Heading home after work, I stopped at an office parking deck after I got over the bridge into Tampa. Storms were moving in over the area. I could see it raining on one side of the bridge and sunny on the other side. Typical Florida weather.
Driving into my neighborhood, it had just stopped raining and the sun was peeking out.
A rainbow in front of my house.
Later that week, we had other storms coming across our neighborhood. I was able to catch the lightning in the backyard with my phone.
So many bright colors at the Florida Botanical Gardens in early September.
Found these leaves on the ground. While I would like to think it’s fall already, they probably came off in the storms that we had recently had. It’s a tease considering fall won’t be here in central Florida for months. I loved the yellow colors though.
Lots of tiny critters in the flowers at the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo.
The squirrels were busy eating.
A young mockingbird sitting high up in the trees. Not many other birds out in early September.
A flock of anhingas go flying by overhead.
It was hot. The gardens were very quiet with only a few tiny flying critters but I got a good 2 hour walk in that morning.
A few of the usual birds at Fort Desoto including a crow with an apple, a loggerhead shrike and our favorite hybrid great blue heron/great egret.
It’s rare to see the ghost crabs out of their holes. They are pretty skittish.
Heading into Tampa bay.
A quiet morning on the beach. Very few people here. This was the Saturday before Hurricane Dorian was headed our way. On this morning it was forecasted to head straight across the state and hit us on Monday so many people had canceled their vacation plans. Little did we know at this point it would stall over the Bahamas and then head north.
A phone pano of the north beach tip.
I was taking pictures of shorebirds along the sea wall near the fishing pier when this pelican flew really close right over my head. I noticed his leg and wing were caught up in fishing wire. He could not straighten his leg back.
I was thinking he would cruise right by me but he landed just feet from me on the sea wall. He let me walk right up to him and take this picture with my phone. Notice the wire and sinker by his foot. I felt like he was telling me to help him. I told him to stay put and ran back to my car and drove over to the ranger station and reported it. He could still fly so there was no way I could have grabbed him and taken him over there. The lady said a ranger would be right over so I headed back to keep an eye on the pelican until someone got there.
When I drove back to the fishing pier, there were 2 rangers already there that were pulling a dead pelican out of the jetty. He probably got caught in the rocks with fishing line and couldn’t get out. The ranger said they spend a lot of time helping the birds that have fishing line on them. That’s why it’s so important for people fishing not to cut the line. Below are pictures of the signs at all of the fishing piers showing how to reel in a hooked bird and clip the line from the bird.
The rangers are experts at catching birds quickly and taking off all of the fishing line. This bird was cleaned up and released pretty quickly.This is not a part of their “day job” and they do it with a smile on their faces because they love the birds.
The pelican walked away, testing his wings before hopping toward the beach.
He flew down to the beach and stayed for a few minutes, preening before taking off. He’s one of the lucky ones. Many of them fly back to spoil islands and the fishing line gets tangled up in the mangroves and they can’t fly away and end up starving.
That was my little adventure at Fort Desoto recently. I was just glad the pelican didn’t fly away after I left to go get a ranger.
I realized why there wasn’t any little birds around the firebushes early one Saturday morning at Crescent Lake park. A hawk was keeping watch.
You can usually see monk parakeets hanging around the ball park there.
No birds but plenty of moths.
This dog looked bored when I was taking his picture. He was standing guard while his human was fishing.
Starlings are everywhere.
I got all the way across the lake from my car and it started raining. Luckily I had thrown my tiny umbrella in my backpack so I stood under a tree for a few minutes hoping it stop quickly. It was raining on one side of the park and the sun was on the other side. After 15 minutes I just walked back to my car and was soaked from the waist down.Typical Florida weather. By the time I got to my car the rain had stopped so I decided to head over to the North Shore beach park in nearby downtown St. Pete before heading home.
When I got out of the the car there were a few parakeets eating on the ground in front of me. They were chomping on the ground covering.
Meanwhile, this squirrel had found a piece of pizza in the garbage can, probably left over from last night’s picnic. He seemed pleased with himself.
There were still storms out in the bay so I headed home for lunch.
I could barely make out this barred owl high above me in a tree. A few seconds later he flew off farther into the woods, chasing after Mom.
Later I was walking the back boardwalk and heard a weird howl. I was looking high up in the trees thinking it was an injured squirrel but couldn’t find anything. Then I looked straight out into the swamp and the juvenile owl was sitting right in front of me. He’s still got baby fuzz around his head. I couldn’t find Mom but I’m sure she was somewhere close by.
Nearby was a squirrel with a snack.
Not many birds around in early August.
I had heard there were twin fawns at the park. After looking all morning I saw them for a second deep in woods.
A doe resting near the boardwalk.
Pink and green on the trees after the rain.
In mid-July the baby black skimmers were growing up quickly and heading out on their own. Many were already down at the water line and practicing their wing flaps.
There were still a few younger ones including the one on the left with a young royal tern and much older juvenile skimmer on the right.
Soon the babies will start flying and leave along with the parents and then all that’s left on the beaches are those annoying laughing gulls, looking to steal some kid’s sandwich or chips.
A small part of the skimmer army, lined up along the water.
More on my morning walk at the farmer’s market in Ybor City in Tampa. There were baby chicks running around everywhere at the small park near downtown Tampa. I guess the chickens in the streets brings charm to the old part of town kind of like it does in Key West.
Some of the statues and charm in the Ybor neighborhood.
Pulling into my driveway one Saturday afternoon I saw an osprey on my neighbor’s dead palm tree. I ran out the side door with my camera and the osprey was was looking at me like “Don’t steal my fish.” I stood in the door frame to take these. I was afraid he would fly off but he didn’t. Just kept eating his fish.
Later in the afternoon I saw some juvenile starlings hanging around the same palm tree. I’m assuming these were the ones that were born in the nest in the same tree. They were there for a few hours that afternoon and then gone. Since then, the dead palm tree was removed. Luckily the neighbor’s waited until the babies were gone. I miss looking out of the kitchen window to see what was on the tree but the tree could have been a hazard if a storm or hurricane came through.
Looking out the side bedroom window, a squirrel was taking a nap on my neighbor’s screened porch. Not a smart move for a squirrel. Too many hawks in the area that could fly by and grab him.
