A morning walk along the trail

On October 20, 2025November 9, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, flowers and plants4 Comments

It was mid-June and hot on the morning I went for a walk at Chesnut Park. I didn’t take my camera thinking there wouldn’t be too many birds around and the baby deer hadn’t been born yet. I was playing around with some of the settings on my phone to capture the above along the trail.

Some type of mushroom growing on a dead tree. It was huge.

More shots along the trail.

This squirrel came too close. People have been feeding them and the squirrels are aggressive here.

Views of the lake.

The buttonbush was blooming.

This looks like a good place to take a break.

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) at Image-In-Ing.

Around the yard in mid-July

On November 4, 2024October 24, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I looked out the kitchen window and saw a squirrel in the small tree in our front courtyard. I realized he was eating one of the almost dead sunflowers. He sat there and ate it while I ran and got my camera. I guess he was eating the sunflower seeds. He looked so happy like he had just won a prize.

In mid-July we had a heavy storm and the temporary pond across the fairway filled back up. Late one afternoon I saw a spoonbill feeding in the pond and went out with my camera. Luckily there wasn’t anyone playing golf that late and I was able to stand in the fairway and get some shots of the spoony and his friends without getting too close. There was also a snowy egret, a little blue heron and a juvenile little blue heron (the white one above).

A quick video of them feeding that I took with my phone.

The hummingbird was a regular visitor to the feeder and the shrimp plant.

These two turkeys came cruising by and stopped long enough for me to sneak out back and shoot the above from our patio.

We had a rabbit come by and feed on our ivy in the patio. I took these through the glass door. He saw me but kept eating for a while. I didn’t mind him eating the ivy. We are always cutting it back.

A few days later I was doing some clean up in the front and saw this tiny bunny up against our front door. I snapped the above and texted a rehabber to make sure he was old enough to be on his own. She said he was fine. Later I saw him hopping around the courtyard but haven’t seen him since that day.

Those weird fungus looking things on my back glass door that was actually lacewing eggs turned into this. They are beneficial to the yard and will eat tons of little bugs including mealybugs, aphids, spider mites and whiteflies.

A pretty mushroom after the rain. The squirrels usually eat them.

I was at the pool in our subdivision and this dragonfly landed on my towel and stayed long enough for me to pull my phone out and snap the above.

Afternoon lightning I shot from the garage.

July skies from the front yard.

Early November walk

On December 28, 2021December 23, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

It was a beautiful morning for a walk at Circle B Bar Reserve in early November.

A pretty mushroom on the trail. I rarely see them with color.

Critters on branches include a black bellied whistling duck, a tricolored heron and an anhinga that looks like she’s going through a full moult.

The whistlers have been regulars along the trail during the winter.

I thought this juvenile night heron was sleeping but he popped his head up after a few seconds. That pattern on his wings is very cool and goes well with his bright orange eyes.

Far across the lake I could see both eagles sitting high up in a cypress tree.

I saw the crowd as I was walking down the trail and realized they were watching a tiny alligator cross the trail. He looked so tiny compared to the big ones along the trail. It was almost comical to watch him cross.

One last walk

On October 21, 2021October 7, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

I got up early one morning in late September to take my last walk around the neighborhood. It wasn’t my last walk anywhere, just around this neighborhood. After living here for 17 years, we moved about 20 minutes away so Brett could be closer to work and it was time to downsize. It was before the sun came up and a faint rainbow was visible as the ducks flew by. I said goodby to Blondie and her grown babies. I’ll miss those creme colored mallards.

The ducks stopped by the yard days before we moved. It was the last of the bird seed so they were going to have to scrounge somewhere else.

Backyard skies on our last week here. I’ll miss the open sky but we are moving to a heavily wooded area and it will be nice to be in the shade now and see different wildlife. I’ll be posting pictures of the critters near our new home soon.

Color in the neighborhood

On September 20, 2021March 13, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants2 Comments

With the scorching heat in August I was taking quick walks around the neighborhood early in the morning before work instead of after work. Plus it’s usually raining after work so at least I’ve gotten my walk in. Walking with just my phone, I can’t help but stop and take pictures of all of the blooming things along the sidewalks. I realized there are a lot of magnolia trees here and they all had bright red seed pods on them. I’m assuming the critters will eat them so I’ll have to keep an eye for them

Backyard visitors in October

On December 12, 2020July 25, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

Some of the birds visiting my feeder in the backyard. I usually only get house sparrows and blue jays but the woodpecker was fun to see.

The common ground dove was waiting his turn for the feeder. I’ve since redone that hanging plant with mums.

Once in a while I get a cardinal as well.

Other bigger birds cruising by were a little blue heron, a white ibis on my neighbor’s broken dock and a great blue heron. All of the above were taken through the bedroom window.

When I saw the osprey on my neighbor’s sailboat mast, I ran out and took the picture from the backyard. For years there was an osprey that slept on the mast every night but she hadn’t been doing do that for about 2 years. Just recently one has been stopping by for a while during the day. I wonder if it’s the same bird.

Things growing in the yard including the pink muhly grass in front of our screened porch.

Sunset in the back yard.

Lunchtime in the backyard

On June 2, 2020June 2, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants4 Comments

My internet was down and I had just finished lunch, The weather was cool and I knew there wouldn’t be many more days like this so I grabbed by camera and macro lens and went outside for a quick walk around the yard. All of the shots were taken in my yard including the purple flower which I realized as I got up close that it was covered in little green bugs. The red spider is a spiny orb weaver and is harmless.

A walk at the Botanical Gardens.

On November 27, 2018November 27, 2018 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

It’s always fun to watch the wild parakeets eating high up in the trees. They are so loud that it’s easy to spot them.

Lots of the usual birds at my walk at the Florida Botanical Gardens.

Across the pond, an osprey flies by with a snack.

Just a few plants at the gardens in early October.

Linking to Wednesday Around The World

“Irma”geddon

On September 20, 2017September 20, 2017 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights3 Comments

We were very lucky to have survived hurricane Irma with little damage. Many of my friends did not have power for up to 7 days after the storm and many areas in south Florida including the Keys suffered a lot of damage. Since we live on the water in the upper Tampa Bay, we evacuated to stay at our friends house about 30 minutes north of us. This was only the 2nd time we’ve evacuated since living here for 15 years. The first was for Charley in 2004 which missed us completely. We spent almost 3 days at our friends and didn’t lose power until the last day. I had thrown my camera in the car before leaving and spent some time taking pictures in the rain. Above were all taken from our friend’s backyard. We passed the time by keeping the dogs busy, one was a 9 month old puppy who loved to fetch the ball from the pool. By the time I left my arm was tired of throwing the ball for 3 days. That puppy never did tire out.

Below are just a few “after” storm shots. Beth walking the puppy around the backyard. The neighborhood was filled with yard debris. One of her neighbor’s lost their shed. The shed had completely blown away but the lawn equipment was still in a pile on the grass. Many of the houses has tree limbs in the screens.

I just hope it’s at least another 13 years before we have to do this again. Our house was fine. We had the wood fences on both side of our house fall down but that is an easy fix.

Linking to Wednesday Around the World