Tag Archives: ducks

“I’m heading down the Atlanta highway”

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Atlanta, as seen in the first episode of the tv series “Walking Dead”. Except in the scene, the roads were lined with abandoned cars that were photo-shopped into the scene. I took this the first night of our long weekend to visit friends. It was dark and cloudy and had just stopped drizzling. My husband thought I was going to look silly being the only person standing on the Jackson Street bridge taking this picture. No, there were several other people there taking pictures as well. I found out later that there are “Walking Dead” tours that take you to some of the places that scenes were filmed at. This is one of the stops.

Another Atlanta downtown scene, taken as we were leaving to head back home.

One morning while Brett was riding his bike with some friends, I took a walk around Piedmont Park. They used to have great art festivals and other events here. I’m sure they still do but it was quiet the morning I walked around the lake.

A few of the critters and an interesting mushroom or fungi around the lake. After my walk around the park, I headed over to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, more on that later.

We stopped at a shopping center to get something and this hawk was in the parking deck. At first I thought he was hurt but I think he had just finished a meal. He took off as I got closer to him but he let me get pretty close. He left behind a few scraps of his lunch.

Almost 25 years ago, Brett and I got married here in the gardens behind the Swan House. We were passing by and I made Brett stop for a few minutes.

I was feeling really nostalgic for Atlanta. I had lived here for 17 years before Brett and I moved to Tampa for work. Since his family moved to the Tampa bay area years ago, we hadn’t really spent any time here in over 3 years so we came back for a long weekend in August. We packed a lot of sight-seeing in the 2 and a half days we were here. We happened to be staying in a hotel next to this mural. The mural is on the side of the building where the old Limelight disco was back in the 70’s and 80’s. I spend many weekends there dancing with my sister and our friends back in the mid 80’s.

SkyWatch Friday

Visiting friends in the rain

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I hadn’t been to Horsepower for Kids horse farm/sanctuary in a while so I stopped by on the way home after a walk at Chesnut Park. It had started raining so I walked around with my umbrella since the weather had cooled off.

Said “Hi” to the chickens and pigs. The one above came over to give me a snort.

The mandarin duck family seems to be growing there.

The kids out for a ride did not seem to mind the rain.

Our World Tuesday Graphicimage-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

A walk around Crescent Lake

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Moorhens were all around the lake. Lots of juveniles from early spring.

Other interesting ducks including the pied grebe in the last picture.

Other critters at the lake. The otter was a surprise. I’ve never seen one there before.

The water tower next to the lake and a hawk hanging underneath it. Probably looking for a slow flying monk parakeet. The parakeets nest under the water tower.

Looking across the lake near downtown St. Petersburg. I hadn’t been in a while so I stopped for a quick walk. There were people in the lake in kayaks doing a cleanup. I know there are alligators in there so you wouldn’t want to be in there without a kayak and a paddle to hit one over the head with.

SkyWatch Friday

Babies and an eagle

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Wood duck babies are so cute. I found this little family at a hidden pond at the Largo Botanical Gardens in May.

After walking around the gardens, I headed over to Largo Nature Preserve and found this baby limpkin following Mom under the boardwalk.

I was staring at this turtle that was sitting just underneath the below.

A bald eagle was sitting on a utility tower in the park. I don’t think anyone else walking by noticed the eagle just sitting up there.

I was taking pictures of the colors of the high plants across the creek and looked down and saw these guys staring up at me like “Feed us.”

All taken back in late April.

SkyWatch Friday

 

Botanical Gardens in the heat

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Little critters.

Cute critter. I think he was afraid I was going to steal his nut.

I’m don’t know what this bird is. Any ideas?  I think it may be a juvenile.

A woodpecker chewing on this pretty flowering tree.

Pretty colors.

Crazy ducks.

It was already hot in late April when I stopped by the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo. The summer rains hadn’t started but the heat had already arrived.

Our World Tuesday Graphicimage-in-ing

Heartbreak in the backyard

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I was watering some hanging plants right before dark in the backyard when I noticed this face peeking out of my neighbor’s dead palm tree.  The house next door had been empty for at least 2 years.  I think the lady that lived there was now in a nursing home. This was the first time I had seen a screech owl in our neighborhood.


Over the next two weeks I was able to catch the above.  He (or she) would stick his head out right before dark. In the last two shots, he woke up earlier during the late afternoon. I would sneak around the backyard and hide behind a short palm tree to get pictures. I didn’t want to scare him away.

After 3 weeks of peeking out the side window right before dark every night, I came home from work and saw that the dead palm tree was gone.  I ran outside and realized my neighbor’s entire backyard had been gutted and cleaned up.  I was heartbroken. After 2 years it gets cleaned up now???  Then I heard a peep and saw the owl sitting in a palm tree that was still standing next door. He was looking at me like “Where’d my bed go?” I would assume he was sleeping when someone came in and started to saw the tree down. He must have flown out in panic. I can only hope he didn’t have eggs in there yet. I had not heard any baby noises yet. I stood there in the backyard crushed that my new friend had lost it’s home. I never saw him again after these shots were taken. I’m sure he moved on. I don’t know if it’s too late to put up a nest box  in our yard.

Other critters in the backyard.

I was able to catch the sunset in the backyard while I was trying to get shots of the owl.  One night I caught this rainbow driving into my neighborhood.

SkyWatch Friday

So many babies, so little time – at Lake Mirror

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So many babies, so little time.  This seems to be a big baby duck year. I’m seeing big families everywhere.  Getting them all lined up for a family portrait wasn’t easy. The babies are very curious and were running around all over the place.  Eventually they tired out and settled down for a nap hiding under mom.

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They grow up so fast. One of the first duck families this year at the lake.  They are still sticking close together.

Linking to Saturday’s Critters

Railroad Park in downtown Birmingham

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Views of downtown Birmingham from Railroad Park. The park opened in 2010 on a railroad corridor site once used as a freight depot.

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It’s a fun little park but trains come by pretty regularly.

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Lots of interesting things there. The big plant behind the guy riding a bike was a rosemary bush. You could really smell it when you walked by. It made me hungry. The two rectangular buildings in the above picture was a place to get snacks and a restroom. They are both shipping containers.

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Even though it’s a park right in middle of downtown, there were lots of critters there. It was a beautiful spring day to be running around while visiting my sister over Easter weekend.

SkyWatch Friday