Small critters at Lettuce Lake

On May 11, 2015May 12, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography15 Comments

A carolina wren looking guilty with that mouthful of greens. He’s building a nest somewhere close by.

A northern parula deep in the woods was chowing on a worm.

A lot of people were looking for the prothonotary warbler that had been reported there earlier in the week. No one had seen it that morning. Right before I left, I saw this yellow bird in the bushes and snapped a quick picture. When I got home I realized it was the prothonotary warbler everyone had been looking for.

Diana, the park ranger showed me this tiny ball high up in a tree in the woods. I had to look through my 300mm lens to see it. When I got home and cropped it up, I realized you could see the tiny blue-gray gnatcatcher sitting on the nest. It looks bigger in the picture but was smaller than a baseball. I can’t imagine you could see the tiny babies until they were ready to fly off.

Dragonfly season is in full swing.

Hanging around.

This was an early morning walk at Lettuce Lake in north Tampa in late April. I went to see if I could find the barred owl family. I found them and a few other birds along the boardwalk. More on the owls later.

Our World Tuesday Graphic image-in-ing

More people than birds.

On April 2, 2015March 25, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

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.

Skywatch Friday