Under water at Homosassa Springs

It's all about the manatees at Homosassa Springs Park.

Upclose manatees swimming by.

My husband was impressed by all of the snook and how well you could see them.

Large groups of manatees huddled together for warmth.

You could see the tail damage on the above. Almost all of the manatees have boat marks on them.

Mom & baby hanging close together.

This manatee was in the hospital tank there.

It's amazing how clear the water is at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. My husband had never been there and I had gone with my family several times when I was growing up so I wanted to bring him there to see it. It was sunny several weekends ago but we had underestimated how much colder it would be an hour north of Tampa. The park had opened the spring gates to let the wild manatees in to the more shallow warmer water. The river was full of them. Walking over the main bridge across the river gives you a chance to see them swimming right underneath you. There's also an observation deck over the deeper part of the river. Tour boats anchor in front of the deck and people get in the water in wet suits and swim with the manatees.

Winter is the best time to visit the park. I stopped by there in late May and the deer flies were biting so bad that no amount of deet was stopping them. Besides the manatees, they also have other animals that have found homes here: otters, alligators, bears, red wolves and tons of birds. But more on the birds later.

Osprey misses a fish - Skywatch Friday

I was at Chesnut Park recently and saw an osprey flying overhead. He seemed to be hovering in one spot. A few seconds later he flew down and went for the fish. He came up empty clawed. I was bummed. I'm sure he was too. I thought he would go for another try but after hovering again for a few minutes he flew off across the lake. Maybe it was peer pressure.

These are the first pictures I took with my new camera. I finally bought the new Nikon D7000. After breezing through the manual, I took off for the park. I made a mental list of things to look up when I got home and spent most of the Saturday afternoon studying it. I think I'm going to like this new camera. It takes up more space on a memory card. When I put a new 8g card in my old D90 it would tell me I could take almost 1,000 pictures with it. When I put in a new 8g with the D7000 it said I could take a little over 500. I'm really going to have to keep my files edited down on my laptop.

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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.

More white pelicans before they leave

More white pelican pictures from my New Year's weekend trip at Circle B Bar Reserve. Their visit is such a short one that I've been taking a lot of pictures of them. They may leave as early as mid-February. Last year they were almost all gone by then due to the severe cold winter. They must have gone further south to find more food. Since my trip several weeks ago I've heard there are much fewer there now.

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Black bellied whistling ducks

Back in my pre-birder days, I thought all ducks looked alike. They were something that floated and quacked. But then I learned that not all ducks quack. Some whistle. Well, it's more like a wheezing noise. At Circle B Bar Reserve, you can hear them flying across the marsh by that distinct sound. The black bellied whistling ducks should win the duck fashion award (yes, I recently watch the Golden Globes) with their pink legs and feet and pink and orange beaks. The brown and creme wings make a nice pattern as well. 

There's a large quantity of them at Circle B right now. More than I've ever seen there at any one time. They were in small groups everywhere. It's funny to watch them stick their bright pink beaks deep into the mud and pull them out all wet and brown. I'm not sure if they nest in Florida. I hope to see some babies this spring.

Sandhill cranes at Circle B Bar Reserve

On my New Year's eve trip to Circle B, I found a few sandhill cranes out in an almost dry marsh. There seem to be 2 couples that had crossed paths. Normally, when I see them they are just gracefully grazing and ignore me if they see me. These sandhill cranes were strutting around and honking.  Maybe there was a territorial dispute or maybe they just didn't like each other. It's funny how the feathers on the back of the crane fluff up when they are strutting around. That's their "something's going on" strut. I've heard that one of the couples has now built a nest near the trail so I may have to head back to Circle B in the next couple of weeks. Last year, a couple had one baby that grew up there. I didn't see it until it was much older but it was still brown and fluffy.

New Year's Day at Fort Desoto Park - Skywatch Friday

While everyone up north was snowed in, I spent New Year's Day at the beach. Ahh, the advantages of living in Florida. I spent Christmas weekend in snowy, dreary Atlanta but on this morning I rolled out of bed, threw on shorts and a t-shirt and headed for Fort Desoto beach. It was really windy out but in the sun it was warm. We walked around the usual bird areas but didn't find too much that afternoon. The beach area was full of laughing gulls. I'm not sure what the brown birds are. The almost look like cowbirds. There was a huge flock of them in a field and I thought it was neat the way they would line up on the ground and the back row would move to the front and they kept moving across the field this way.

The strong wind brought out the kiteboarders. There was a large crowd of spectators watching. The guy in the first picture was the only guy I saw without a wet suit on. He must have been freezing. Or maybe he was from up north?

It was a nice way to spend the day!

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit http://skyley.blogspot.com/.