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.
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.
Above are some of the common birds you see in the winter here. An Eastern phoebe, a catbird, a black and white warbler and a blue-gray gnatcatcher.
Another common year round bird, the pileated woodpecker. Most of the time I usually hear them screaming from high up in the trees. This one came down a little closer.
A house wren is not that common.
Yellow throated warblers are common in the winter but they tend to hide up in the palm trees and under the palms.
I think these are all pine warblers.
Not a common bird for me to see, a black capped chickadee. There were several high up in the trees near the boardwalk.
A very strange but not uncommon bird flying over the lake.
Lots of little birds flying around Chesnut Park in early November (a few big ones too).
A cat bird in the berry bushes.
A young little blue heron in the lake. There is water under there.
Tiny critters buzzing around.
A house wren hanging on a Christmas decoration.
This cute Carolina wren was giving me some attitude.
A few flying things at the Florida Botanical Gardens in late October.
And this eastern towhee. I don’t see these very often.
Catbirds are very common here.
It’s common to see a kestrel high up in a tree.
The eagle is on the nest. I’ve heard that the rangers have reported there are eggs. I could just barely see her head sticking up. I did not see the other parent that morning.
A downy woodpecker hanging around.
I saw this juvenile bald eagle way out in the lagoon across from the nature center. The tide was very low and the oyster beds were exposed.
It’s not fun to go on a hike in early December and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. I had two coats of bug repellant on with high DEET content. I still came home with 15 bug bites. They were biting my hands, my ears, my face. I stopped and sprayed my hair since they were dive bombing my head. Usually if I keep moving they don’t bother me too much but they were chasing after me as I walked very quickly down the trail. We need a good cold spell to get rid of these guys (like days with a high under 50). It was 85 degrees.
A beautiful female common yellowthroat.
The catbirds are back for the winter. I’ve been seeing them everywhere in the last 2 weeks.
The most exciting thing I saw. A squirrel eating a pine cone.
Looks like he’s eating corn on the cob the way that he’s holding that pine cone.
This flew very high up over my head. Someone yelled out that is was a peregrine falcon. If so, it’s a first sighting for me (or at least a blurry one from far away). And yes, it’s a falcon!
Before leaving the park I headed to the bathroom. I’m usually pretty good about looking around for snakes or spiders in park restrooms. Don’t want to get bit on the bottom. I didn’t even notice this guy until I turned around to flush. Of course I pulled out my phone and took the above picture.
It was a beautiful morning at the end of September at Fort Desoto but a little disappointing in the way of birds. If the highlight is a squirrel and frog, it’s a slow morning. But, the weather was perfect and I got a good walk in.
Linking to Saturday’s critters
This bluebird was singing pretty loud on a light post.
I don’t know what this is. It flew onto the same post as the bluebird above. At first I thought it was a juvenile bluebird but that beak looks different. Any ideas? Cobb?
My first “male” goldfinch.
Wet robin with a berry in his beak.
Catbird on a chain.
House sparrows hanging out on a nest box.
Upclose with a frog.
Cool frog in one of the fountains.
Just a few critters I saw on my walk around the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. The bluebird was a plus since I rarely see them in central Florida.
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I think the indigo bunting was my favorite bird of the day. Last spring I could not get a decent picture of him. When I first got the woods I saw a flash of blue and didn’t see him again for a while. Later, while standing in front of the fountain talking to some other birders, he landed right on the base of the fountain. He bounced around for at least 10 minutes from branch to fountain.
I totally blew this shot out. I had been taking pictures of birds deep in the bushes early in the morning and had my ISO too high. When I drove over to the other section of woods, as soon as I got out of the car I saw the scarlet tanager in the tree and immediately started snapping. Then I realized he was in full sun and I hadn’t lowered my ISO. A second later he flew off. So the shot overall is too bright but I’m just glad I got him.
This one I took right into the sun and then had to blow out to get the details. I think this is another scarlet tanager but we had heard there were summers around and I was hoping it was a summer instead. I can’t really see his wings in this picture to tell. Any experts have an opinion?
Later in the morning, when I came back to the mulberry bushes, they were full of orchard orioles. I only saw males while I was there. They were all busy eating the berries.
Another one with berries pieces in his beak.
Not a good picture but it was the only one I got of an american redstart.
Is this a gray kingbird or an eastern kingbird? People were calling it both. All About Birds does not even show a gray kingbird in their list, only the eastern. He was flying back and forth between the mulberry bushes with some lunch left on his beak.
My first red eyed vireo.
I thought this was a red eyed vireo at first. I’m thinking it’s the same bird as the picture before it and that I just couldn’t see it’s red eye. It also looks like a female redstart.
The very common gray catbird. The mulberry bushes were full of them. This one had red all over his face from eating the berries. What a feast.
The mulberry bushes at the trails have signs posted saying “Do not pick the fruit.” Just in case a tourist wanted to have a snack and wipe out an entire bush. The birds migrating through in spring count on these bushes for fuel to get them home up north. They are exhausted and hungry when they stop by Fort Desoto for a rest. The bushes were full of birds in early April. They were all busy eating and most birds had a little berry juice stained on their beaks and faces. Most of these pictures were taken standing in front of the big mulberry bushes or at the water fountain so I didn’t have to travel far. Just stand in one place and have patience (which I don’t have a lot of).
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