Tag: bok tower gardens

Wide open spaces

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

More shots from my trip to Bok Tower Gardens in November. I had a weekday off and Brett had never been so he took off and went with me. He was surprised at how big the koi fish were in the moat around the bell tower. You can feed them here so they are huge.

We took some time to just hang out and breathe with the wide open spaces here. It was quiet this morning and the oak trees were great shade.

Color on the path in the children’s garden.

We felt like we were on a farm for a few minutes.

Just outside the gardens in the parking lot, I stopped to look at the plants and noticed several caterpillars. I had already put my camera up so I snapped these with my phone.

After leaving the gardens, we stopped to check out some cows.

We really were just looking to see if the whooping cranes that hang out in a cow pasture were still around.

The cranes were still there but they were napping all the way across the pasture. This was with my 400mm and super cropped. It’s good to see them still there though. It was good to be out of the house and we had a nice day trip. We need to do more of these.

My Corner of the World

Getting out in the gardens

On By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants5 Comments

Still so many pretty flowers at Bok Tower Gardens in November. The big lily pads were still blooming.

I hadn’t seen any frogs there in several years so I was excited to see this guy in a small pond.

Little flying critters.

I’ve taking a ton of pictures of the bell tower but this was the first time I noticed that there was a calendar carved in the back of the tower. I’m not sue what the lines mean. Has anyone seen this before?

There were still lots of caterpillars in mid-November.

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Little hummers and other things

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

My second ever rufous hummingbird sighting. This one and the one before were both at Bok Tower Gardens. Rufous hummingbirds are fairly rare around this area. This is only the 2nd time of hearing about one and I was happy to have seen it even briefly. I caught him high up on a tree taking a break. When he went to feed, he would go deep in the bushes or the other side making it impossible to get feeding shots. At one point I could barely see him feeding deep in the firebush.

Ruby throated hummingbirds are pretty common. I caught this male feeding near the carillon tower.

He buzzed off and disappeared. I stood under a pine tree for a long time waiting for him to come back. At one point I looked up and he was sitting right over my head.

Birds with yellow. The top one is an easy one, a yellow throated warbler. The 2nd I think is a red eyed vireo with a bug. The last is a a female common yellowthroat.

An ovenbird and blue gray gnatcatcher.

A usual sight, a harmless black racer crosses the sidewalk in front of me.

A bee house in the garden. Used by mason or other solitary bees, they lay their eggs in the holes.

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Pretty things in June

On By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants4 Comments

I couldn’t find a tag on this really cool plant. Love the hairs sticking up on the newer ones. I realized that the older ones that had broken open had red bugs in them.

Little critters at Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales in early June.

A hopper hiding in the dirt.

It was good to be out even if it was hot in central Florida. The gardens had recently opened back up and I had a rare Monday off so I drove over to spend the morning walking around. There wasn’t a lot of birds around but still lots of things to look at.

My Corner of the World

 

Pretty things at Bok Tower Gardens

On By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals5 Comments

Lots of little critters at Bok Tower Gardens in late September. Very few birds. The best one was the white eyed vireo. It was a good morning to work on my butterfly shots.

I found this butterfly couple flying around. Only the top butterfly was flapping. Assuming they are mating?

I was looking for bugs and saw this big eye staring at me from behind a leaf. After climbing around under the leaves for a few minutes he stopped and took a nap on a stalk. He was not much bigger than my thumb.

Flowers in the fall.

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

Lots of things blooming at Bok Tower Gardens in late September.

A few of the critters. I rarely see ladybugs anymore.

Early morning at the bell tower. This is a great spot to take a break. Sitting under the big oak trees looking out at the old orange groves far away.

I made a quick trip to Bok Tower in central Florida in late September. It was a quiet morning and not too many birds but lots of plants were blooming.

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Colors of spring

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

Flowers and plants from Bok Tower Gardens in central Florida in mid-March. Around here things bloom early if not all year round. I have not seen the dark orange sunflowers there before. I think those were my favorite. A bad storm had come through the state the night before and I thought I might get rained out but the next morning the sun was up so I headed out. Everything looked bright and damp.

Photographing New Zealand