Tag: morning glory

Butterflies, birds and blooms

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I hadn’t been to Chinsegut Wildlife Area in Brooksville in over a year. I was hoping to see some migrating birds but since this year has been mostly a bust that didn’t happen. It was cloudy when I first got there but the clouds moved on quickly.

I saw lots of butterflies on the trail including a common buckeye, many zebra swallowtails and a skipper.

The local sandhill crane couple came by for a snack. They usually have almost grown babies with them but a ranger told me they only had one this year that got hit by a car.

Red headed woodpeckers are common here but I still take a ton of pictures of them because I don’t see them around where I live often.

A bluebird was working a nest.

A towhee couple were in the feeder area behind the nature center. I see them often here during spring migration.

Another common bird here is the great crested flycatcher.

Zooming in I could still see the moon.

Everything was dry since we were still in a drought mode. The 2nd shot is the lake. Where is all of the water?

Blooming in white included morning glories and magnolias.

SkyWatch Friday

Fun things at Sand Key Park

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I was out at Sand Key Park in April right as the sun was coming up over the trees. I was hoping spring migration was getting better and I’d see a few more birds than I saw on my last trip here a few weeks earlier.

A nice surprise was seeing a black throated green warbler in the mangroves. I hadn’t seen one since 2017.

A few usual migraters were there including the blackpoll warbler and the American redstart. But, it was still a slow morning with only the few birds above. This year was a really slow migration so far.

Of course there are always tons of palm warblers and they always pose nicely.

A flock of brown pelicans fly high up in the beautiful sky.

A typical Florida shot, a great blue heron posing on a pine tree.

A Cooper’s hawk had a nest nearby with babies but it was well hidden so all I got was the Dad hanging out.

Blooming along the sandy trail included beach sunflowers, bitter gourd (or bitter melon) and morning glory.

 

I saw lots of rabbits this morning.

“Run bunny run!” I yelled as one took off into the bushes.

SkyWatch Friday

Davis Islands yacht basin

On By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights4 Comments

I hadn’t been over to Davis Islands in a while so I headed over for a walk around the yacht basin at the end of the island. There’s a small dog beach there that has a great view of downtown Tampa. The dogs looked like they were having fun jumping in the water. I wanted to join them but that water was not too pretty right there near the shipping channel.

Two panos of downtown in front of the small private airport on the island.

There are usually a few planes taking off on a Saturday morning but none were leaving this morning in mid-August.

Shots above of the quiet lagoon.

Looking closer, one of the docks at the boat ramp has gone missing. The other one is still there but looks like it’s about to crumble.

My Corner of the World

December at Bok Tower Gardens

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants3 Comments

Cool and pretty plants at Bok Tower Gardens in central Florida.

Little critters and flying critters. Hummingbirds were everywhere but I could not seem to catch them feeding. They would fly behind or into the bushes.

I love walking around Bok Tower Gardens. There’s always something different to see. I don’t get there often since it’s close to an hour and a half from my house (and that’s without traffic). I managed to get there a few weeks before Christmas but was wishing it was cooler than it was. Otherwise, it was a perfect morning.

On my way back to the main road, I passed a house that had 4 sandhill cranes in their front yard, along with a few ibis. I pulled over and quickly snapped the above from my car. It would be really cool to see these guys grazing in my front yard but it would be rare to get them that close to the bay.

Our World Tuesday Graphicimage-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

A beautiful beach day before red tide rolled in.

On By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights3 Comments

Things along the trail from our car to the beach.

Out on the beach, it was a perfect quiet morning in late August. We get there early before it gets too hot and crowded.

The water was crystal clear but warm. This was before the red tide had brought dead sea life to the beach, the calm before the storm. I was traveling light this morning so all above were taken with my phone.

SkyWatch Friday