Last day on the farm for a while

On April 4, 2015April 4, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

Horses playing and taking mud baths.

Strutting around.

A green heron hanging around the pond.

“Don’t land on me” said the turtle to the great blue heron.

Floating around the pond.

Love is in the air.

Showing off for the ladies.

I think this one needs some sunscreen.

This pond has its own “cotton ball” head duck.

This is probably my last trip to the “funny” farm this year, or least until very late fall. It’s already too hot here. It was a perfect morning in early March. All of the animals were very active. In the summer they’ll be sleeping all day and the farm will be filled with “summer camp” kids. Although, it’s tempting to go back in the summer to see if there were any spring baby animals.

Weekly Top Shot #172

The funny farm.

On March 7, 2015March 7, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, zoo animals7 Comments

Pretty horses.

Funny horse.

A cross between a zebra and a horse?

The duck wasn’t sneaking up on someone. He walked with a limp.

I was concerned about this duck. I’ve never seen a duck sleep with his head on the ground.

He eventually popped his head up. He was okay.

Goose napping.

King of the coup.

King of the entire farm.

Turtle train.

Sparrow hanging around looking for a handout.

The cow train.

More fun from my mid-February visit to the petting zoo/horse farm near my house. I stopped by again last Saturday and realized when summer comes, it’s going to be too hot to visit. On March 1st it was 80 degrees by noon. Where did winter go?

Birds up close at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park

On March 10, 2014November 1, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography17 Comments

You could hear this sandhill crane calling from all over the park. He was yelling all morning. Maybe he was calling for his mate.

An injured whooping crane. One of these days I’m going to head to central Florida to look for the wild whooping cranes that winter there.

This very young spoonbill was not afraid of the tourist. He was right over the boardwalk.

Flamingos having a disagreement.

Are they a couple? The caracara on the left is missing a wing and two of his right toes.

Barred owls make the cutest faces.

This fulvous whistling duck had a bad right leg. He was limping around.

My first American wigeon.

Wood ducks were hanging around all over the park.

There’s a huge variety of birds at the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. Birds that you would see in the wild from all over Florida. Most of these birds are injured in some way and have found a home here. We went up there to see the manatees that hang out in the river that runs through the park but there are so many great birds there as well. I might have to get back up there later in the springs to check out the sandhill crane, swan and duck babies.

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Old ducks and a new one.

On January 27, 2014January 28, 2014 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography13 Comments

My first gadwall. I haven’t even heard of them being in the Tampa bay area before. I didn’t know they were at Circle B Bar Reserve until I was standing on the trail thinking that these ducks didn’t quite look like mallards. I asked another birder standing by that I knew was an expert birder and he told me what they were. It was a cloudy morning and if the sun had been out I would have only gotten a blob taking this right into the sun. The male is in front, female in back.

A male ring neck duck was swimming in between the gadwall couple.

There was a little confrontation over space between the two males.

Two males and a female swimming together.

They are pretty with all of the different beige color patterns.

Ring neck ducks trying to rule the pond.

The usual black bellied whistlers.

Whistler duck butts. Even their bottoms are cute.

Busy preening before a nap.

Standing at attention.

The marshes were full of them.

A sora rail sighting. They aren’t very common at the park. This one was pretty far out in the marsh so this is heavily cropped.

These were taken right after Christmas. After a week of sun and warm weather, I finally had a chance to head out to Circle B Bar Reserve and a dark blanket of clouds stayed over the park the entire 4 hours I was there. At least it was not hot out and I was excited to add a new duck to my list. I keep hearing there are bufflehead duck sightings but I can’t seem to find them anywhere. I’ll keep looking.

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