Ducky weekend in the backyard.

Late Saturday afternoon, I look out the window and 2 mallards are sitting in my backyard under the grapefruit tree. They rarely come in the yard.

I walked outside and they started walking towards the end of the dock.

They stood at the end of the dock watching me for a few minutes. I thought they'd jump in the water but they didn't.

I go back in the house and later I see them again wandering around under the tree. They seemed to digging in the grass below the bird feeder. Where they looking for bird seed? How did they know bird seed would have fallen on the ground. Did a little bird tell them?

Sunday morning I looked out the window and a pied grebe was swimming in front of our dock. It was a very ducky weekend.

Yellow flowers everywhere - Skywatch Friday

My black Friday after Thanksgiving was actually a bright yellow Friday. I headed out to Circle B Bar Reserve for a walk through the park. For 3 hours I  hiked the trails and the above was the view every step of the way.  I've been told these are bur marigolds. Every year in the fall around mid November they bloom. The park is covered with them. It's a beautiful sight to see when walking the trails. It's still a little early for some of the winter birds to arrive but it's worth going to see the flowers. They should bloom until we get a good freeze sometime in January. I hope they are still there around the holidays because I hope to get out there to look for the white pelicans that migrate in for a short time. Keeping our fingers crossed, they should start arriving by Christmas.

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Surprise hoodies for Thanksgiving

After sleeping in on Thanksgiving morning, I went into the living room and pulled back the curtains on the sliding doors and there was 6 hooded mergansers floating in front of our dock. I was so excited I was yelling "The hoodies are back" as I ran for my camera. I had not seen them since early spring. This is the 3rd winter we've had them hang out in our channel for a couple of months. I took all of the above through the windows. If I open the door they start to swim down the channel.  Mergansers are diving ducks so they dive down pretty deep to get their food. I just happen to catch the female coming back up with a small fish in her beak. The males are so easy to spot with that big white dot on his head. Out of the 6, three were much darker than the other lighter females so I'm thinking they might be juveniles born early this spring. Since Thanksgiving weekend another male had joined them and I see them swimming around every morning. If anybody steps out into the yard, they take off either flying away or swimming quickly to the other end of the channel. I hope they stay through the winter. I'm sure I'll be taking tons of pictures so I'll keep you posted.

Birds and ducks at Circle B Bar Reserve

Blue wing teals swimming together.

Coot walking across the water.

I think this is a female blue wing teal coming in for a landing.

Glossy ibis up close. They usually stay pretty far away from the trail but this one was sitting right along the trail. Sometimes I'm so amazed at the colors of a bird. I love the beautiful pale pink perfectly curved beak, the hint of white around the eyes and the deep burgundy in the feathers.

Great egret flyby.

Then he goes for a fish.

Butterflies are still everywhere.

The Friday after Thanksgiving, I headed out to Circle B Bar reserve with my friend Pam and her hubby. We walked the trails for 3 hours and the above was all we found. There were tons of photographers there and everyone was complaining how slow it was in terms of unusual birds or ducks. And of course, still no sign of the bobcat that everyone is taking pictures of. But instead of a black Friday, we had yellow Friday. More on that to follow.

Our World Tuesday  

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Botanical Gardens at 50mm

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Entrance to the Florida Botancial Gardens.

Fish tiles in the wedding garden.

Kumquats against the blue sky.

English garden (in central Florida).

Yes, it almost looks like fall.

I stopped by the Florida Botanical Gardens over Thanksgiving weekend to test out my new 50mm lens. All of the above were taken with it. It was a beautiful afternoon. After a few cold nights, the leaves are starting to turn. We do have a slight fall here, if you can ignore the palm trees. The gardens were just starting to decorate for their Christmas lights at night. I'm going to try and head back there one night to get some holiday light pictures. The only disappointing thing about the trip is that I saw almost zero birds. I think there might have been a few mockingbirds hanging around. I was hoping to at least see some migrating ducks but no such luck.

Geese at Crescent Lake Park

Chinese goose swimming across the lake.

These might be siblings.

Drip.

The male anhinga is showing off in front of the goose. The goose is not paying attention.

There's a small flock of chinese geese that live at Crescent Lake Park in St. Petersburg. I think there were only four a few years ago but they keep breeding. And chinese geese are known for good breeding. They look pretty and graceful from far away but can be very aggressive if you get close to them without food. People feed them so they are used to being fed and if you walk by them too close on the sidewalk they come running looking for food. The morning I was there, they were in the water the entire time. Floating around close to shore so they didn't come honking at me.

  Camera Critters

Along the Sunshine Skyway bridge - Skywatch Friday

Dunlins digging in the sand. (Thanks Steve, for the ID).

Two ruddys on a rock.

Ruddy turnstone all alone.

Pelican flying by.

Kiteboarders

Perfect windy day.

I headed down to the outlet mall just south of St. Petersburg. I threw my camera in the car just in case I saw something interesting. It was a cool and windy day so I was not surprised to see a bunch of kiteboarders in the water. I pulled off on the access road near the Sunshine Skyway bridge and snapped a few pictures of them. It looks like fun but it's really hard. My hubby does it and he has taken lessons and still says it's hard.  There were a few shorebirds hanging around but nothing unusual.  

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