“Oh deer, don’t come any closer”

On November 16, 2024December 30, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals2 Comments

This lady was already molting at the end of July. They shed their fur twice a year, in spring and fall. Maybe she was just shedding from spring? I took this through the back window.

A little blue heron came walking by the back window.

I wasn’t getting a lot of birds in the backyard in late July. Mostly the usuals including blue jays (above), cardinals, titmouse and chickadees. With all of the rain we had been getting they weren’t coming to bath as much but this blue jay couldn’t pass up a good clean bath.

Fungus growing on fallen branches and in the hanging baskets. They dry up pretty fast once the sun comes out for the afternoon.

I took the above with my phone through the back door. It had just stopped pouring and the squirrel had found the few sunflower seeds that had fallen out when I brought the bird feeder in before the storm.

I kept my camera in the car hoping I would see some baby deer as I was going in and out of the neighborhood. One morning I saw a young buck on the way out and quickly pulled over and snapped the above.

The next morning I was leaving much earlier and took the long way out of the neighborhood. I saw a fawn and Mom heading into the woods. I was able to catch them leaving and the baby stopped for a few seconds and looked back at me. I wonder if the people in the nearby homes feed them.

A few days later I stopped at the utility field on my way out and saw the above. I wasn’t in a hurry and parked the car and got out. I was across the street and trying to hide behind a big bottlebrush tree but they knew I was there. I don’t often see the males in the neighborhood and it was cool to see two big racks together 😉.

They spent a few minutes feeding along the sidewalk on their side of the street.

All of a sudden this guy crosses the street and starts walking right towards me. I walked back to my car in the grass and away from them. I was not going to test his friendly manner and let him get any closer.

He walked around the tree I had been standing behind and looked at me as if to say “This is my tree.”. I took these from behind my car. They both eventually headed towards the nearby woods.

Summer sky in the front yard.

Twins on a hot morning.

On November 9, 2024November 9, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals5 Comments

I had a lot of fawn sightings this summer. In late August I spent the morning at nearby Chesnut Park. I wasn’t planning to walk around with my camera since it was so hot but I had it in my car. When I first drove in I saw the above crossing the street and pulled over and got out for a minute as this Mom and her baby went by.

Then I drove around to park to start my walk and there were twins! I pulled over before the parking lot since they were grazing right along the parking spots.

Trying to get the good leaves from up high.

The twins started to head into a small clearing in the woods and I was able to get the shots above through the trees. After a few minutes they started to make their way into the deeper woods so I left to start my walk.

Cool trees along the boardwalk.

It was quiet along the lake. Not even a whiff of a breeze.

A tiny alligator next to the dock. You can see the oil slick next to him. There are lots of boats on this lake.

Walking back to my car in the shade.

As I was walking back next to the lake a few deer came running in front of me, heading to the woods.

A walk in the park

On October 28, 2024December 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals2 Comments

I was out for a walk at Chesnut Park in mid-August with just my phone. It was too hot to be lugging my heavy camera around and I didn’t think I would see too many birds and the baby deer were being elusive. I did have my camera in the car just in case though.

This lady was feeding along the back boardwalk.

The swampy areas were full of water due to the recent summer rains.

It was a beautiful day.

Virginia creeper growing on a dead stump.

Even though there are big flashing signs when you enter the park to “NOT feed the wildlife” I still see where people have left bird seed. They leave it for the birds but the squirrels eat most of it. Due to all of the feedings the squirrels here are very aggressive and will jump on you to see if you have food so there is a big campaign to stop it.

Trying to stay in the shade as I walk around the lake to get back to my car.

As I was leaving the park I saw a baby deer up ahead. I pulled over and grabbed my camera and took these from the car. I didn’t want to spook them into the woods.

It was a family. They fed for a while but kept an eye on me. Eventually people were walking by with dogs and the deer headed into the woods.

A quick trip down south

On October 17, 2024December 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, Vacation7 Comments

Over 4th of July weekend Brett and I (along with his sister and brother-in-law) went down to Fort Lauderdale to visit some of his relatives. Everywhere we went we saw iguanas. They were literally everywhere. In parking lots, along the streets, around our hotel and in any park we stopped at for a quick walk. They were different shades of green, some were brown and blue, some were beige and orange. I think I saw more iguanas than squirrels. Most were pretty skittish.

Above is a quick video of one leaving the sidewalk and taking off into the grass as I walked towards it. They are very fast.

I saw a lot of these. I think it’s a curly tailed lizard, either a Bahama or Caymen.

I think this is a cuban knight anole. This was the only one I saw and he was pretty small, more like the size of our lizards back home.

A brown and tan one walking across the parking lot where we were having lunch.

We were able to make a quick stop at the beach. It was hot though and we didn’t stay long. With the ports nearby there were so many cruise ships and container ships out on the horizon.

The view from Brett’s aunt and uncle’s retirement home. We could see rain out on the beach. Looking right we could see Hollywood Beach and looking left we could see downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Driving home across Alligator Alley (I75), we hit a lot of rain.

The sun came out as we crossed over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

Mellow yellow at Myakka River State Park.

On August 22, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, flowers and plants5 Comments

It doesn’t get much better than standing in a huge open field of yellow flowers. The pictures would have popped more if I had a blue sky but the clouds kept the heat down as I hiked out into the field. It was quiet and I was early enough that there wasn’t many people around, just a few others farther down the field.

I hiked down a side trail along the tickseed fields hoping to see some critters but this was all I got at the end of the trail. A big pond without a bird or critter around.

I drove to the boat ramp and got out and walked towards the big lake. I had to walk down worn paths through more tickseed. All of this area was under water at one time but the lake had been losing a lot of water over the years and keeps getting smaller.

I was walking along the edge of the lake but kept my distance from the water, keeping my eye out for alligators. This area may be under water right now during the rainy season but in mid-May when I was here we hadn’t had much rain for a while.

Another trail takes you where the water turns into the river and you can see the other side closely. This is where the alligators tend to hang out. The area closest to the water here is roped off for obvious reasons. I was using my 100mm-400mm lens to get these shots of the alligators napping on the other side. I love seeing them from far away.

The water was shallow here and you can clearly see them laying in the water. There were so many of them in this corner of the park. I counted 22 along the river area.

There were some interesting tiny critters along this trail as well.

As I stood and watched the alligators sleeping a black bellied whistling duck flew by.

There are some really cool old trees here. I took the above with my phone on the wide angle setting.

Some vultures were hanging out in the parking lot.

I always stop at this one area for a quick walk before leaving. You can see the river farther down but the trail is short. This is what old Florida looks like. I wish this park was closer to me. It’s almost 2 hours to get home with traffic during the day.

Lots of critters at Myakka River State Park

On August 17, 2024August 7, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals3 Comments

I saw lots of critters during my visit to Myakka River State Park in mid-May. The park is so big that I drive through and stop off at different ponds or trails and take short walks. The above limpkin was on the bank under the bridge where a lot of alligators hang out.

I saw these ladies up ahead and pulled over and got out to snap the above. They were grazing right near the road. There was a baby with 2 does.

I parked and walked along an elevated trail that runs along the big tickseed field. I was hoping to see deer farther out in the field but all I saw was an eagle and some vultures on the utility poles. I shot the first 2 from the beginning of the trail. The poles were sitting right on the trail and as I got closer the eagle just looked at me for a second and then ignored me. He was pretty high up.

Cute little pigtails!

There was a family of feral hogs along the road.

I saw another family farther down the road. There were twins here but the 2nd one stayed far in the woods with some does.

I got to the boat ramp and got out and hiked closer to the big lake. Far out I could see a sandhill crane couple with older kids as well as a few limpkins.

This vulture was digging up something in the muck. Probably left over dead fish.

Right before leaving I saw another baby. Mom was already far back in the woods and the baby was taking his time catching up with Mom. It’s weird how the fawns are out in May here but less than 2 hours north in the area where I live we don’t see them until mid to late July.

Morning walks in early June

On August 12, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, flowers and plants3 Comments

My husband is now working part time from home and has more flexible hours so in early June he went with me on my morning walk around the Safety Harbor fishing pier. He hadn’t been to the pier in years so we started there before walking around the area. Since he’s not much of an early bird we didn’t get there as early as I usually do. We were lucky to catch manatees coming up for air.

A short video of them coming up for air. They were close to the pier and I was able to get them with my phone.

Looking up from the manatees, I saw a flock of pelicans go by.

Brett taking a few moments to take it all in on the mangrove boardwalk.

I was able to catch a mangrove crab on the boardwalk. These guys are usually skittish.

The next morning I went out a little early by myself for a walk at the Dunedin marina. Right when I got out of my car I saw a mallard couple swimming across the marina with some babies. They were moving quickly and went under the dock.

I had forgotten the night blooming cereus blooms along the street nearby. I turned the corner from the marina and saw the flowers along the fence. They usually only bloom at night but if you are here early in the morning you might catch them right before they close up for the day. There are a lot of these plants in Dunedin and Safety Harbor and sometimes people have parties at night to watch them bloom.

The lily-of-the-nile was blooming along the walk as well.

Tombstones and tickseed

On August 8, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, Tampa bay sights6 Comments

In mid-May I headed down to south Sarasota for my annual trip to Myakka River State Park to see the tickseed blooming. I left early in the dark since the traffic going through Sarasota is so bad now. What use to be an hour trip from my old house in Tampa is now an hour and a half if I don’t hit traffic so I wanted to be early enough to miss the morning rush hour. I got down to the exit in record time and since I had 20 minutes before the gate opened at the park I stopped in at the nearby Sarasota National Cemetery. So many tombstones. All members of any Armed Forces can be buried here. The cemetery is fairly new, opening in 2007.

The Patriot Plaza amphitheater opened in 2014 for memorials and ceremonies. It was quiet before 8am this morning, only a few maintenance men and myself.

As I got closer to the park I noticed what looked like a prescribed burn along the road. I was hoping that wasn’t the case in the regular part of the park.

Just past the entrance I pulled over and got out and shot the above with my phone. The sun was up but it was cloudy or mostly hazy. This is what the two lane roads look like as you travel across back roads in central Florida. The road looked like a mantenance road to nowhere. This is part of the park which is over 37,000 acres but visitors are not allowed in the outlying areas.

Once in the park I pulled over at the first field to see the tickseed. Yellow flowers forever. It is native to the area and grows wild. Since this is an undisturbed prairie it grows all along the fields here.

I also stopped where everyone else stops. The first bridge you come to in the park that goes over the river. There’s always a lot of alligators in this area and you can see them from high up on the bridge. I spent several hours at the park until the heat got the best of me. I took tons of pictures so more on those later.

An early morning at McGough Park

On June 3, 2024July 13, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals7 Comments

I was out early enough to see the moon still in the sky at McGough Park in Largo at the end of March.

Right when I walked out on the trail I saw a yellow bellied sapsucker. We only see these woodpeckers here in the winter so we don’t get to see them with their breeding yellow bellies.

You can always find a few pileated woodpeckers in this small park or at least hear them from across the park. One was bouncing around the trees right in front of me.

A cardinal with a snack.

I walked out on the dock that goes out to the intercoastal waterway. Looking left and then right, it was a calm morning and there wasn’t many boaters out except for a few early fishermen.

It’s always fun to see the turtles here. They have a small turtle pond and you can feed them.

A butterfly feeding in front of the turtle pond.

The park has some permanently injured raptors and an iguana. The signs were covered in those icky tussock moth caterpillars. They were everywhere.

A winter drizzle walk

On May 30, 2024May 24, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, Tampa bay sights6 Comments

It was partly cloudy when I drove over to nearby Safety Harbor for an early morning Saturday walk in mid-March.

I could see a dolphin far out in the water as the clouds moved in.

I first walked the long pier and then walked over to the boardwalk through the mangroves. The tide was low and the birds were scarce.

By the time I got back to the pier it was barely drizzling. I didn’t mind since it was mild and the drizzle made if feel a little like winter. It was March after all.

There were two manatees hanging out along the pier.

A quick video of one coming up for air.

Before heading home I walked down Main Street. The sidewalk chalk festival was happening later that afternoon and they had the street blocked off to traffic. It was fun walking down the middle of the street, not having to worry about cars. People were just getting set up to start doing the artwork and there were a few booths selling things.