A two park morning

On May 13, 2024June 4, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I was out at Largo Nature Preserve on a foggy morning in early March. I didn’t expect to see anything new but you never know. I saw a mallard across the golf course that sits next to the preserve.

There were also 2 Canadian geese on the course. I haven’t seen any since last year.

The limpkins were looking for breakfast. After a quick walk I left and stopped at the Roosevelt Wetlands to see if there was anything there.

As soon as I got out of the car at the wetlands I saw 2 northern flickers on a utility pole. I looked around for a nest but they stayed on the pole or wire for a while. These may have been 2 females.

The blanket flower was coming back from the cold spell and starting to fill out along the trail.

A pair of northern shovelers were sitting on the bank.

The usual birds were there including a limpkin and great egret.

As I walk down the trail I could see tons of birds hovering over the nearby waste plant. I think the bigger one in the top was an eagle.

Towards the end of the trail I could a lot of turkey vultures. It didn’t look like they had something to eat so they may have just been resting.

A young juvenile eagle flew right over (I took this into the sun) and headed past the trees.

I saw something moving around on the side of the landfill. I realized it was a coyote. This was the first time I have seen a coyote in Florida. I know there are tons of them here and people have seen them in my neighborhood (mostly at night) but I have not seen one here. I have seen them in Utah and Colorado but this was my first Florida one. He was far away and ran along the ridge for a few minutes before disappearing.

Driving along Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive

On March 8, 2021March 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

A green heron was all alone with his reflection.

Some of the wintering ducks at the wildlife drive include a blue winged teal couple, a female northern shoveler and a grebe.

The coots seemed to be in couples all over the drive.

A glossy ibis in the bur marigolds.

Some of the smaller birds include a flicker and many blue gray gnatcatchers.

I got out of the car and was walking around watching the ducks when this kingfisher flew right by.

Shooting right into the sun, the marsh looked like it had a layer of gold on top. Those tiny black dots were coots which were all over the place. It really looked like winter on my drive in late December with all of the leaves off the trees and bushes here. The wildlife drive is just north of Orlando and is a little hike from my house so I don’t get here often. It’s been worth the drive recently since I was trying to stay off my hip due to hip bursitis at the end of last year.

Birds at Bok Tower Gardens

On June 2, 2016June 2, 2016 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I don’t think this eastern towhee liked me watching him eat. He was eating bird seed that had fallen to the ground from the feeder.

The blue jays were hogging the feeder.

The carolina wren was checking things out.

The cardinal came and sat down beside me on the bench, waiting for his turn at the feeder.

A bird I don’t see very often, the Great Crested Flycatcher was high up in a tree and of course, I had to take this picture right into the sun.

Squirrels were also eating the fallen seed under the feeder.

The northern flickers had taken over an old pileated woodpecker nest. It was too early for babies when I was here in mid April.

Just a few of the birds I saw at Bok Tower Gardens in central Florida. Last year I had seen a lot of hummingbirds around the fire bushes by the old historic house. This year I headed straight for those bushes and all of this construction was going on in the gardens so no hummingbirds this year.

SkyWatch Friday

One last new bird for 2015

On December 30, 2015December 16, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

A Bell’s vireo had been sighted in a nearby park back in November. A what? I had not heard of it and I had never heard of one being here before. I was able to leave work a little early on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving so I stopped thinking it would be a needle in a haystack. I stopped at the picnic table it had been reported at and stood there for a while. I was about to leave after 20 minutes and was looking at my phone to check traffic on the way home. I saw something move out of the corner of my eye and looked up and there it was. I snapped the few pictures above before it took off.

There was a pair of northern flickers in the parking lot.

The resident turtles were having a party.

3 new birds at Picture Canyon

On October 26, 2015October 27, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

White breasted nuthatch hanging upside down.

Northern Flicker posing on a branch.

My first Mountain Chickadee. The Carolina and Black Capped chickadees don’t have the white stripe over their eyes.

My first acorn woodpecker.

My first white crowned sparrow. Easy to spot with those two black stripes on his head. I’m not sure what the one above it is. Some other type of sparrow.

One of the views of the canyon as we started to notice the dark clouds heading our way.

One of my favorite places in Flagstaff was the little know Picture Canyon trail. I had read about it on some of the Arizona birding sites. It was free and we only saw one other person on the Tuesday we were there. Half way through the canyon we started to hear the thunder and did not want to be caught on the cliff so we moved pretty quickly back to the car. We got back just as it started to rain. I got 3 new birds from this canyon. I had also read there are some rare Lewis woodpeckers there but we could not find them.

Our World Tuesday Graphic image-in-ing