't have the exposure correct on those pictures. I was focusing on the baby moorhen which was swimming in the shadows but when I heard the screaming from the bird I looked over and snapped a couple of pictures really quickly.  The manatee hospital had two newly injured manatees that had arrived. Both were injured from boat strikes. They were in the back pool being fed.

Wild stuff at the zoo

Blue jay in the tree.

Cool grasshopper. The zoo is full of them.

Adult blue heron feeding baby that's not so little anymore.

Baby blue heron yelling for mom to go get more food.

Baby blue heron profile. It'll be leaving the nest soon.

One of the last baby moorhens to be born. There might still be a few stragglers.

On my trip to the zoo to see the spoonbills, I walked around and found a few interesting things. The zoo is full of grasshoppers right now. Some of them have a lot of color. The last of the baby blue herons are getting big. Soon the alligator exhibit will only have alligators in it. How boring. My plan is to check on the baby spoonbills one more time before they take off.  I'm not sure how old they get before they leave the nest. Hopefully, I'll have another week to catch them.

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Carillon Park after work - Skywatch Friday

Anhinga sitting on the boardwalk.  These girls are used to people being close. You can walk right by them on boardwalk.

Juvenile moorhens in the green muck.

Juvenile tricolored heron hiding in the reeds.

Small rainbow coming from the fountain in the lake.

Male anhinga drying his wings on a fountain platform that wasn't turned on.

Another hot walk around a park close by work. At least that way I miss traffic. There wasn't anything too interesting there. I did see a few small alligators but they stayed pretty far away. The anhingas think they own the boardwalk around the lake. Most people are jogging by and the birds don't even flinch. They just keep preening. If you stop and stare at them and slowly walk up to them, they wave their beaks at you and honk.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

Alien babies at the zoo

"I'm not going in there."

"Look at my big feet."

"Big sis is blocking our way out."

"I am not ugly!"

"Gimmi kiss, Mom."

I found this moorhen family hanging around the ponds at one of the primate exhibits at Lowry Park Zoo.  After hanging out with the baby spoonbills, I walked around the zoo to see what else was going on. I think baby moorhens win the prize for the "Face only a mother could love" category. I think there were two families there because the one in the 2nd picture was much older than the other two. They all stayed close together though. It's that time of the year. Everywhere I go I see small black dots swimming behind momma moorhens.

Carillon Wetlands

Female anhinga panting in the heat. This one has pretty colors on her face.

My first brown thrasher. They're suppose to be fairly common but I haven't seen one before. It was getting dark and even with a flash I had a hard time getting this bird.

Alien duck!  (Baby moorhen)

Another alien duck in the shadows right before dark.

More alligator food.

There's a small wetlands park in the middle of an office park very near where I work. There are two small lakes, one is surrounded by office buildings and has a boardwalk around it. The other is surrounded by townhomes and has a walking path around it. I had heard there were bitterns there so I stopped by after work last week. I didn't find the bitterns but I found a few other things. Right before dark I found a moorhen with a baby. They are the funniest looking babies. Yes, both lakes have alligators so that rabbit better watch out!

Hanging with the hoodies.

My hubby came home from the gym one Saturday afternoon recently and said "There are hoodies down at the pond. Bring your camera and let's run down there and get some pictures." Usually, there are only a few mallards there. So off we went, to the small pond down the street.  We found two hooded merganser couples hanging out there. It was an overcast day and the reflection of the trees on the pond made the pond seem red and green.

Hooded mergansers are short distance migratory ducks. They are probably coming from somewhere in New England and hang out in Florida during the winter. They are diving ducks which dive under water to catch their food. They won't hang around to be fed like mallards so they are usually pretty skittish. I sat on the edge of the pond for about half an hour and watched them swim around and preen. There was a couple in the channel behind our house for about two weeks but I haven't seen them recently. I wonder if one of these were the same couple.

The below is a moorhen couple that was hanging out with the hoodies as well.

Boardwalk at Carillon - My World Tuesday

After work last week I stopped at a park close by for a walk. I was walking along this boardwalk where there are always a lot of joggers. The above anhinga is so use to people now she would not move for me. I was afraid to get that close to walk by the tight boardwalk. After a few minutes I shooed her away with my camera.

This is the first time I've seen moorhens preening each other. My cockatiels at home do it all the time but I've never seen wild birds like these do it. That shows how use to people they are here.

The above tricolored heron was strutting along the lakeshore.

Dragonflies are still everywhere.

This small lake has a few small alligators.

I wanted to get some exercise in before the drive home one day last week after work. Now that it's getting darker earlier I have to hit some places really close to work. Carillon Park is an office park that has a small lake with a boardwalk around it. After work it's full of joggers and walkers so most of the big water birds are use to having people around. It started out sunny then the clouds moved in right before I left.

Variety at Kapok Park

Glossy ibis yawning.

Hawk hiding in a tree.

You can always count on an anhinga sitting in a park.

Cowbird in a small tree.

Two juvenile moorhens heading towards me.

Juvenile moorhens hanging together.

I stopped by Kapok Park after work in between the rain storms last week. I didn't think I'd see much there but I did manage to find a few birds. The glossy ibis was a nice surprise. I have never seen them there before. There were several moorhen families with juveniles together. I didn't see very many ducks and the park is usually filled with them. I saw the hawk for about a second and then it flew off and headed out of the park. I looked for the great horned owls but could not find them. Hopefully they'll be back soon and we'll have another baby this winter.

Hot night at Lake Seminole Park

The usual dragonfly.


Great egret posing. He must be used to all of the people at the park. He didn't even flinch when I stopped to take his picture.

Tri color heron landing in the reeds. Taken into the sun right before sunset.

Great egret flying across the lake.

Juvenile moorhen screaming for a snack. I love their big yellow feet.

A large group of ducks waiting for a handout. The stick in the upper middle is a big sign that says "Do not feed the wildlife, including ducks." People ignore it. There's a spot at the lake near a small parking lot that the ducks congregate at. People park there and feed the ducks. The ducks are very aggressive and will charge at your ankles if you don't feed them.

I stopped off at Lake Seminole Park one day last week to check on the limpkin nest. I had been there 2 weeks before and there were several eggs in a nest built on a shallow section of the lake. I wanted to see if the eggs had hatched. Since it had been raining every day for a week the nest was under 2 feet of water. I couldn't see from the boardwalk if the eggs were still there so I don't know if they had already hatched and the family had moved on. I didn't see any limpkins on that end of the lake which is unusual. Sad, hot and depressed I started the walk back to my car. I was thinking I wouldn't find any birds around but I did manage to see a few before I left.