Early morning on the pier

Posted on May 1, 2023 by dinajohnston

It was early March and too nice outside to be inside so I headed over to nearby Oldsmar pier to sit for a while. When I first got there the eagle was sitting high up in the pine tree. He left pretty quickly and then made several passes over the pier.

The tide was low and left a small sandy spot in between the mangroves. I was watching this cute dog find a stick and then turn around and show it to his human before heading in the water with it. I’m not sure if he was saying “Dad, look what I found” or “Dad, can I play with this stick”.

I think this is the first time I’ve seen someone catch a fish here.

The crab trapper guy was closer to the pier this morning. It’s fun to watch the pelicans follow him, hoping for a free handout. I was recently going through some old pictures, cleaning out files and saw that I had taken pictures of him in 2015 from Philippe Park. This guy has been doing it for a while. It would be a nice side gig but I’m not sure how many crabs he gets in this northern part of the bay. I wonder if he needs a helper. I would do it for free a few times. To sit out in the boat with the pelicans in the early morning would be great.

Looking for a breeze

Posted on November 3, 2022 by dinajohnston

It was a perfect day to head down to St. Pete for a walk and hopefully catch a breeze in mid-August. My first stop was Crescent Lake Park. I was hoping to see hummingbirds at the big firebush but all I got was bees.

I happen to look over near the playground and saw this squirrel trying really hard to get in the unattended bag. A lady saw what was happening and ran over. She had donuts in her bag. I don’t blame the squirrel for trying to get those.

I stumbled on an outdoor dog obedience training class. Since I had my longer lens I was able to watch from pretty far away. All of the dogs seemed pretty chilled.

I left the park and headed over to the yacht basin near downtown for a quick walk before it got crazy hot.

By the dock at Chesnut Park

Posted on October 28, 2019 by dinajohnston

It’s fairly rare to see purple gallinules in Pinellas county. Occasionally one pops up in a weird spot but doesn’t stay long. I usually only see them in central Florida, at Circle B Bar Reserve or Lake Parker. Now there seems to be several families living near the dock over the lake at Chesnut Park. They’ve been reported there for several weeks and they have a juvenile with them. They were really close to the dock.

The juvenile doesn’t quite have his bright colors yet.

This squirrel was missing his tail.

Little critters along the dock.

These dogs at the end of the dock looked at me like “We don’t know what they are staring at. Would you play with us?”

image-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

Our World Tuesday Graphic

My once a year walk around Kapok Park

Posted on April 10, 2017 by dinajohnston

I had not been to Kapok Park in over a year. Not much had changed at this tiny park in the middle of a neighborhood. There wasn’t many birds there. Every once in a while something fairly rare turns up here but not in a while. Just a bunch of herons there on my visit (Little blue, great blue and night).

The small lake is full of turtles and they always hang out at the boardwalk since people feed them.

I rarely see alligators there but they ARE there. Any lake in central Florida is going to have a gator hiding somewhere.

Tiny lizard I saw through the boardwalk.

Pretty plants near the lake.

Yes, these dogs are supposed to be on leashes but they were having so much fun and no one else was around early that morning. I wanted to run and play with them.

Our World Tuesday Graphic image-in-ing

Random things at a craft show

Posted on November 18, 2015 by dinajohnston

All of the above are permanently injured birds that live at McGough Nature Park . They were at the Craft show greeting people so everyone can learn about the birds. The hawk in the first picture was showing off his missing eye.

I saw this big beautiful dog and was watching him make friends with a much smaller dog. The smaller dog was trying to be a big tough dog and the bigger dog just sniffed him and gave him a kiss. They played together for a few minutes before their owners had to leave.

I’m not sure what kind of dog this was but there was two of them and the ladies were brushing them and weaving their fur into blankets and scarves. They just sat their and enjoyed the people walking by.

I picked a good day to drive across town and walk around the Largo Botanical Gardens. Next door at the Heritage Village, they were having a Fall festival and craft show. I wandered around for a while and watched the huge crowds of people have fun on a beautiful fall day (even though it was still 86 degrees). I was tempted to get a funnel cake but the line was too long.

Critters roaming the streets

Posted on June 6, 2015 by dinajohnston

Chickens and roosters were everywhere. Roaming the streets and making noise. We happened to be there during baby chick season. I counted 6 different baby chick families along the streets. They were in empty lots, parking lots, walking down Duval Street. I’ve read several different stories about why they are running amuck around Key West. I was expecting to see more cats. We only saw a few. The dogs in the above were hanging out in a hat store. A lot of stores had pets.I guess that’s part of the charm of this little town.

A “ruff” time at the beach

Posted on March 18, 2015 by dinajohnston

I was leaving Philippe Park and heading home when I saw these two heading into the water. The park sits on the bay and the tide was low revealing a small spot of beach. The owners were throwing sticks in the water and the dogs were having the best time going in and out of the water. Too bad I didn’t have my swimsuit. I would have joined them. Well, except for the stick in the mouth thing.

Big birds high up in trees.

Posted on February 26, 2015 by dinajohnston

Synchronized preening vultures.

One of the parents from very far away. Last year this nest lost both babies. I never heard what had happened. I have heard there are two again this year.

Looks like a couple to me. I think the one on the left is a female. I’ve read they have a brown fleck necklace around the chest.

First time I’ve seen a kestrel at this park.

Woodpecker inside a palm tree.

Cutest critters at the park.

I had not been to Honeymoon Island in a long time. I went to see all of the usuals but it was still too early to be able to see babies yet. If they were there, they were still to small to see from the nest. I found the owl nest but the parent had been sleeping on the nest all morning. I heard here were eagle babies but they were still too small to see from as far away as we could get (over 500 feet is roped off at this park from the trail). No osprey babies yet as well. This was the end of January so another trip in early March is in the plan. After several days of rain, it was nice to get out and walk in the sun.

Skywatch Friday

Dina's Wildlife Adventures

Tag Archives: dogs