A cold winter morning at Chesnut Park

On May 23, 2026May 11, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animalsLeave a comment

I briefly saw the 2 point buck when I got to Chesnut Park in early February.

There were lots of ladies in the back of the park.

I stood still waiting for these ladies to pass me. They were so close I took the above with my phone.

The only wintering birds I saw were yellow rumped warblers.

Titmouse are here all year long. They come close hoping for a handout.

It looked like winter when I looked up in the trees.

Ginger, the domesticated duck that was dumped at the lake a few months back, was still hanging around the dock and seemed to be doing well.

You can usually find purple gallinulles along the dock.

We only see coots in the winter. It’s funny to watch them eat the vegetation in the lake.

The sun was trying to peak out on this cold morning. The wind was blasting on the top of the observation tower and I could see ripples in the water.

A morning of usual critters

On April 18, 2026May 7, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I was at Roosevelt Wetlands in late December hoping to find some great winter ducks but only the usuals were there. Above a pied grebe was watching me take his picture.

Ring-necked ducks are usually here during the winter.

And coots are easy to find in the winter.

A year round bird but not that common is a Cooper’s Hawk. He was hiding in the shadows.

Eastern phoebes and savannah sparrows are plentiful here in the winter.

Boring ole mallards were trying to sleep on the main trail.

Since things were slow at the wetlands I left early and stopped at Philippe Park on the way home. The great horned owls nest here in the winter. Dad was sitting high up in the tree and was easy to find.

Mom was still sitting on the nest. They sat on the nest for a month and abandoned it twice this winter. Something wasn’t working for them. Maybe the eggs weren’t hatching? Everyone thought they would have left the park by now for the season but I’ve recently heard that she’s back nesting on a different tree in the same park. Maybe third time’s a charm?

It was low tide along the sea wall and ibis and a few laughing gulls were feeding in the muck.

Fall was finally here.

On March 14, 2024March 4, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants4 Comments

We know it’s winter in central Florida when the coots show up at our ponds. It looked like they were eating the grass they pulled up from the bottom of the pond.

I was up on the observation tower at Chesnut Park when I saw this osprey in the trees across the boat canal. The spanish moss has taken over these trees.

The spatterdock was blooming under the boardwalk.

The trees around the lake were finally turning colors in late December.

The bald cypress trees and red maples were finally showing off. We do get a fall here in the Tampa Bay area, just not until some time in December. This year it was really late.

The view from the top of the tower.

Driving along Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive

On March 8, 2021March 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

A green heron was all alone with his reflection.

Some of the wintering ducks at the wildlife drive include a blue winged teal couple, a female northern shoveler and a grebe.

The coots seemed to be in couples all over the drive.

A glossy ibis in the bur marigolds.

Some of the smaller birds include a flicker and many blue gray gnatcatchers.

I got out of the car and was walking around watching the ducks when this kingfisher flew right by.

Shooting right into the sun, the marsh looked like it had a layer of gold on top. Those tiny black dots were coots which were all over the place. It really looked like winter on my drive in late December with all of the leaves off the trees and bushes here. The wildlife drive is just north of Orlando and is a little hike from my house so I don’t get here often. It’s been worth the drive recently since I was trying to stay off my hip due to hip bursitis at the end of last year.

A quiet cold walk in January

On February 22, 2021March 5, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

The cattails and the spider webs were showing up in the early morning sun at Possum Branch Preserve.

Bright pops of red in early January. It was finally starting to look like fall (only in central Florida does it look like fall right before spring).

Birds were scarce this Saturday morning. Other than the usual birds, I only saw a house wren and a thrasher.

Pelican fly by along the canal.

Two coots have taken up residents for the winter in the main pond.

This guy didn’t look that big (taken with my zoom lens).

When I got around the other side of the pond and saw him spread out, he looked much bigger.

The old trees at the Reserve

On February 21, 2019February 17, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I was looking through some old folders recently and came across some pictures I had taken of the great old trees at Circle B Bar Reserve. Some have changed a lot, some have not changed at all and some are gone. The ones above were taken in December, 2010. They were full of wood storks and the marsh was full of coots. We rarely see coots there now.