Fall and spring at the same time

On March 23, 2026April 10, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants2 Comments

Thanksgiving weekend was a perfect time to go for a walk in my neighborhood. It had finally cooled off and the leaves were turning those fun fall colors.

There was still a lot of things blooming in the ground and bushes along the utility field and it looked like spring in some spots.

The yellow flowers had turned to seed pods.

The invasive brazilian peppertree bushes were covered in berries. I can usually find a few bugs on them including what I think are leaf footed bugs above.

I could hear a peeping noise deep in the reeds and keep looking for what was making that noise. Finally a sedge wren popped out. I don’t see them often.

Plants along my walk.

Lots of color in the gardens

On December 29, 2025January 3, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants2 Comments

In early September I went for a walk at the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo. It was still pretty hot and I left my camera in the car and just walked with my phone. My first stop was the butterfly garden and it was pretty quiet there. I was hoping for some hummingbirds but I didn’t see any this morning.

Color along the path.

The spatterdock made pretty patterns in the water.

A few of the critters I saw.

Pretty fungus growing from the summer rains but the above in red is a stinkhorn mushroom and has a foul smell if it breaks apart.

The banana plants were blooming.

I grabbed my camera out of the car to catch this green heron catching a bug. He was feeding in a small pond next to the parking lot.

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) at Image-In-Ing.

Eagles and butterflies on my walk.

On August 9, 2025September 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

Near the end of April I was finishing my walk along the Safety Harbor waterfront and was walking past the damaged pier on the way back to my car when I heard an eagle yelling. I was glad I had my camera in the car as I look over and see an eagle sitting on the pier piling. After quickly taking the above shot the eagle flew off and headed towards an old sign piling.

I didn’t realize there was another eagle eating a fish nearby. The eagle tried to land on the piling and they both took off flying around in a small circle. There are two eagle nests nearby so I’m not sure which these are. Or, maybe they are from different nests and the one was trying to steal the fish?

The eagle with the fish landed back on the piling and the other eagle took off far down the water towards the causeway. The one sat on the piling for a while finishing his fish and the other one did not come back.

Looking right into the sun I could see two yellow crowned night herons walking along the piping on the damaged pier.

I moved farther down the waterfront and was able to watch them hanging out. One hopped down in the water and was shaking his feathers. They eventually flew off together and I’m assuming they are a couple.

Since I had my camera I stopped by Folly Farm to take a quick walk through the butterfly garden. I found lots of little critters on the flowers.

I had forgotten there was a balloon cotton bush plant here. It only blooms in the warmer weather so I wasn’t seeing it on my winter walks here. It’s a type of milkweed and is favored by the monarch butterflies to eat and lay eggs in.

There wasn’t a lot of birds here but I did see a juvenile northern parula and a juvenile titmouse. Lots of young ones around in the spring.

Looks like spring in the fall

On March 3, 2025April 10, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants3 Comments

While most people up north may still have snow, this is what central Florida looks like now. These are from my trip to the Florida Botanical Gardens at the end of November. It was warm then and even though we had a few cold weeks it still looks like spring here now.

There were still a lot of blooms before winter here.

I love seeing the light up flamingos that are part of the holiday lights.

The bald cypress trees were just starting to shed their leaves.

I interrupted this blue jay trying to snack on the berries.

Parts of the gardens were still closed due to tree damage from the hurricanes.

My favorite trees here are the silk floss trees that bloom in the fall. There are two large ones here and this one in the parking lot is the smaller of the two as you can see by the shadow on the ground.

While it was past the blooming peak there were still a lot of the blooms on the tree.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

A hot walk at the gardens

On October 10, 2024December 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants8 Comments

Update: Brett and I are safe, waking up to to the mess of Hurricane Milton. We are just north of St. Pete and Clearwater. No power and most don’t have water. As the sun comes up we will head outside to see the mess. Please pray for central Florida to get through this 2nd hurricane in 2 weeks. Thanks, Dina.

I made a quick trip to the Florida Botanical Gardens in late June. At this point it was too hot for anything longer than a 45 minute walk outside. I wasn’t expecting to see many birds but I did see a few smaller critters.

Color around the gardens.

The butterfly garden was already overgrown. I waited a while hoping to see some hummingbirds or hummingbird moths but neither made an appearance.

My favorite tree here is this skinny rainbow eucalyptus tree. The bark peels off in colors.

There are a lot of great old trees here. The tag said this is a kapok tree but I’ve never seen it bloom. Some kapoks only bloom once every 10 years so this may be one of them. The big kapok on the main road through Clearwater blooms big orange blooms every spring.

The big lake is getting all choked up. It seems like they would clear out the water hyacinth that is invasive. It keeps the water from moving through.

After the walk at the gardens I stopped at a fairly new farmer’s market nearby. There were a ton of tables here and most had exotic fruits and vegetables. The coconut booth had a lot of people around it grabbing fresh coconuts.

I came for some mangos but the exotic fruits were interesting. The top booth had a lot of lychee. My husband grew up eating it as a kid but he has lost his taste for it now. The bottom shot is rambutan. You peel the skin off and it’s like a grape underneath. I’ll come back in the winter when it isn’t so hot and look around a little more.

No babies yet.

On September 2, 2024November 14, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

It was the end of May and I was out at the Roosevelt Wetlands looking for black necked stilts. I found a few of them here. They are known to nest here in the summer and I was hoping to see some babies but it was a little early for that. There were several nests on the other side of of the lake but none up close to the trail even though there were a lot of stilts along the trail.

There were already older baby moorhens. The juveniles are all gray before they get their black adult feathers.

I thought the above was a boat tailed grackle couple flirting but since the females are all brown I think it was 2 males fighting over territory. Or, both showing off for a nearby female.

A juvenile little blue heron was shedding his white baby feathers for his adult blue feathers. They are really pretty when they have mixed colors like this.

I stopped by Folly Farm on my way home to check on the baby red shoulder hawk. The baby was fully grown and was still hanging around the tall palm tree that the nest was in. I was hoping he would fly off while I was there but after an hour I was ready to head home.

A squirrel was sitting a few branches over from the young hawk. Either he didn’t see the hawk sitting nearby or he was tempting fate.

Another butterfly shot.

A young brown thrasher was hopping around in the bushes.

Things blooming in the butterfly garden.

Locks and butterflies

On June 6, 2024May 25, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

I didn’t quite make it out to the waterfront in Safety Harbor for sunrise. The sun was already up but not too high. In early April it was still cool in the mornings so I walked around the boardwalk area before heading to Folly Farm to look for butterflies.

People have been putting locks on the cables on the boardwalk. It’s a cute gesture (locking in your love, etc) but it weighs down the cables and is ruining the boardwalk. They get cut off every so often to keep from doing more damage.

I made a stop at nearby Folly Farm. I was hoping to see some early spring migrating birds but had to settle for the butterfly garden being full of butterflies.

I think this is a saltmarsh caterpillar. They turn into pretty white moths.

There were several pupas on the fence. The first is still new and green. The 2nd was about to be a butterfly. Maybe it was coming out that day? You could really see the monarch in it.

Other little critters. That lizard was really rusty looking.

You can usually find bluebirds here since they have several nesting boxes.

Starting the new year off with a walk.

On April 8, 2024April 8, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants, Tampa bay sights4 Comments

The 2024 New Year’s Day sky at the Safety Harbor fishing pier. No sunrise this morning.

After walking around the park area for a while the clouds were starting to part and I could see blue sky.

I stopped at nearby Folly Farms for another walk before heading home. The holiday lights were still shining in the trees. It was hard to capture the lights in the daytime. Next Christmas I will try and get here at night to see the lights.

The weather was mild and there was a lot of color in the butterfly garden.

The balloon cotton-bush/balloon milkweed was full of caterpillars. It felt like spring and looked like spring but we still had our 2 coldest months to go.

The finished gnome statue had a butterfly in his hand on this trip. I was expecting at least a Santa hat on his head (he did have some lights strung around his neck though).

All taken with my phone.

Busy month at the bird bath

On January 8, 2024April 15, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

We had a late baby in the backyard near the end of September. I had just gotten home and Brett says “There was a baby deer in the backyard” What??? I grabbed my camera and ran out the back door just as they were heading down the fairway. I quickly snapped the above but then I didn’t want to chase them so I headed back inside.

As we headed into early October we were just getting the usual birds in the backyard. Carolina chickadees and blue jays are always coming to the bird bath.

In the 2nd week of October I saw a catbird on the bath early in the morning. It was the first one I had seen this fall. We usually have a few hanging around the backyard in the winter.

A few minutes later I looked out the window and saw another bird on the bath with the catbird. What was that bird?????

It was a Swainson’s thrush. The first one I’ve seen in the backyard.

A little later that morning I saw 2 of them on the bath and a yellow bird was with them. What was that???

It’s a female scarlet tanager. She took a long bath.

A bluebird stopped by while she was bathing and she’s like “Why are you interrupting my bath?” The bluebird took a sip and left.

She came back the next day.

Other birds that showed up that morning was a black and white warbler (I see them often in the backyard in the winter) and a red eyed vireo.

I caught the squirrel getting a sip as well. These were all taken through the window.

A few mornings later I looked out the kitchen window and a Cooper’s hawk was on my neighbor’s garage roof.

Blooming in the front yard in October.

I took this during the peak solar eclipse back in October. I was bummed that we didn’t get to see the darkness this year. The last one we had was the summer of 2017.

A two park morning

On January 1, 2024April 15, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants5 Comments

It was mid-October and I finally found some red leaves at Chesnut Park. We had just a touch of fall here in central Florida if you look for it. Although I think this is poison oak which turns red early.

The spatterdock blooms almost all year round here.

A few of the usuals posing for me. A Carolina chickadee and a blue jay with a snack.

I caught a glimpse of a male common yellowthroat. He was hiding and didn’t want to come out and pose like the usual birds do.

I didn’t stay too long at Chesnut Park. After a quick walk I went to Folly Farms Gardens in Safety Harbor before heading home. There were lots of things blooming here.

The butterfly garden has a lot of fun artwork for the kids.

The 17 foot gnome has been finished. It looks like they used the moss from the trees for his beard and eyebrows. I can’t decide if it’s funny or creepy.