Great blue heron flies right over my head.
This purple gallinule looks like a juvenile. His head isn’t quite dark enough yet.
Alligator was dragging a chunk of leaves around with him. He was swimming close to the boardwalk.
View from the top of the tower. It’s a small boardwalk but packed with birds. It was a nice quiet morning. Only myself and one fisherman to the boardwalk for most of the morning.
The boat ramp was covered with vultures.
They were all over the parking lot. There were signs there that said “Not responsible for the damage caused by vultures to your car”. So what do you do? Do you park under a tree hoping that would cover the car? Or do you park out in the open thinking the vultures would be in the trees? I didn’t have any problems the short time I was there. This problem is probably from people feeding them.
The new park I visited, Medard Park, in east Hillsborough is like a tiny oasis out in the middle of nowhere. I passed strawberry farms, old orange groves and horse stables on the way there. This park is now known for having snail kites nesting there. They were pretty easy to find along with tons of other birds. The lake was full of great blue herons, limpkins, great egrets, cormorants, and moorhens. I kept seeing a kingfisher wizzing by but he never landed anyway near. Near the tower there were warblers, woodpeckers and blue gray gnatchatchers in the trees. I think I may have to make this park a regular stop this winter. Can’t wait to see what ducks show up to spend the winter here.
It looks like a fantastic place to visit….
Our birds have finally landed down in your neck of the woods. They started leaving so early this years. I’ve had the pleasure of capturing a shot of great blue whizzing over my head. Best part of my summer.
Enjoy your new park(s) and thanks for sharing with YSB this week.
It looks like a lovely place to spend a morning. Great shots.
Wow! Great shots. What unique birds. And that alligator? Yeah, no!
Vulture vomit is capable of eating the paint off your car. They only vomit when you frighten them, so the idea would be to tred softly 🙂 I would love to live near a park like this. You have so much at your beck and call .. I envy you. Your pictures are always wonderful as well, which makes it possible for us to enjoy your birds vicariously. Thanks Dina …
Andrea @ From The Sol
the purple gallinule is awesome! we actually had one stop here, once, a few years ago.
Beautiful shots.
My entry.
These are beautiful shots. I love the 2nd shot of the purple gallinule.
Lovely photos!
Tremendous series! Loved the purple gallinule!
What a fabulous place for a visit and you have some very beautiful photos. The great blue heron one is wonderful, so clear you feel like you could reach up and grab him, or maybe sit on his back and go for a flight to who knows where!
Such a beautiful place! I’ve never seen a purple gallinule before. That is one gorgeous bird. Visiting from Your Sunday Best.
Fascinating, Dina. I love the purple gallinule, and enjoyed seeing the camouflaged alligator! Now I must look up the park on Google Maps. I always had a North American Road Atlas before I got a home computer, and now I don’t know what I’d do without Google Maps, and my husband doesn’t know what he’d do without a GPS. I still think my road atlas might have been just as good. LOL
K
It is nice to experience the wild species up close,and you achieve it very well.In Sydney,a lot of the seagulls have lost their ability to teach their young to hunt because people insist on feeding them.
what a treat to have such a place to visit. Where I live there are nothing like this for birders. Not much birds either. Visiting from MOM
What a combination! Vultures and alligators! How lucky you are to be able to photograph them. And great shots they are too. The purple bird with the orange beak is a perfect contribution to Mandarin Orange Monday this week …he would go very well sitting on my spooky house. Actually, the vultures would too:) thank you for being part of MoM.
Oh my! What a fantastic find — a perfect place to capture your amazing birds. xo
Ah, I’ve never seen the purple bird -the colors are so intense -stunning!!
Great park (another one for my list) and great birds. The gator is cute all decorated with greenery. We saw a vulture sign like that where we camped in the Everglades. The ranger said they eat rubber.