Taken through the bedroom window, I caught this little blue heron eating worms.
Out on our dock, this green heron was creeping around the channel at low tide.
Some type of moth on our wall.
I saw this guy through the kitchen window when was cleaning up one afternoon. I grabbed my camera and quietly went out to the back to snap this. I hadn’t seen a black racer in a while. It was a tiny one. Good for eating bugs and mosquitoes.
I finally got some shots of the painted buntings that have hanging around the nature center at Circle B Bar Reserve.
A lady painted bunting was also present.
A juvenile indigo bunting was eating on the ground.
Other usual birds were the gnatcatcher and the yellow rumped warbler.
Sandhill cranes were around, digging in the dirt for bugs.
Lots of birds flying around.
Across the lake, an eagle sits in a bald cypress tree.
Just a few pretty things at Circle B Bar Reserve in mid-March.
This little titmouse seemed to be showing me his snack.
So many little birds at Lettuce Lake Park in late March including that little spotted Hermit thrush in the last 2 pictures (or so I was told by the bird experts at the park that morning). This was a first sighting of a hermit for me.
A little blue heron posing for me.
Taken directly into the sun, this red shoulder hawk was right over my head on the boardwalk.
Two grumpy night herons on our dock in the rain.
Taken from the bedroom window, this young blue heron would not turn around.
We’ve had a lot of house sparrows hanging around our backyard lately.
Rainbow in the front yard.
Weird skies in the backyard after a storm.
An almost grown great egret scratching. This one must be one of the first ones born at the zoo this spring. He still had just a little bit of baby fuzz on his head.
Very young little blue herons were waiting to be fed.
Baby little blue herons that were a little older but not yet flying. They were in lots of different stages of growing up.
Screaming “Feed Me” in Mom’s ear.
Two baby great egrets still on the nest waiting for a parent to fly in with food.
My favorite part of Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa is the bird rookery at the alligator exhibit. It’s much smaller than the one at Gatorland but it’s close to home. The wild birds come in and nest right in front of the exhibit. While all of the kids are oohing and aahing over the alligators I am busy trying to get shots of the baby birds.
Linking to Wednesday Around The World.
This spring we had a drought here in central Florida. The marshes at Circle B Bar Reserve had all dried up except for a tiny few spots. This one marsh still had some water in it so all of the birds were feeding in the same spot. I guess the bugs were plentiful in this spot. I’m not sure how long they stayed there feeding but the morning I was there in late April they were packed in and fighting over space. The crowd was mostly great egrets, snowy egrets and spoonbills but there were a few tricolored herons, little blue herons, great blue herons and green herons. Oh, also glossy ibis, white ibis and wood storks. It’s been years since we’ve seen that many water birds congregate like that so everyone was taking tons of pictures including me.
A cat bird in the berry bushes.
A young little blue heron in the lake. There is water under there.
Tiny critters buzzing around.
A house wren hanging on a Christmas decoration.
This cute Carolina wren was giving me some attitude.
A few flying things at the Florida Botanical Gardens in late October.
Lots of grackles and starlings around the park.
For years, loggerhead shrikes have been hanging out along the fences at the airport on Davis Islands. Maybe they like the view.
Pano of downtown Tampa, taken from Davis Islands.
Pretty flowers in the summer heat.
A juvenile little blue heron creeping down to the water. Then he flew over to the sign to remind everyone to slow down in the manatee zone.
More sights from my walk around Davis Islands in late July.
Black and white warblers are hard to get. They stay close to the trunk in the shade.
Downy woodpeckers usually let you get pretty close.
Yellow throated warblers always stay up high. This one was hiding under a palm leaf.
I’m not sure what this one is just from this picture. Looks a little light underneath to be a palm warbler but too pale to be a pine warbler (which was reported in this area).
A female black and white warbler. She was curious, checking me out (or probably looking for a handout).
Blue-gray gnatcatcher with a tiny bug.
Female red-winged blackbirds are pretty. They have just a little bit of peach around the face.
A little blue heron in the middle of a pond.
You could just barely see the great blue heron sitting on the nest high up in the pine tree. So far the last 2 years they haven’t had babies here.
All the way across the lake, I could see the eagle couple up in a tree.
An early January walk at Chesnut Park.
Mom and the only child came swimming down the channel toward our dock. I ran out with my camera to take a few shots and they came close to the dock.
The duckling was trying to eat the bugs on the sea wall.
A little blue heron was above him on the wall.
I heard thunder coming from the front yard. I walked around the house and found this across the street.
