The yard in March

On June 17, 2024July 13, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

My neighbor’s hibiscus bushes were in full bloom in late May. The first bush is my favorite. The flower starts out pink and turns yellow by the end of the day.

Regular visitors to the bird bath during March were Northern parulas, a hermit thrush and many black and white wablers. The hermit thrush usually came at the end of the day and took a quick bath and left.

This tufted titmouse had a white moth and I thought he was going into the bird house but he flew off with it.

A Carolina wren couple spent an afternoon building a nest in the palm tree outside our window but ended up leaving it. I have read they may build several nests before using one. They must have used one nearby because they have since come by with their little juveniles.

One sits on our patio chair. I’d like to think he was looking at us in the window but I think he’s eyeing the patio for bugs.

The red shoulder hawk was sitting on the bird feeder stand one morning.

So many fun caterpillars were on our patio wall. The first is a moth, either a gypsy or tiger? The second, a tussock moth, is not so fun. We had a lot of these in our backyard. They can sting or give you a little rash if you aren’t careful. The last is a wooly gray moth which is a drab brown moth from such a cool caterpillar.

The almost full moon from the living room window.

Glowing in the backyard.

Locks and butterflies

On June 6, 2024May 25, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

I didn’t quite make it out to the waterfront in Safety Harbor for sunrise. The sun was already up but not too high. In early April it was still cool in the mornings so I walked around the boardwalk area before heading to Folly Farm to look for butterflies.

People have been putting locks on the cables on the boardwalk. It’s a cute gesture (locking in your love, etc) but it weighs down the cables and is ruining the boardwalk. They get cut off every so often to keep from doing more damage.

I made a stop at nearby Folly Farm. I was hoping to see some early spring migrating birds but had to settle for the butterfly garden being full of butterflies.

I think this is a saltmarsh caterpillar. They turn into pretty white moths.

There were several pupas on the fence. The first is still new and green. The 2nd was about to be a butterfly. Maybe it was coming out that day? You could really see the monarch in it.

Other little critters. That lizard was really rusty looking.

You can usually find bluebirds here since they have several nesting boxes.

Starting the new year off with a walk.

On April 8, 2024April 8, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants, Tampa bay sights4 Comments

The 2024 New Year’s Day sky at the Safety Harbor fishing pier. No sunrise this morning.

After walking around the park area for a while the clouds were starting to part and I could see blue sky.

I stopped at nearby Folly Farms for another walk before heading home. The holiday lights were still shining in the trees. It was hard to capture the lights in the daytime. Next Christmas I will try and get here at night to see the lights.

The weather was mild and there was a lot of color in the butterfly garden.

The balloon cotton-bush/balloon milkweed was full of caterpillars. It felt like spring and looked like spring but we still had our 2 coldest months to go.

The finished gnome statue had a butterfly in his hand on this trip. I was expecting at least a Santa hat on his head (he did have some lights strung around his neck though).

All taken with my phone.

Christmas walk through the gardens

On December 21, 2023December 21, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants, Tampa bay sights3 Comments

A non-birding friend wanted to go for a walk early one morning last week at the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo. I tagged along without my camera so all of these are taken with my phone. The Gardens does a big Christmas light show at night but it’s also fun to walk around during the day here and it’s not so crazy crowded. The big silk floss trees were nearing the end of their blooming. There were still a few blooms at the top of the tree but most were on the ground.

The bald cypress trees were changing color which made it almost feel like fall if it wasn’t so warm. We were walking around in shorts and t-shirts with the weather being in the high 70’s but at least the humidity was low.

The food stand left bags of popcorn out from the light festival the night before. The squirrel knocked one down and started to have a blast. He was going to have a tummy ache. Eventually his friends showed up and they had a popcorn party. I wasn’t going to stop them.

A small sample of some of the decorations. They had some of the lights still on which made it cool to see in the daylight.

The monarch butterfly let me get really close with my phone. She may have been laying eggs.

The giant milkweed plant in the butterfly garden was full of caterpillars.

I have made it to the light show at night over the years. You can see some of my older posts here and here.

Not able to sit still.

On May 20, 2023May 20, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

There are some great benches here at the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo. Right in front of this huge milkweed bush. The bush was covered in monarch caterpillars in mid-March. I sat for a while waiting for butterflies to come by but there wasn’t many flying around this morning.

This squirrel came over and sat near me and started eating something. He was the only interesting thing there so I left and headed over to McGough Park.

I couldn’t find any birds in the area around the turtle ponds and the turtles were already snoozing so I didn’t stay too long here either. I figured at this point I was close to the beach so I decided on a quick stop at the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary.

The injured pelicans were doing their morning flaps or taking a bath.

I could barely make out the baby great egrets high up in the trees over the exhibits. They had long outgrown the tiny nests they were growing up in but you could still see their pin feathers when they flapped their wings so they were not quite ready to start flying yet.

NIght herons were still sitting on nests although there was a lot of baby ones (the last one in brown and white with orange eyes) all over the sanctuary.

This night heron was showing the way to the shade garden although it’s really just a lot of overgrown mangroves.

Funny and pretty at the botanical gardens

On March 9, 2021March 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

I was walking around the Botanical Gardens in Largo in late December and a small flock of monk parakeets flew right into the trees over my head. They spend a few minutes feeding on the seeds and anything else they could find up there. It was funny to watch them hopping around and hanging upside down. A few minutes later they all started screaming and took off. All was quiet again.

Across the gardens I could see an osprey flying into his nest with a small fish.

The milkweed bushes were still full of caterpillars. The weather had been mild and warm up to this point.

You can always find butterflies all year long here in central Florida.

Wide open spaces

On February 9, 2021March 5, 2024 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.

Getting out in the gardens

On February 8, 2021March 5, 2024 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.

Pretty things in November

On January 26, 2021January 26, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants3 Comments

I always love coming around the corner on the sidewalk and seeing the big burst of pink in the air. The huge silk floss tree at the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo blooms in the fall. I was there at the end of the blooms but there were still some left on the tree and the fruit was starting to come out. I could also see a parakeet high up in the tree.

Other plants at the gardens.

The giant milkweed plant was covered in caterpillars in the middle of November. This was before it was starting to get cold so I hope these guys all made it through.