Shots from my early September trip to Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales Florida. There’s always interesting things to see there.
The front door to the Carillon bell tower.
From the bell tower area, you can see down into the valley. The bell tower sits on one of the highest elevated areas in Florida. An orange grove sits right outside the gardens.
I was sitting quietly on a bench waiting for the rufous hummingbirds to come back and this towhee came out from the bushes and started digging around for snacks in the ground.
He got pretty close to me but I was afraid he would get spooked if I raised my camera. He stayed right there as I took this picture.
This hawk was sitting in a tree close to the bench and right after I snapped this he took off. I heard him screaming and a kingfisher screaming close by.
I ran into the window blind that looks over a little pond and the hawk was chasing the kingfisher around the pond. I couldn’t get a good picture of the chase through the glass but was able to shoot the kingfisher sitting on a bird house in front of the window.
I headed to the other end of the gardens and heard the red headed woodpeckers calling close by.
They were banging away on the trees.
Something in this hole had his interest.
I saw three adults but I heard there were more there.
Zooming over my head.
This juvenile was all alone nearby. I’m not sure how long it takes for them to get their full red head.
A red bellied woodpecker with a big nut in his beak. Taken right into the sun.
A few of the birds I saw on my recent trip to Bok Tower Gardens. I saw several rufous hummingbirds flying around but could not get a shot of them in the shade. They did not sit still the entire hour I was watching them. They would fly high over the trees and then come back 10 minutes later. I guess that’s a good reason for another trip over there.