Visiting my “deer” friends at Chesnut Park.
The usual summer birds were there. A catbird, palm warbler, white eyed vireo and a red-winged blackbird.
A tiny gator getting some rays.
A lone muscovy hangs around the pond.
Wood ducks stay far away.
Linking to Wednesday Around the World.
A not very common Swainson’s Thrush.
Summer tanagers. The bottom one is an immature male.It’s cool to see them when they are half yellow and half red.
Gray birds: a wood pee wee and a catbird.
I think this is a female Orchard Oriole.
Baltimore Oriole.
Beautiful blue indigos.
Red eyed vireos.
Magnolia Warbler
A bay breasted warbler was hiding high up in the trees all morning.
Lots of different little birds at Fort Desoto at the end of April.
Linking to Wednesday Around the World.
Male rose breasted grosbeaks were all over Fort Desoto in mid-April. They were eating the mulberries while resting up before their migration up north. Most of them had mulberry juice all over their beaks.
A few females and juveniles were also munching on the berries.
Catbirds were eating as well.
I only got a brief glimpse of the Baltimore oriole before he took off.
I only saw one indigo bunting on this trip but more would pass through later in the month.
A small portion of the crowd at Fort Desoto during spring migration in mid-April. It felt like there were more people than birds that morning but at least there were a lot of eyes looking out for the birds. There wasn’t a lot of variety there but it was still early for migration.
Linking to Wednesday Around the World.
True to its name, the Osprey Trail on Honeymoon Island is known for having a lot of Osprey along the trail. There are many nests along the trail and when I was there in late January, the osprey were working on refreshing the old ones.
Both eagles were sitting in a tree near the nest which was a bad sign. They were sitting on eggs earlier so something must have happened to cause them to abandon the nest. They might try again. It was still early.
Towhees, catbirds and yellow rumped warblers were all along the trail.
Lots of vultures here.
New growth in some of the prescribed burn areas.
This guy walked right in front of me on the trail.
I hadn’t been to Honeymoon Island since last spring. I wanted to see if the osprey were nesting yet. Honeymoon Island is a barrier island north of Clearwater Beach. In the 1940’s the island was a place known for people to spend their honeymoon in the cottages on the island. Once World War 2 started people stopped coming to the island and later the cottages were torn down.
Linking to Wednesday Around the World
Lots of deer in early January.
Lots of squirrels but that bottom looks a little rough.
Lots of little birds but nothing new.
Red shoulder hawks hiding along the trails.
Eagles flying far away across the lake. Both an adult and a juvenile.
Found these two ducks at a quiet end of a pond. I’m thinking they are pets that got dumped here. Someone left food in a small plastic container. I just hope they know enough to stay away from the gators.
Nothing new on my recent walk around Chesnut Park. The catbirds are back for the winter and you could hear them calling all over the park.
I have to laugh at myself. As I was driving out of the park I saw movement over by the bushes. I stopped thinking “Is that a bobcat?”. No, just a regular house cat that looks like he’s well fed. I don’t think he had a collar on.
All of the ponds are really pretty with the purple flowers in them.
A typical scene at most of the parks since Hurricane Irma came through. Huge trees on their sides leaving big holes in the ground and lots of piles of cut up trunks waiting to be mulched.
Linking to Wednesday Around the World
A lone female painted bunting was eating at the feeder near the pond.
A catbird on St. Frances’s head.
Your basic mockingbird shot.
There must have been a robin convention going on. They were everywhere at the park.
Really cool roots on the trail.
Pictures of the carillon tower at Bok Tower Gardens I took with my phone.
After I left Bok Tower Gardens I stopped by Lake Parker in Lakeland to get out and walk around for a few minutes before heading back to Tampa. It was a quiet afternoon with only a few critters near the boat ramp.
Next to Lake Parker is a huge soccer field. There was no one playing on the field that day but I’m sure on a weekend there are tons of kids running around. There were light posts along the fields and in between them with nests on them. All of them had osprey nesting on top except for one. One light post right at the entrance to the field had an owl nest. The sun was not in my favor that afternoon but I was able to get the above. There were two almost grown owlets on the nest with Mom but one was hiding on the other side of Mom. On nights and weekends these fields are packed with screaming kids playing ball. I guess the owls don’t mind.
A few things I saw on my central Florida trip to Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales and Lake Parker in Lakeland in early March.
