A limpkin and his reflection trying to find snails.
A young red shoulder hawk landed on the boardwalk right in front of me. He sat there for a while looking around until someone walked up to him from the other side of the boardwalk and off he went.
Another adult red shoulder hawk up in a tree.
A common yellowthroat showing off.
A muscovy duck train in the parking lot.
Female belted kingfisher (Males do not have the brown stripe across the chest).
Female red bellied woodpecker (Males have full red on his head).
Male common yellowthroat (Female does not have the black mask).
Limpkin
Crazy green heron.
Blue-gray gnatcatcher.
Female ruby throated hummingbird (Males have a bright red stripe across the chin).
A very young white crowned sparrow (a fairly rare one here).
A young red shoulder hawk (very common around here).
All taken on a recent visit to Circle B Bar Reserve.
The parks are full of white eyed vireos and phoebes right now.
“Common” yellowthroats are pretty common as well.
Doves get no respect even though they have pretty pink feet.
Limpkin eating a snail.
These are actually pretty cool bees, although I wouldn’t want to disturb that nest.
Gators and lizards.
Muhly grass in bloom.
Linking to Wednesday Around the World
A purple gallinule shining through the reeds.
A pretty common yellowthroat in the shade.
A cute grebe floating around.
A little blue heron taking a gulp.
A red-eyed vireo being shy.
A downy woodpecker high up in a tree.
A limpkin looking down at me from up above.
A palm warbler reaching for the stars.
A white pelican all alone.
Moorhens imitating each other.
Tiny hummingbirds humming in the firebush.
Some of the birds on my recent walk around Circle B Bar Reserve.
Beautiful glossy ibis with the sun shining on his breeding feathers.
A grackle staring at something in the water.
Woody in the woods.
A common yellowthroat warbler hiding in the bushes. Most of the warblers are gone now and are up north for the summer.
Moth or butterfly?
Dragonfly on a stick shot.
Cattails were everywhere. My dad loved cattails. I think they look like poop on a stick.
The gators were growling.
“Don’t give me that innocent look.” I said to the gator.
It’s June 1st. It’s going to be a long hot summer. It’s been hot since early April. These were taken in early May and it was stifling hot already at Circle B Bar Reserve. It’s time to hit the coast for the summer breezes and let the gators nap in peace for a few months.
A common yellowthroat hiding in the bushes.
A Carolina wren singing away in the morning.
A bittern hiding in the swamp. Shout out to Peter and Capt. Jake for finding this guy. Don, where were you? You missed out on this one.
A black vulture and a turkey vulture hanging out together.
One of the many “Osprey” trees along Alligator Alley trail.
The baby great blue heron is almost grown up.
The parent was still watching over him.
The baby was still getting excited when the parents came to visit. He was still getting fed by them.
I’m starting to see dragonflies everywhere.
A quick visit to Circle B Bar Reserve in mid-March. I think there were more people than birds on the trails. It’s that time of the year when big groups of bird watchers descend on the park. They move a lot slower and I’m sure they see a lot more birds than I do. Most of the time they are seeing they with binoculars or scopes so I usually can’t get a shot of what they are looking at. I usually try to keep moving. It all started with getting exercise so I try to get in a good long walk on the weekends.Seeing the wildlife is a bonus.
My first blue headed vireo. From a distance I thought it was a northern parula and wasn’t going to take the picture. I was thinking it was too far away and dark which it was but was glad I took the shot after all.
Keeper of the sign.
Common yellowthroat hiding in the reeds along the lake.
“Sing, sing a song. “
I thought this was an immature yellow rumped warbler but now I’m not sure.
White eyed vireo.
The usual titmouse looking cute.
This red shoulder hawk was on the wooded trail and watching the blue headed vireo. I think he is still a young one since he didn’t have a lot of color in his head.
This one was sitting out over the lake watching all of the little birds flying around. He may have just been soaking up the sun since it was fairly cool that morning.
A few birds on my walk around Chesnut Park in early January. It was a cool morning (45 degrees when I started) but warmed up fast. I didn’t think I was going to see much but the little birds came out as the sun started peeking out of the clouds.
Check out more pictures at Our World Tuesday
The very common palm warbler. They were falling from the sky. I’ll try not to take too many pictures of them this winter, even though they are the most accommodating birds.
Even though you can’t see his legs in this shot, this is a yellowlegs. He’s a shorebird that should be at the beach. He was all alone in a small marsh.
Another missed baby black bellied whistling duck opportunity. They were far out in the marsh and getting ready for a nap. They were probably going to stay in that spot for hours.
I counted six but I think there were more hiding in the reeds.
Phoebes where everywhere and you could hear that distinct call all over the reserve.
This common yellowthroat sat still for 20 seconds. Long enough for me to get the above. Then he took off.
A barred owl was sleeping close to the trail and everyone was stopping to watch him. He would not wake up and he was hidden behind a lot of branches. We kept going down trail and an hour later when we came back, he was still sleeping.
“This is how I eat my dinner. Bang the fish on the branch so he won’t wiggle when he goes down my throat.”
Yes, I have a ton of blue-gray gnatcatcher shots. But they are so cute and there were so many of them.
The great blue heron doesn’t bang his fish before swallowing. He flips it over a few times and swallows it wiggling.
More of the usual stuff from Circle B Bar Reserve. The first weekend in November was perfect. Although we were a little cold starting out. 50 degrees at 8am. I didn’t even take my jacket off until we got in the car at noon.
Check out more pictures at Our World Tuesday 
Also, check out more birds at Paying Ready Attention for 
One of the first birds I see walking down the trail is a common yellowthroat.
He was checking me out.
A hairy woodpecker flew in.
Then a red bellied woodpecker showed up.
Another bird, I think this is a female yellowthroat.
Down the trail, I see the royal couple looking over their kingdom from a tall cypress tree in the middle of the lake.
Green heron doing his “trying to catch a tiny fish” pose.
Another red bellied woodpecker.
Another downy woodpecker. The trail was full of woodpeckers.
This is the 2nd time I’ve seen black bellied whistling duck babies and again they are far away and into the sun. I waited for half an hour hoping they would swim towards me but they kept getting farther away. This a late family.
It was so good to get back out on the trails at Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland. I had not been since May. It’s way too hot in the summer. There wasn’t a lot of bird activity yet. The winter birds and ducks hadn’t gotten there yet. It was still fun to get out and walk. But, the spider webs were out of control. You really had to watch were you were going. They were across the trails in the trees and along the sides. Soon, meaning maybe mid-November, the weather will break and it won’t be so miserably hot there.
Check out more pictures at Our World Tuesday
Also, check out more birds at Paying Ready Attention for
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