Not too cold for a quick walk at the zoo

On March 14, 2022March 20, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn zoo animals1 Comment

On our last day in Utah in January, we checked out of our rental and headed over to Salt Lake City. We had half a day to kill before our flight so we stopped at the Hogle Zoo. It wasn’t too crowded because you know, who goes to the zoo in Utah in the middle of winter? But, there were a few other people there and it was sunny and mild, around the high 40’s. The animals were all out running around.

The meerkats were staying warm in the sun.

Lots of red pops from the plants. The berries looked interesting and I found out the red bulb was some sort of sumac. I haven’t seen these in Florida.

A few of the wild critters roaming around. Yes, another magpie and a Canadian goose high up on a building.

A cool statue.

Some house sparrows all puffed up trying to stay warm.

The zoo had amazing views of the mountains from every spot. There was an interesting park across the way from the zoo. What is that statue? After walking around we headed over to find out.

Big floating potatoes (manatees)

On March 12, 2022February 26, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals5 Comments

It had been cold for a while in mid-January so I drove up to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park to see if there were a lot of manatees close to the docks. As soon as I got out to the dock this mom (with her baby) did a twirl for me and was showing her belly.

There were hundreds of manatees out in the river, many were close to the bridge that goes over the river in the park. You could see many of the cuts and scratches on their backs from boat strikes. A lot of them had babies. The one in the above picture had algea growing on her back.

I liked this shot with the reflection of the palm tree in the water.

I took this with my phone since he was right along the dock.

At the underwater viewing area the fish were close to the glass.

More from my winter vacation.

On March 10, 2022February 26, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation9 Comments

Shots from Deer Valley ski resort in January. The sun had not come up over the mountain when we got there, although it wasn’t that early. I think the slopes had just opened up.

I watched Brett (in the orange jacket) head for the ski lift and then I went off to hike around and look for some things to take pictures of.

I headed up to a nearby hotel that has amazing views of Deer Valley. We stayed here several years before in October when everthing was orange and yellow so it looked very different.

Much later we took a ride around the area before going for an early dinner.

Too precious to lose

On March 8, 2022March 7, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

The beautiful baby owls at a nearby park. These were all taken in early February. There were 3 babies but at this point there wasn’t a time when they were all together. The youngest still stayed in the nest while the older 2 were starting to venture out on the nearby branches.

These were all taken in mid-February. They were really cruising around the tree.

This was the youngest of the three. He was still staying close to the nest at this point. He still had a lot of fuzzy feathers that didn’t quite have the color in them.

The parents would always be close by in the same tree or a few trees over.

It’s with a super heavy heart that I post this but I wanted you to see how precious these babies are. The oldest baby died earlier this week. He had rat poisoning symptoms and did not survive. Last year we lost 2 of the 3 babies to rat poisoning. Then, just yesterday the Mom was sick and was rescued but did not survive. Again, rat poisoning. Everyone has got to stop using rat poison. These owls eat the rats. You don’t need the poison. Now that’s 2 less owls that will be keeping the rats in check.

Critters in the yard in January

On March 7, 2022March 7, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals2 Comments

Brett was in the car, backing out of the driveway on the way to work when he called me. He says “There’s deer in the front yard”. He was afraid if he got out of the car and came back in to tell me they would leave. I went flying out of the house with my camera to see them cruising through our yard and around to the back. This will never get old.

One morning I was walking by the back window and saw a hawk sitting on the bird feeder. Ugh, well that’s not going to get me any songbirds. Again, I grabbed my camera and headed out the door. He didn’t even flinch as I walked up to the feeder. I finally waved my arms at him and he flew over to a nearby tree. I think he was trying to catch some lizards.

A few of the visitors to the birdbath in January. The yellow throated warbler has been hanging out for a while now. He will probably head north soon for the summer.

This looks like a new visitor. I’m not sure what this is. It’s a juvenile. It’s got the beak of bunting or a goldfinch. Or, maybe it’s a house finch? The yellow around the head is throwing me off.

Right before dark as I was closing the curtians I saw this dove sitting on the bird bath every night for a week. It was a chilly week so I was wondering if he wanted to come in to warm up? One night I could see the moon coming through the trees so I ran out and shot the above.

I added sunflower seeds to the feeder and finally got a bluebird on it. My neighbor has a feeder full of sunflower seeds (and one with mealworms) and he always has a lot of bluebirds.

I’m always amused at the antics of the many squirrels in the backyard. I think this one was taking a nap in the sun except he was upside down. He stayed there for a while.

Triplets for the Class of 2022.

On March 5, 2022February 23, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I was keeping an eye on the nearby local owl’s nest in mid-January. I’d stop by when I was out running errands. It was usually easy to spot one of the parents high up in the tree. Mom was always on the nest.

Near the end of January I could see a fuzzy white head on the nest. This was the youngest of three, still looking like an ugly duckling.

One of the other siblings were sitting up and looked much bigger. At this point we thought there might only be 2 babies.

A week later it was confirmed there were 3 babies. All of the babies were still sitting right in the nest so it was hard to see them clearly through all of the moss. More to come on these cuties growing up.

Foggy morning at the piers

On March 3, 2022March 2, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights3 Comments

At the end of December I woke up and peeked out the window. It was really foggy so I got ready quickly and headed out the door. I love it when it’s foggy. I stopped by the nearby fishing pier early that morning and could not see across the bay. I could barely make out the end of the pier.

I noticed these strands of oyster shells hanging under the pier and looked them up when I got back home. These are VOG’s (vertical oyster gardens). The water around the shore of Safety Harbor and Oldsmar (which is Old Tampa Bay) was found to be the least healthy in all of the Tampa Bay. Not surprised. There’s a new Save Our Bay program and the easiest thing to start with was using oysters to filter out the water. One oyster can filter out 50 gallons of water a day. There were a lot of these on the dock and they are encouraging people who live on the water to hang these on their docks as well. It will take several months for the oysters to start to grow on these so I’ll keep an eye out.

Next I headed to the Safety Harbor fishing pier since I was close by running errands. It was foggy here as well but that didn’t stop those kayakers from being out.

I saw several manatees coming up for air right next to the dock and was bummed I didn’t have my camera with me but these phone shots turned out okay.

I think the sun was trying to peek out by the time I left.

Afternoon walks in the snow.

On March 1, 2022March 20, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation3 Comments

While we were in Utah, I found this great trail behind the condo we had rented. Brett was exhausted from snowboarding so I went out for a walk late in the afternoon. I thought these bright orange trees were pretty cool.

It was a quiet walk with very few other people around. I guess most people that aren’t on the slopes are inside but it’s so different than Florida so I was glad to be outside in the cold for a change.

Of course, everywhere I went I saw magpies.

The area around our condo was covered in snow and icicles. I guess no one will be having a picnic anytime soon.

Two days later, I went for another walk. I was really craving the snow. I found out later that this trail was part of the Historic Union Pacific Rail Trail.