Creepy crawler weekend

Moon peaking through the clouds in my front yard.

Spider web.

Creepy black spider at Chesnut Park.

My first praying mantis sighting at Chesnut Park.

Spiny orb-weaver in my backyard. We have two of them in our grapefruit tree. They are not poisonous.

  Camera Critters

Chesnut Park

Cool red and black spider. I've never seen one like this before.

Tufted titmouse posing for me in the tree. These little birds are so cute.

Female red winged black bird doing the splits in the reeds.

Female grackle trying to eat a snail.

Yellow warbler in a palm tree.

The bird whisperer feeding a titmouse.

On a hot sweaty morning a couple of weekends ago, I ran into Bob. He was sitting on the boardwalk that runs along the lake watching the birds. I crept up near him and watched him feed some female red winged blackbirds. We started talking and after sitting there for a while a titmouse came up and ate some seed out of his hand. It was pretty amazing watching this tiny little bird sitting on his hand. We sat there for a while and then moved on to another part of the park where I found the above yellow warbler. There wasn't too much else in the park that morning. It was just too hot. I'm going to head back there in the next couple of weeks since I've heard the migrate birds are starting to come through.



Non bird things at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve

 I think this is a silk orb spider. Looks like there's a baby one with it.

Otter teasing me.

"Hey, I'm over here, otter."

He popped up far away and looked like he was eating something. I snapped quick but wasn't really ready for this shot. It didn't come out well but I realized when I cropped it up he was eating a small turtle. He chowed down for a few seconds, then went back down into the water.

A family of four raccoons went quickly scurring by me on the trail. The smallest one stayed back and climbed half way up the tree and was watching me. After a few seconds he climbed back down and hurried to catch up with his family.

This big slow guy wasn't going anywhere. He stopped munching on the grass for a few seconds and looked up.

Lily pad flower upclose. The water was full of them. Lots of tiny bugs hanging out on them.

I headed out on a recent hot Saturday morning to Boyd Hill Nature preserve in south St. Petersburg. I figured since the front trail was mostly shaded and went along a big lake then maybe there would be a nice breeze and it wouldn't feel so hot. I was wrong. Even the tons of alligators there stayed hidden under the water. I would have liked to be hidden under the water as well. I was walking along one of the boardwalks that goes over a section of the lake and and heard a snort. I realized it was an otter swimming around. It was the first time I had seen one at this park. I was so excited. Except he stayed in the shadows and mostly under the bushes hanging along the water so it was hard to get good pictures of him. He blended into the water most of the time. He was cute though and kept swimming around under the boardwalk. The bird sightings were disappointed but since I watched an otter play, passed a turtle and raccoon I still thought it was a pretty successful morning.

Non bird things at Circle B Bar Reserve - My World Tuesday

I was disappointed in the alligator count during my recent visit. I only saw this small one. I had heard a really big one had been sitting on the trail recently but I never saw it. It might have still been too hot for them to come out of the water.

I found these tiny frogs sitting on a small palm tree right on the trail.  This frog was smaller than my thumb.

This frog was on the same tree as the above but was a little greener and bigger. I'm thinking he's an older version of the one above? They both have the white stripe down their sides.

There were a lot of these spiders everywhere at the park. Since there hasn't been any rain for a while there were big spider webs all along the trail. They were spread out across the trail just over my head. It was a little creepy walking underneath them.

Still a lot of butterflies at the park. This one looks like his wing has had a rough time.

There are lots of other animals at Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland besides birds. Big spiders were everywhere. I just tried to pay attention where I was walking around trees so I wouldn't walk into any webs. Besides lots of the above, there are wild hogs, otters and coyotes. All of which I have not seen there yet. I hear the wild hogs come out at dusk so I won't be hanging around there after dark. There's also the usual raccoons and snakes as well but I have seen those there.

Go and check out more MyWorld images at the MyWorld Site! http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

Little critters at Largo Botanical Gardens

You can always find lots of bugs and little flying things at the Botanical Gardens. It was hot so there were lots of them out. I walked over to a little lily pond and thought "It would be so cute if there were frogs in here". And then I noticed the tiny frog sitting right there looking at me. He was on the other side and I took the above quick. When I started to walk around the little pond to get closer he jumped under the water.

Below is a beautyberry bush. I told my hubby that we need to plant these in the backyard. They attract butterflies. Eventually we'll get around to it. The last picture was taken from one of the bridges that goes over the river that runs through the gardens. On one end the river has started to become overgrown.

A magical place

Pond full of storks.

Marsh full of egrets. The trees in the back were also full of birds.


Stork tree. A natural decorated Christmas tree. (Sorry, already thinking about the holidays.)

Big alligator sleeping in the same pond as the storks.

Big spiders were everywhere.

I recently discovered a new place for wildlife thanks to my flickr contacts. The Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland. It was so easy to get to from Tampa, just off the Polk Parkway. It's an old cattle ranch with a big lake. Lots of walking trails, ponds, nice nature center and lots of animals. It felt like what Florida would feel like 50 years ago. I got there around 9am Saturday morning and there weren't a lot of people there. I think as the weather cools off it will get more crowded. The ponds or marshes were full of little fish which meant there were tons of birds eating right in front of me. There were so many different types of birds all together. (More bird pictures later). The alligators were huge. I saw at least 7. I can't wait to get back there in next couple of weeks, especially to see the eagles. I heard there were 3 nests on the property although I didn't see any eagles while I was there.