Wide open space at Myakka State Park

On November 12, 2020October 21, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants2 Comments

One of the few animals I saw at Myakka River State Park was a deer near the big lake. She was alone and hiding in the shadow.

Closer to the water I could see some black bellied whistling ducks and black necked stilts.

A crow guarding the parking lot.

Myakka Park, just south of Sarasota, is known for having huge gators. And a lot of them although not as many as the Everglades. Timing is everything to see the big ones. They usually come out to sun themselves late in the afternoon. If it’s really hot, they’ll stay in the water most of the day. I was there early in the morning and only saw a few small ones. There is an area in the park that is off limits that has 100’s of them. The “Deep hole” is a 4 mile round trip hike out to where they are hidden but you have to have a permit to hike out there. The rangers give out 30 permits a day and I heard they are all snatched up in the first hour. I keep saying I want to get down there in the winter and hike out the hole but keep putting it off. I think this winter might be the time.

The sun was just coming up over the trees when I headed out on one trail.

This is a huge park with a lot of wide open spaces. I was out on a rare Monday off so there was hardly anyone there.

A pano with my phone of a dried up lake.

A walk down Marsh Rabbit Run

On August 24, 2020February 22, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals6 Comments

Different herons down the trail, A great blue, tricolored, a night heron and then another tricolored almost swimming.

Turtle on the trail.

Why do always get the butt shot pose? I almost never see these guys walking around and when I do they have their back to me. Usually I just see the below, snoozing and cruising.

All along the trail.

Trees and flowers along the trail.

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All kinds of critters

On May 4, 2020May 4, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

Someone is leaving bird seed along the boardwalk at Chesnut Park.

I think the squirrels eat most of it.

Lots of little gators under the dock.

It was close to Easter.

A northern parula trying to hide from me.

A tiny grasshopper. Soon central Florida will be over run with these guys.

Our World Tuesday Graphic

Chesnut Park in early January

On February 17, 2020January 31, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

All the usual birds.

There were several small alligators hanging out close to the dock. I didn’t see any big ones but I’m sure the mom was close by.

This deer was right off the boardwalk and I snapped this with my phone.

After walking around Chesnut Park in early January, I stopped by a small park along the water on the way home to see if there were any wintering ducks in the bay. No ducks to be found but this gull had found a piece of a fish in the low tide and was snacking. It was weird that there were several live conch shells on the dead fish.

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Along the trail.

On February 3, 2020February 18, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

Color on the trail.

Crawling critters including that tiny alligator right on the trail.

Small birds along the trail. A green heron, a house wren making a face at me and then chirping and a blue headed vireo.

Having a snack.

A perfect start to a day at Circle B Bar Reserve.

Different things at Gatorland

On July 22, 2019July 5, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

Many of the birds were still sitting on eggs at the bird rookery at Gatorland in Orlando in mid-May.

Some were still flirting.

Lots of different wild birds hanging out at the park including the great egret above that stole a hot dog from an alligator. You can feed the alligators here but half of the time the birds get the food quicker.

Pretty peacock.

The youngest baby birds at the rookery that morning. The baby snowy egrets were probably only a few days old.

The gators were getting frisky.

Seeing a baby gator up close.

This guy was taking a break before the crowds were on the boardwalk.

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Last walk at Circle B until Fall.

On July 15, 2019July 5, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

Sushi for breakfast.

Walking down the trail I could hear a baby bird calling overhead. Looking up I saw this juvenile red shoulder hawk up in the tree.

Then I realized that Mom was a tree over with a frog trying to get the baby to follow her over. The baby wanted Mom to come feed it but Mom was trying to get him to fly over.

These baby turkeys were very skittish. Mom was keeping an eye on me.

Lots of young alligators along the trail.

Everything was green when I last was at Circle B Bar Reserve in mid-May. Now it’s too hot to walk there and the main trails are usually closed due to alligators mating and nesting close by until at least October so I’ll be staying close to home or the coast.

image-in-ing: weekly photo linkup Our World Tuesday Graphic

The view along the trail through my phone.

On April 11, 2019March 28, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals5 Comments

I knew it was going to be a beautiful morning when I walked out on the trail to this.

After 12 years of coming to Circle B Bar Reserve, I still love walking these trails even with all of the dead trees in the background.

Things close to the trail, although I cropped up the one with the big gator so he wasn’t that close.

An alligator cruises by a great blue heron.

The view from the blind on the dock.

Sitting on a bench near the nature center before heading home.

I had just replaced my old iphone with a new one days before so I was taking lots of pictures with it.

SkyWatch Friday

Gator day at the park.

On February 5, 2019February 5, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals2 Comments

I had my first real close encounter with a big one recently at Circle B Bar Reserve. I’ve been visiting this park for over 10 years and until recently, I always joked that the gators were fake. They never seemed to move, just sleeping on the other side of the pond. I was at the park early and the water levels along the trails were high. The first picture was taken with my 300mm lens so I wasn’t that close. The second one was taken with my phone. That’s my shadow at the bottom. There were people coming up behind me and once the big guy crossed the trail, we all headed down together. Our theory was safety in numbers. By the time we got to were he had crossed, we saw him swimming half way across the lake.

Another big one on the same morning, taken with my 300mm lens.

A few tiny ones on the trail.

One of the “really” big ones across the lake, on the other side of the bank.

Otherwise, it was a slow morning with the usual turtles and warblers.

It finally looks like fall in late December.

Linking to My Corner of the World.

Bunny and the beasts.

On May 8, 2018May 8, 2018 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals6 Comments

Saw the little piggies again on another trip to Circle B Bar Reserve in early March. They had gotten just a little bit bigger. They were venturing out farther away from Mom but she kept her eye on them.