Color along the boardwalk at Lettuce Lake Park.
This squirrel was chowing down on what looked like a nut from the cypress tree.
The usual birds at the feeder near the nature center.
Along the lake and in the swamp.
In the trees. Grackles, great egret, black and white warblers and northern parulas.
On the ground, an ibis was eating a snack.
A beautiful morning at Lettuce Lake park.
Lots of the usual birds at Lettuce Lake Park in late July. The first shot is a very young parula and the 2nd is a shot of the young parula being fed by the parent. The last shot is of a very young red bellied woodpecker waiting for the parent to give him a bug.
The usual titmouse and I caught a glimpse of a brown thrasher high up in a tree.
Things along the boardwalk.
There’s water somewhere in that lake. These were taken before the rainy season and the plants had taken over the lake.
After climbing 3 stories to the top of the observation tower at Lettuce Lake, I look over at the pine tree to the left of the tower and this guy was staring right at me. He’s looking at me like “What are you doing up here?”. I’ve never seen them up close before. He stayed for a few minutes then took off to catch a fish. I missed the big splash since he was so close near the tower but caught him flying away with a fish.
A great egret flies by the tower.
Turtles and alligators in the water below. The gator was going after that water bottle.
Tiny critters on the boardwalk.
A juvenile blue heron basking in the sun on the boardwalk.
Squirrels were snacking and napping.
Phone shot of the lake.
I think this is a very young red-eyed vireo.
A prothonotary warbler. They nest here in the summer.
I heard whistling and saw the black bellied whistling ducks on the top of the observation tower, only because there weren’t any people on the tower yet.
I snuck up the first flight of stairs and saw them looking down at me. I didn’t want to scare them off so I went back down and headed away from the tower. After a few minutes someone came down the boardwalk and headed up the tower so they flew off.
Some of the little critters at the lake.
Some young limpkins hiding under a tree near the boardwalk.
Fir trees come with their own built in ornaments.
Spider webs and dew early in the morning.
Fungus in the water soaked swamp.
Buzzing around in the tree.
Got a snack.
Paddling by.
The lake looks very inviting.
The swamp does not look inviting. Both the lake and the swamp are full of alligators. The trails and area around the boardwalk was flooded from all of the late summer rains. I’ve never seen the water this high before. Some of the foot trails were still under water and closed. I kept an eye out for wayward alligators and snakes.
A swallow tail kite, an osprey and a great egret walk into a bar………
“Which is my good side?” said the limpkin.
A prothonotary warbler was looking for food to feed his baby (bottom shot). They were bouncing around near the boardwalk.
One last look at the baby barred owls growing up in the swamp back in April.
I had heard that the barred owl couple had two babies that were doing well. I finally made it over to Lettuce Lake in late April. I was thinking it was going to be close to impossible to find them. I was hoping they were in the same area as last year. No sign of them there so I decided to walk around the park for a while. I then saw some men on a tiny dirt trail through the swamp and headed that way. People would say “Are you crazy, heading into the swamp towards some men?” but I recognized them and I knew they knew where the action was. We stood in silence for a while watching the mom feed the baby owl. They said they had not seen the other baby that morning. After a while, they left to go find another bird. For an hour, I stood behind a tree in the swamp watching. I could see people on the main trail going by through the trees. I kept looking around high up in the trees for the other baby. I was going to leave and heard a sound like a sneeze right over my head. That other baby bird had been right over my head the entire time. I’m surprised he didn’t poop on me. I finally headed home since I had sweated off my two coats of DEET. The above are a little fuzzy. They were very far away in the shade and these are extremely cropped.
A carolina wren looking guilty with that mouthful of greens. He’s building a nest somewhere close by.
A northern parula deep in the woods was chowing on a worm.
A lot of people were looking for the prothonotary warbler that had been reported there earlier in the week. No one had seen it that morning. Right before I left, I saw this yellow bird in the bushes and snapped a quick picture. When I got home I realized it was the prothonotary warbler everyone had been looking for.
Diana, the park ranger showed me this tiny ball high up in a tree in the woods. I had to look through my 300mm lens to see it. When I got home and cropped it up, I realized you could see the tiny blue-gray gnatcatcher sitting on the nest. It looks bigger in the picture but was smaller than a baseball. I can’t imagine you could see the tiny babies until they were ready to fly off.
Dragonfly season is in full swing.
Hanging around.
This was an early morning walk at Lettuce Lake in north Tampa in late April. I went to see if I could find the barred owl family. I found them and a few other birds along the boardwalk. More on the owls later.
