Working from home

Posted on September 13, 2021 by dinajohnston

More storms were coming in mid-July. It had been raining for days and Thunderstorm Elsa was about to hit the Tampa bay area in the middle of the night. Earlier in the afternoon, it had been upgraded to a Hurricane 1 but we got lucky and the storm fell apart right before it hit and we only got rain. Two days before, the city was getting ready for the storms and moved all of the cranes working along the Howard Frankland bridge closer into the bay. They tied them all together to create one big crane raft. It was weird to see driving across the bridge. I crossed this bridge everyday for 18 years going to work but now I rarely do since I’ve been working from home.

With all of the rain we had, mushrooms were popping up everywhere around the neighborhood. The orange ones were in our mulch.

This guy was squirming his way across the driveway.

One morning before work I went for a quick walk in the neighborhood. I saw this muscovy duck sitting high up in a tree. I’ve seen them in trees before but not usually that high up. Then I saw the egg sitting right where the branches split off. Sadly it probably fell at some point.

Back at my house, we had 4 ducks hanging out in our backyard for several days. I think they were looking for fallen bird seed. The doves usually eat that pretty quick so there isn’t much left for the ducks.

While sitting at my desk in the bedroom I had been seeing this lizard walking across the screen almost every day for a week. She has that same short tail so I knew it was the same one. She kept me company for a while. Of course one day I had to stand up and snap a picture.

Then one day I saw this. I guess she found a boyfriend. After this I didn’t see her again. I miss that short tailed lizard.

At lunch I can usually catch squirrels chasing each other across our screened porch. While it’s cute, long term they can do damage to the screens so I try and chase them off but it doesn’t always work.

I’m still working from home. We were suppose to go back in the office, at least part time, in the middle of this month but it has been pushed out to early 2022. I don’t miss sitting in traffic, especially crossing that bridge for 45 minutes every night. If it was crawling, I would look for dolphins or count the osprey eating fish on the light posts (22 was the highest count several years ago). I don’t miss seeing my co-workers since we have video calls on Teams several times a day.

Early April walk at 2 parks.

Posted on June 4, 2018 by dinajohnston

Lots of brown thrashers were being seen in April. First 2 were taken at Chesnut Park and the bottom 2 were taken at Possum Branch Preserve later that morning.

Other usual suspects at Chesnut Park.

The mulberries were ripe, waiting for the birds to come chow down in early April. I didn’t realize Possum Branch Preserve had so many mulberry trees along the trail. The birds eventually showed up in late April. More of that to come.

A small gator sleeping on the grass. I took this from across the pond.

Another baby duck family in the neighborhood.

Posted on July 26, 2017 by dinajohnston

More muscovy baby ducks in my neighborhood pond. This has been a busy spring with more duck families than I’ve ever seen in the 13 years we’ve lived here. Baby ducks everywhere. These babies were resting close to Mom. I stopped for just a minute and took these quickly.

A mallard couple in the pond.

We usually see a cormorant or anhinga in this pond.

Linking to Wednesday Around The World.

What a handful

Posted on May 6, 2017 by dinajohnston

In the small pond in my neighbor lives many crazy muscovy ducks. They are loud and messy. But, when one of them has babies, they are the cutest family. I stopped and took these pictures one Saturday morning in mid-March. This mom was going to be busy with 17 babies.

The Mother of 8

Posted on September 5, 2016 by dinajohnston

Another muscovy duck family from my walk around Crescent Lake this summer.

They were walking down the street and got to a corner that had all of these yellow petals on the ground from the tree above. The babies just plopped down on the petals and hung out there for a while.

Duck, Duck, Goose……

Posted on January 9, 2016 by dinajohnston

Grumpy ole muscovy duck.

Different pretty ducks at the lake.

The lesser scaup stayed in the middle of the lake.

Friends hanging out together.

The geese stick together.

Interesting pigeon.

There’s always a green heron at one end of the lake.

I hadn’t been to Crescent Lake Park in downtown St. Pete in a long time. I had to run some errands near there right before Christmas so I brought my camera along and walked around the lake early that morning before my errands. Nothing new there but it was a nice morning out.

No babies yet in north Tampa

Posted on March 2, 2015 by dinajohnston

A few muscovy ducks showing off.

The great egrets are starting to get that lime green color around their eyes. That means it’s mating time already.

Cormorants were fighting for nesting spots high up in the trees.

There’s a small rookery in a north Tampa neighborhood that is covered with nests in the spring. I found out about this little pond late last spring and most of the babies were almost grown up. I was near the area and stopped by to see if there were any babies yet in late January. I guess it’s still too early for the egrets and storks to be nesting. Even though the eagles and owls already have them, the water birds are a little later. I’ll check back in late March.