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.



White pelican party at Circle B Bar Reserve - Skywatch Friday

What is it about the white pelicans showing up at Circle B that is so much fun? My guess is that we don't see them that often in Florida except in the winter. And you rarely find them around the gulf coast side, although you may catch a far away glimpse of the small group that hangs out near Fort Desoto. They say that there are up to several thousand at Circle B right now. The pelicans fly back and forth between Lake Hancock and the marsh pond at Wading Bird Way trail. Almost all day you can see small groups of pelicans flying overhead back and forth. No one has been able to tell me why they do that. Unlike the brown pelican, the white pelican does not dive for its food. Instead it catches its prey while swimming. They swim in small groups and scoop up the fish. There are already fish kills from the severe cold weather this year. If it keeps up the pelicans will be leaving soon. I think last winter they were all gone by February. Hopefully, I can fit a couple of more trips in before they leave this winter.

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Circle B Bar Reserve in December - Part 1

White pelicans flying by a few trees full of storks. Yes, we have winter in central Florida. Everything was brown and red. All of the pretty yellow flowers are gone.

Glossy ibis in flight.

Black bellied whistling ducks sleeping. They look so peaceful on the side of the trail.

Black bellied whistling duck preening with that bright pink beak.

Why did the warbler cross the road? To get the bug in the middle of it.

Glossy ibis preening.

The Tuesday before Christmas I decided to head to Circle B in Lakeland before we drove to Atlanta on Wednesday. It did not start out good. I got about 10 minutes away from the reserve and got a flat tire on Polk Parkway. Thank goodness for AAA. I've had it forever and that's the first time I've had to use it for a flat tire (and hopefully the last). He was there in under half an hour at 8am in the morning and it took him about 20 minutes to change it. All was not lost. I still headed to the reserve since I was almost already there. It was a quiet morning there. All of the birds seemed to be resting or preening. Since I knew I needed to head back to Tampa to get the tire replaced before the Atlanta trip I only stayed for two hours. I did manage to get a lot of pictures in that short time. More on Circle B to come.

War Memorial Park - a few bites - My World Tuesday

Juvenile blue heron eating a dragonfly.

Great blue heron with a fish.

There are so many parks in Pinellas county. I was on my way to look for the eagles and decided to drive through the War Memorial Park that sits on the water. I had been by there many times but never inside the park. It sits on an inlet in south St. Petersburg.  At first I thought there wouldn't be too much there but I did find a few birds eating. As I wandered out to the end of the park, I noticed the above couple sitting under the palm trees watching the gulls fly by. They seemed so peaceful it made me want to stop, slow down and take in the sights.  That lasted about a minute and then I was on to find more birds.

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Limpkins at Lettuce Lake

More nasty weather pictures from Lettuce Lake. There were quite a number of limpkins in the park right before Christmas. They were loud, yelling back and forth. When I was taking these pictures a man stopped me and was asking about the limpkins. He said they sounded like turkeys to him. In a way I guess they do. The last 2 pictures almost look the same. The limpkin had an apple snail in his beak and walked over to the edge and started banging it on a stump in the water. In the bottom picture he has pulled out the snail part and left the shell over to the left.  

I said he, but both the male and female look exactly alike. I've been told that the male is slightly larger but I can't tell the difference when I see 2 of them together.

Nasty weather at Lettuce Lake

I think both the above and below pictures are an eastern phoebe. I've seen them there before.

Warbler?

 

Red bellied woodpecker. You can see it was not a nice day.

Female cardinal.

 

This looks like a downy woodpecker or is it a female yellow bellied sapsucker? They look almost alike.

The weekend before Christmas was really yucky. It rained all day on Saturday. It drizzled Sunday morning. It stopped by lunchtime but still looked like the end could come at anytime. I had cabin fever so I headed out to Lettuce Lake. It's not too far and there's a boardwalk along the lake so it wouldn't be too muddy. It felt cold in the wind without the sun out. Most of the bigger water birds were on the other side of the lake but there were a few smaller birds along the boardwalk. It was worth bundling up and getting out of the house.

Eagles in St. Petersburg - Skywatch Friday

What da ya want? I'm scratchin!

She says "It's about time you got home." He says "Stop nagging."

"Let's kiss and makeup."

King on his throne.

Hopefully, she's counting her eggs.

Going fishing.

Last spring I had heard about an eagle couple that was living in a cemetery in St. Petersburg. I never did make it down there but when I heard they were back this winter I had to go and see them. It's an older cemetery but nicely kept. I think the old tree he was sitting on was the only one in the place so you couldn't miss it. I'm guessing they don't want to cut it down so the eagles have a place to hang out. The nest is nearby in a large pine tree. I took all of the above with my Sigma 500mm and they were cropped up so they are not as close as they look.  It's a strange place to find eagles but there are bays and inlets close by for fish. I'm going to check back in a month or so to see if there are babies.

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