Grackles are common but when the sun shines on them they are very pretty.
An anhinga with something stuck on her beak.
Some of the resident ducks around the lake.
There were several families in late April.
One of the families was busy swimming around and investigating everything.
Anhingas are pretty common along any body of water in central Florida. They swim under water and spear fish with their beaks. They flip the fish into their mouths and swallow them whole.
I caught this one struggling a few minutes before getting it down.
There was an osprey flying right above me looking for fish. They swoop down and grab fish with their talons.
Birds in our backyard, They are all regular visitor’s. A great blue heron, an anhinga drying his wings with some seaweed on his beak and a red bellied woodpecker.
Arriving home one day I saw a Cooper’s hawk eating something in my neighbor’s yard. Then later we had a red shoulder hawk on my neighbor’s sailboat mast.
We have a hooded merganser couple that hangs our in our channel during the winter. Every so often he comes close to our dock.
Plants in the backyard.
The sea fog had rolled in one Sunday morning.
One of the big moon events recently. Taken in the driveway.
Lots of birds hiding in the fog at Circle B Bar Reserve in early February.
Linking to Wednesday Around The World
Anhingas are always showing off.
Is this wood stork laughing at me?
The usual birds found along the trails. Glossy ibis, blue gray gnatcatcher, tricolored heron and there’s always a green heron with a fish somewhere.
One of the black necked swans.
A black swan working on a nest.
A young mute swan.
A young and an old wood stork.
One of the shelducks at Lake Mirror.
A pied grebe hiding in the reeds,
Cormorants and anhingas drying off in the sun. The first bird in the top picture is an anhinga. The rest are cormorants. Anhingas have a straight beak and spear their fish. Cormorants have a curved beak and hook their fish.
Threes a crowd.
All taken at Lake Morton and Lake Mirror in downtown Lakeland. The small lakes are just a few minutes apart so it’s easy to do quick walks around both before heading home.
A lone sleepy spoonbill along the walking path.
Crazy parrots high up in the trees.
A pelican and anhinga getting ready for bed.
A green heron trying to grab one last bite before dark.
Not sure if these turtles had been napping all day or if they just climbed up to sleep for the night. There’s a fun little floating pad for them to sleep on.
This guy was relaxing.
Clouds rolling in before the sun going down. A quick walk before dark at the office park near my work right before the time change. No more walks after work until late March.
