Standing in place at Lake Seminole

I stopped along the trail to get a picture of this female anhinga drying off.




As I was standing there taking a picture of the anhinga, I noticed this great egret taking a break in the reeds right in front of me.

Then I noticed this juvenile blue heron (they stay white through the first 6 months) trying to hide close by.

Then a great blue heron flies by.

The kingfisher that I had been hearing cackling around the park flew by and landed high up in a tree close by where I was standing. By then it was starting to drizzle.

Saturday morning I decided to head out to a park before the rain moved in for the afternoon. I ended up at Lake Seminole Park. I walked around the dirt trail along the lake and was not seeing too many birds. After a full lap around the park I was discouraged. I decided to take one more lap down the dirt trail (I needed the exercise anyway.) On the way back to my car I stopped to take a picture of an anhinga drying off (I know, how boring). But she was doing such a nice little dance as she was drying off. As I was standing there watching her a series of events happened. I noticed a great egret in front of me trying to hide as well as a little blue heron that was still young enough to be white. After I snapped pictures of both of those a great blue heron flew by. And then I saw a kingfisher fly up into a tree not to far away. While I was taking pictures of the kingfisher it started to rain so I headed on to my car. After walking almost 3 miles I see all of those different birds standing for 10 minutes in one spot.

Sundown on the causeway

Ring billed gull trying to decide whether to eat the old dead fish from the cold spell. Not sure what the one behind was eating. He had a pink string hanging out of his bill.


Juvenile ring billed gull posing for me.

Dunlins taking a bath. They were really cute to watch.


Taking a bath together.

I stopped by one of the beaches on the Courtney Campbell Causeway one night last week after work. The smell from the dead fish that was killed during the cold spell was bad. There was a small group of dunlins taking a bath in a puddle on the beach. I guess birds have no sense of smell. They were so cute all staying close together and swimming around in the water. They were too busy grooming themselves to notice me. I only stayed a few minutes so I wouln't pass out from the smell.

Bird variety at Kapok Park

Mallard swimming around. I love the colors on these guys - orange feet, yellow beak, green head.
American coot taking a bath.

This osprey looked strange. He doesn't seem to have as much brown on his head. It makes him look like a ghost bird.

Great blue heron eating with turtle friend.


Busy getting a snack!

Mockingbird sitting pretty.

The last couple of visits to Kapok Park had not been too exciting. I went this past weekend and there were more signs of life at the park. There were at least 3 opsrey flying over the lake trying to get lunch. Lots of ducks there. Soon there will be lots of baby ducks swimming around. Two specific things I was looking for but did not find were otters and owls. I have only seen the otters from far away and was not able to get any good pictures. I had heard the owls were back at the park but did not see them this past weekend. I also saw a picture of a bobcat that people say lives there. I'm going to be on the lookout for him as well for my next trip.

Bundaleer's death

I heard sad news this week. On Tuesday night Lowry Park Zoo posted on their facebook page that Bundaleer, the koala bear who came to the zoo this past summer, has died. He was 10 years old. He came to Lowry Park from the San Diego Zoo. The zoo said he had a recurring infection that they had been treating since October. I am so sad. He was so cute even if he was sleeping most of the time. I think I caught him awake twice in the 10 times I have been to the zoo since he arrived. Below are some pictures I was lucky enough to take.

Honeymoon Island

Lots of osprey flying around.



Stay away from my fish!

Two osprey sitting near their nest.

First time I have ever seen a tortoise there. He was sitting right on the Opsrey Trail.

I was admiring these pretty red leaves that were growing everywhere and someone told me they were poison ivy. Glad I didn't get too close.

It's starting to get very busy at Honeymoon Island with all of the opsrey setting up house. There are a ton of osprey nests along the trail. Many of them already have at least one osprey sitting on them. Soon there will be baby osprey crying everywhere. The best time to go is early in the morning (early to me is 9 or 10am). They are flying around with sticks and fish. Lots of activity before lunch. I did see a lot of other birds and animals as well. There were 2 armadillo walking along the trail.

Eagle babies

Parent landing on the nest while the other parent watches.

Feeding one of the babies.

My husband thinks the baby looks like a tiny horse.

Proud parent sitting in a tree close by the nest.

This Saturday I had a productive visit to Honeymoon Island. I had not been out there for a while and it seemed to look different. They had been doing a lot of controlled burning so part of the back trail looked black. The rain from Friday had most of the northern back trail flooded, up to knee deep in some areas. I decided to stay off those trails since there could be snakes swimming around in there. I got there around 9:30am and headed straight back to the eagle's nest. When I got there only one adult was sitting on the nest. A few minutes later another one came flying in with a fish. Immediately the baby's head popped up. There are 2 babies but you could mostly only see one. For a few minutes when the adult was feeding the one you couldn't see you could catch a glimpse of the beak. After that fish was eaten the adult took off and went and got another fish within a few minutes. At one point both parents had left the nest alone but not for long. I stayed for at least an hour at which time the eagles were settling down for a while so I decided to continue walking around the rest of the trails.

Lots of critters in the neighborhood

I was cleaning up the yard Saturday afternoon and found this bee sitting on an orange. It looks like he's missing a wing.



This kingfisher was flying around the channel and he landed on my neighbor's dock. There was already an ibis sitting there. They sat there together for a while eyeing each other. Taken from my bedroom window.


I think this shorebird is lost. He was standing on my neighbor's dock. I think he's a lesser
yellowlegs. We usually don't see shorebirds in the channels. Update from Andrea - it's a spotted sandpiper in non-breeding colors.


The question is how did a dead fish get on my dock? There's been a ton of dead fish floating in the channel from the freeze. I'm assuming a bird, maybe the osprey that hangs out in the channel, picked it up and then just happened to drop it there. Did he leave it there as a present?

Saturday night right before dark the osprey landed on my neighbor's sailboat mast. He usually sleeps there at night.