High up in a tree, I watched this yellow warbler stuff himself with snacks.
There were still a few other birds in early May at Fort Desoto including the blackpoll warbler in the last picture.
Frigatebirds were flying high overhead.
At the east end of the park I could just barely make out Downtown St. Petersburg.
Birds at the fishing pier.
Recently I keep seeing parakeets popping out of trees.
The sand trails are covered with these grasshoppers.
The nanday parakeets are always goofing around.
A male and a female ruby throated hummingbird.
A great egret going by with a snack.
Little critters in the park.
A manatee cruising by the fishing dock.
Big boats going by.
From the fishing pier at Fort Desoto Park.
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.
Little critters.
Swimming critters.
A scarlet tanager high up in a tree with a snack and a pair of doves that were flirting.
A squirrel eating a branch.
Stopped by Sawgrass Lake park after work in late May for a quick walk before heading home. I didn’t expect to find too much but the scarlet tanager was nice.
In early August I made it to Chesnut Park before 8am. I drove to the back of the park to walk the back boardwalk first before the weekend crowds got there. The parking area was full of deer. I parked and got out of my car and the deer just glanced at me and kept eating. What is it about deer that make you stop and look? They seem so docile and graceful. These deer have grown up in this area and are comfortable around lots of people. As long as you don’t get too close. All of these were taken with my 300mm lens with a 1.4 extender on it so I kept having to back up just to fit their faces in.
I saw this lone lady sitting way back in the woods. This picture was extremely cropped. I ran into a park ranger coming off the trail and he said she was probably pregnant and about to give birth. I was disappointed that I hadn’t seen any babies around this summer. He told me there were several at the park but they were hiding on the weekends.
Other stuff at the park.
Update- I stopped by the park recently after work and saw several fawns. I’m still editing those shots and will post those soon.
Linking to Saturday’s Critters
Random things around Fort Desoto.
I found this guy on the fishing pier. I don’t know what that is sticking out of his beak. Is it a fishing hook? A fish bone? He didn’t have any trouble flying or eating.
Someone left a fish head on the pier. The great blue heron picked it up and flew off towards the beach with it.
What is it about sleeping birds that makes kids want to run towards them and scare them away? It’s a constant scene on the beach.
Cute critters at Chesnut Park.
Some of the summer birds at Chesnut Park in mid-June.
I don’t see Cooper’s hawks that often. This one was watching his nest, far into the woods. We couldn’t see the babies but we could hear them crying for food.
Not great shots but I couldn’t resist. The above two shots are of a blue-gray gnatcatcher nest high up in a tree. It looked like a golf ball from the naked eye. I think there were 3 babies on the nest. By the time you could see them, they were outgrowing the nest. These are extremely zoomed in and cropped. Thanks to Joe with his scope that knows every bird that is born at the park.
Even smaller critters have taken over. Grasshoppers and butterflies were everywhere.
This little beauty had deer flies on her face. They are worse than mosquitos.
Taken with my phone, a shot of the swamp from the boardwalk.
A Cooper’s hawk sitting near his nest. The babies were too small to see them when I took this. The nest was pretty far back off the boardwalk.
Juvenile red shoulder hawks were finally big enough to move around off the nest.
A pileated woodpecker and a downy woodpecker were both looking for bugs. The downy already had a snack.
Tufted titmouse live in the park all year round.
Grasshoppers were starting to invade the park. This one is a baby lubber. He’ll turn all yellow when he grows up.
Bunnies at the park.
“I want to fly like an eagle, to the sea.”
“Fly like an eagle, let my spirit carry me” (by Steve Miller band).
“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas.” The only way that will happen is if these guys poop on me as they fly over my head.
“Mellow Yellow.”
“Pretty in pink.”
“When you wish upon a star.”
“Just me … and my shadow.”
I’m thinking this is a red tailed hawk instead of a red shoulder hawk. The red shoulder hawk would have stripes on his tail. Any ideas?
My first real bobcat sighting and I blew it. I was taking pictures of something else, I can’t even remember what it was now, when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. My camera settings were all wrong so all I got is this blurry shot.
By the time I fixed my settings, this was all I got. My first bobcat butt shot!
It was all over in seconds. He headed down into the ditch and I lost sight of him. I looked for him for at least a half hour softly saying “Here kitty.” but no sign of him again.
Eagles and a bobcat in one day. It was a good morning even though my bobcat pictures turned out blurry. The weather was perfect and not many people out on the trail at Circle B Bar Reserve in early November. I’m going to keep going back this winter and looking for that bobcat again.
Check out more sky pictures at 