Lots of cool colors and critters in June at the Botanical Gardens in Largo, Florida.
Bugs and blooms at the Botanical Gardens
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Tag Archives: lizard
Random fun at the Lowry Park Zoo
Residents at the zoo, these macaws get to fly around from the entrance to the stage area for the bird show. I caught them flying around one morning and they stopped for a break.
Residents of the zoo. The stork (middle picture) was born this spring at the zoo.
A few wild things visiting the zoo. A northern parula and mallard.
Pretty green and pink.
Fun animals.
Fun morning at Fort Desoto
“Don’t go in there” said the lizard. “I had beans for lunch.”
Even the cactus were looking crispy from lack of rain.
On the fishing pier, the pelican stole the fish from the cormorant.
Flyby on the pier.
Cormorant with an itch.
Rush hour traffic in the gulf.
It was a windy morning so the kiteboarders were out.
A cute baby goat!
Some very young chickens were out running around feeding on the main path.
A peacock was showing off.
Strutting around.
Creepy but pretty lizard.
I got to pet the “not quite week old” baby goat. Me and the other kids. He was so cute and friendly. I took this with my phone and was sitting on the ground watching him play.
Fun distractions on the weekend at Horsepower for Kids.
In the backyard
I caught this anhinga about to take gulp of fish down at the other end of the channel.
The above were taken back in late October. The wintering belted kingfisher made an appearance in our channel and was hanging out on my neighbor’s dock. These were all taken over the course of the weekend. and all were through the bedroom window.
Then a few weeks later, I saw a different kingfisher on our dock. The female kingfishers have a rust colored band across their chest so I knew it wasn’t the same one from late October. So, now we have both a male and female hanging around our channel this winter. The female showed up on our dock late one day and was still there right before the sun went down. All taken through the bedroom window.
Some of the plants and crittes in our yard.
A great egret cruising through the backyard.
Taken from our driveway back in November.
A few things from our yard in November.
Assorted critters at the Botanical Gardens
It was very quiet on my walk around the Botanical Gardens in Largo in late August. I did manage to find a few fun critters hanging around in the heat.
Linking to Paying Ready Attention
No birds at Chesnut Park in June
Most of the birds must have gone north for the summer. The park was very quiet on a Saturday morning in June. So I started looking for little critters. Someone had been on the boardwalk before me and left peanuts for the blue jays, cardinals and titmouse. They were nowhere to be found so the squirrels ate their snack.
Some new things at the Botanical Gardens
I think these are both a 5 stripe skink. This is the first time I’ve been able to get a shot of one. The top one is a juvenile and the bottom is an adult male.
Tiny critters in the butterfly garden.
My first hummingbird moth sighting. He was tiny and fast. He buzzed in for a few seconds next to a butterfly I was taking a picture of and then he was gone over the bushes. I looked for him for a long time with no luck. At least I got the blurry shots above. These guys are really cool.
Soft shell turtle near the pond.
Turtle on the lily pad.
Juvenile osprey that grew up in a nest on the utility pole. All three were born this past winter and were just starting to fly around.
Not many birds at the gardens in late June. Just the above.
Hot walk at Circle B Bar Reserve and a missed opportunity
Sandhill cranes on the ground and in the air.
A red shoulder hawk hiding in the tree. I blew this out to get the details in his feathers to show up.
A young limpkin stretching.
A baby limpkin getting feed.
A tricolored heron along the water.
A baby great blue heron still on the nest. Looking all grown up but not yet ready to fly.
Green and orange flash in the bushes.
Alligators were everywhere. They were very loud since it was the beginning of mating season. Now one of the main trails is closed for the summer since the alligators spend a lot of time on the trails raising their young.
I was taking a picture of something else when I caught the above out of the corner of my eye. I quickly turned around to snap but I had the wrong settings to get a good clear picture of him. He was gone in a few seconds. I finally see one walking across the trail in front of me and did not get a good picture. I was bummed but at least I wasn’t missing a limb.
Railroad Park in downtown Birmingham
Views of downtown Birmingham from Railroad Park. The park opened in 2010 on a railroad corridor site once used as a freight depot.
It’s a fun little park but trains come by pretty regularly.
Lots of interesting things there. The big plant behind the guy riding a bike was a rosemary bush. You could really smell it when you walked by. It made me hungry. The two rectangular buildings in the above picture was a place to get snacks and a restroom. They are both shipping containers.
Even though it’s a park right in middle of downtown, there were lots of critters there. It was a beautiful spring day to be running around while visiting my sister over Easter weekend.