The rainbow (mandarin) ducks at Lake Mirror

On January 28, 2015January 22, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

Which one doesn’t belong?

After checking out the swans at Lake Morton during the holidays, I took my visiting sister to see more swans over at Lake Mirror in downtown Lakeland. The highlight was seeing the mandarin duck couple. They now seem to be adjusted to the constant foot traffic around the little lake. They did not fly away and hide when people were walking by. On this trip I realized there were two mandarin couples there. It would be nice to see little mandarin duckling floating around this spring.

White pelicans at Fort Desoto

On January 26, 2015January 27, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography17 Comments

I had heard there were white pelicans hanging around Fort Desoto. They can usually be seen way off in the distance near one of the spoil islands around the park. I was walking down the north beach at the end of December and spotted a bunch of white dots from far away. I looked through my lens and realized they were white pelicans. I ignored all of the usual shorebirds along the way and headed straight for the lagoon. There must have been a few hundred there. Most were hanging out on the little sandbar across the lagoon but a few would head into the water and float by.

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A roadtrip to see floating cows – Skywatch Friday

On January 22, 2015January 16, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals, Tampa bay sights8 Comments

Statue of a manatee at the entrance to the Manatee Viewing Center.

Manatees kissing?

A night heron cruising around the manatee area.

Coming up for air. What a nose!

This one was floating on his back.

He started floating towards the boardwalk. I was hoping he would float under us.

Just as he got to the boardwalk he turned over.

Tricolored heron flying by.

Warm water coming out of the electric plant.

The viewing center is across from the TECO (Tampa Electric Co) plant. It was not a nice day. Cloudy and muggy but it was still fun being out and seeing all of the manatees congregate around the warm water coming from the electric plant. I should have taken pictures of all of the people. This was the day after Christmas and the boardwalk was wall to wall people.

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Cruising by.

On January 21, 2015January 14, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Lesser scaup floating by on my walk around a small park along the upper Tampa Bay area. They only spend the winters here so I guess you could call them “snow ducks”.

Backyard birds during the holidays

On January 19, 2015January 20, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

In the morning, I saw this great blue heron on my neighbor’s dock.

Later in the afternoon, he was sleeping on our dock.

Every once in a while he would look around. I call him Mr. Grumpy Face.

Back to sleep.

The neighborhood osprey was back again with lots of annoying visitors.

A ring billed gull sat across the boat lift from the osprey. Watching his every bite.

That’s a big fish. I don’t know why he wouldn’t share.

Then a kingfisher landed on the same side.

The kingfisher took off after a few minutes when he realized the osprey wasn’t giving up his lunch.

Then a few minutes later, a little blue heron starts to bother him.

Not in my backyard but in my in-laws front yard. A screech owl has been sleeping in the roof overhang on the corner of their house. He’s there sporadically. I finally put my camera and long lens in the car on Christmas day and was able to get the above when we pulled into the driveway. I think we’re going to have to name him.

All of the above except for the last picture were taken through the bedroom window during Christmas week.

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Cute faces at the zoo

On January 17, 2015January 17, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

Another tourist trip during Christmas week. My sister and I spent a morning at the zoo. Beautiful and not too hot, the animals were out playing. I think that old turtle face is my favorite. He looks so prehistoric and funny with that blade of grass hanging out of his mouth. He was up moving around that morning. There’s always something entertaining at the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa.

Traveling light at Epcot – Skywatch Friday

On January 15, 2015January 6, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation7 Comments

My sister was visiting from South Dakota for Christmas and we were talking about going to Disney World when we were growing up. She had not been in over 15 years so we decided to go over the Tuesday before Christmas (It’s only an hour away). I take it for granted living so close. I only go over once or twice a year and it’s usually on a random weekday when school is in so I was thinking since it was a Tuesday it might not be too crowded. Wrong! It was wall to wall people. We got there a half hour after the park opened and all of the best rides had been booked for the day. We did ride a few attractions and wandered around the countries. We had lunch in France. It kept getting more crowded so we headed out after 3pm. I didn’t want to lug around my regular camera stuff so I just took my Iphone and all of the above were taken with that.

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A walk back in time

On January 14, 2015January 6, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

How cheap was gas when this store was open in 1915?

The oldest structure in Pinellas County, it was built in 1852 by Captain James McMullen near Clearwater. I guess they didn’t have to worry about vacuuming.

My clothes would never get washed if I had to do this.

Sign over the fire station. It was really just a garage that housed a truck.

The good old days.

Power and water in the backyard.

The grocery store in your backyard.

Built in 1878, this was a temporary one room shelter that survived over 100 years.

On the wall just inside of the temporary bedroom was the above picture showing it as it originally stood before it was moved to Heritage Village in 1978.

A few more shots of history from my walk through Heritage Village in Largo in mid-December.

Playing with his food

On January 12, 2015January 13, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography14 Comments

I spotted this ring billed gull trying to eat a fish on the beach at Fort Desoto. It took him a long time. He kept dropping it and picking it back up. He finally got it down and flew away. Ring billed gulls are winter residents. We rarely see them here in the summer.

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Another raccoon sighting

On January 10, 2015January 10, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals6 Comments

These guys have gotten way too tame. I was walking down the trail at Circle B Bar Reserve when I saw this raccoon head towards me. I thought for sure he would leave the trail when he saw me but he just kept on walking right down the middle of the trail. We both kept getting closer and he still didn’t hide. I sat down on the trail and was taking the above shots. These are all cropped. When he reached a certain point I stood up and moved over to the side. We walked right by. I was holding my monopod out in front in case he lunged for me. I wasn’t about to go off the trail into the alligator infested water. I don’t know whether people are feeding them or they just don’t mind us being there.