Bad pictures of a new duck.

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I found the American wigeon that had been spotted at Largo Nature Preserve. A first for me on this fairly common duck. All in front of the picture, they were hanging out with some coots and moorhens. Of course, they were on the river where I had to take the picture right into the sun. I couldn’t go around since there are houses along the other side of the river.

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Northern shoveler with an itch.

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Northern shoveler with a mallard in front. They look alike except when you see them together. That big old beak gives the shoveler away.

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They were all busy feeding.

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A great blue heron panting on the boardwalk.  It was warm on the first weekend in January. No jacket needed.

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He kept flying back and forth as people were walking along the boardwalk.

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“Baby blue” A young little blue heron all alone. He started looking up and freaking out. I realized it was because the below had just flown by.

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As I was taking a picture of the baby blue, I saw something fly overhead. When I looked up this eagle was already past me and off into the wild blue yonder.

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A very typical scene. A cormorant silhouette into the sun while drying off.

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This was taken with my 300mm lens. He was in his usual spot along the boardwalk.

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Same guy but taken with my iphone. Someone said he was 11 feet long. What do you think? I think he was exaggerating over the length.

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Green parrots kept flying back and forth across the park. I never could see them landing. I think they live and nest at the electric plant near the park.

A beautiful morning on the first weekend of 2015.

I otter be in pictures!

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As I was walking down the trail I saw a head pop up in the creek.

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All of a sudden 3 more heads pop up past me. They were heading the other way.

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I turned around and headed that way also. I walked along the bank of the creek and every other minute a head would pop up. One of them looked right at me.

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They started climbing up on the rocks in front of me.

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They seemed curious as to who I was. I backed up to get this picture in and I did not want them to get too close.

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I was taking pictures right into the sun so it was not ideal but they were so cute.

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What a face!

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They stayed on the rocks for a few minutes looking around and then all 4 of them slid back into the water and headed down the creek. The end of the creek was close by and they went into the tunnel under the street.

I was pretty excited to see them at Largo Nature Preserve. There’s not much there at this small park but I had heard several times that otters had been sighted there. I went totally not expecting to see them and there they were. Swimming right beside me on the trail in the first 30 minutes I was there. They came and went fast though. I’ll be back to see them again.