Little critters in early spring

Posted on April 29, 2023 by dinajohnston

It was early March and I was sitting on a bench in the butterfly garden at Folly Farms in Safety Harbor hoping to see hummingbirds (it was probably a little early for them though). No hummingbirds yet but I did see some usual birds. Titmouse are common here and parulas were everywhere in early spring. Both have distinct calls.

The giant milkweed was full of caterpillars.

Little critters in the garden. The yellow butterfly looks like she was laying eggs.

I’m not sure what this plant is but I’ve seen it at several botanical gardens. It’s really cool and the flowering part is huge.

Rainbow birds in the bushes

Posted on April 22, 2023 by dinajohnston

Spring had long sprung at the beginning of March. I wanted to get out of the house before it got too hot so I took a road trip over to central Florida to visit Bok Tower Gardens. They have scooters that you can rent for a pretty low price to scoot around the trails and since my foot was still hurting I decided this was a good way to get outside.

At first I didn’t see many birds, only a black and white warbler and a northern parula.

Later in the morning I scooted over to the corner where the bird feeder was and sat very quiet waiting for the above. The painted buntings were here last year at this time so I was hoping to see them again. This time there were 2 males. They were skittish and anytime someone would walk by on the trail they would scatter to the bushes.

If I sat quietly for a while they would slowly come back to the feeder. It was early enough that there wasn’t too much foot traffic yet. The two couples stayed for a while.

This squirrel was posing too cute for me not to take a picture.

Around the house

Posted on September 12, 2022 by dinajohnston

We had stacked up the outside chairs next to the hanging plant when we were having the house painted and the squirrel found it really easy to sit there and eat the plant. Half of the purslane plant had been eaten before I realized what was going on and caught him red handed.

This guy visits the backyard occasionally. I call him Notch.

I hadn’t seen a northern parula in a couple of months and then this guy showed up in early August. I was able to get a shot through the window right after it stopped raining.

This young cardinal had caught a lizard.

We had a lot of Carolina wrens in the backyard in early spring when they were nesting and then they disappeared. Then in early August we had a few show up again.

I was out riding my bike with my camera and saw this guy crossing the street. I was able to get a few shots of him with this huge meal before he took off down the creek so I don’t know if he ate it. I would have never thought there were fish that big in the small pond nearby.

Front yard skies in early August.

Lots of critters at Fort Desoto

Posted on July 2, 2022 by dinajohnston

Another trip to Fort Desoto Park to look for migrating birds. The first thing I found was a squirrel being cute on the agave plant. I was hoping there would be birds on those plants but no, I find a squirrel.

Cape May warblers were still around. I found both females and males.

I also found a northern parula and a blackpoll warbler (I hadn’t seen one of those in several years).

An osprey was checking me out making sure I wasn’t going to steal his fish.

Cormorants were diving for fish around the fishing pier.

It was a slow dolphin morning but I did manage to find one.

The starlings and nanday parakeets were fighting over wire space in the parking lot.

Things in the backyard

Posted on April 16, 2022 by dinajohnston

Some of the birds in the yard in late January and early February. I’m always looking out the window when I’m at home. I noticed the great egret creeping around the tree but he went behind the bushes when he caught the lizard.

I’ve seen several random turkeys roaming around the neighbhorhood and was wondering if they were all the same turkey. These were across the fairway from our house. The top one had a gray head (maybe the juvenile from this past summer) and the bottom shot has a red head. These were taken the same week.

The usual bigger birds in the backyard include a cardinal, blue jay and a crow that’s been hanging around for a few weeks.

There’s always a Carolina wren in the backyard. Sometimes we have two.

Other occasional birds at the feeder are titmouse and woodpeckers.

We had several bluebirds bouncing around the backyard one afternoon. They would catch some caterpillars on the ground and fly up to the top of the bird feeder to eat them.

We’ve had parulas up in our trees for a while now. I hear their shrill all day long. I was able to catch the male (top shot) in a lower branch singing away one afternoon. The bottom shot is either a juvenile or maybe the female. She came down to the bird bath.

A few other things in the yard. That spider looks like he has a smiley face on his back. The gardenia bush outside our front door has been blooming and it smells so nice when you walk out the door. I went out and got these with my macro lens. All other pictures where taken through the windows.

Fall migration at Chesnut Park

Posted on December 7, 2019 by dinajohnston

There were a few migrating birds at Chesnut Park in late October. I saw a lot of black and white warblers.

White eyed vireos hang around all winter.

A lone pine warbler was busy feeding in the moss.

Northern Parulas also hang around all winter.

In the trees and on the ground.

Posted on June 14, 2018 by dinajohnston

In the trees. Grackles, great egret, black and white warblers and northern parulas.

On the ground, an ibis was eating a snack.

A beautiful morning at Lettuce Lake park.

High up in the trees.

Posted on October 11, 2017 by dinajohnston

High up in the trees, I found a red shoulder hawk and a northern parula.

There were also lots of woodpeckers in the trees, a pileated and two downys.

Someone had left some seed on the boardwalk. The cardinal was feeding the baby.

A lone yellow throated warbler.

All taken in late July at Chesnut Park.

Linking to Wednesday Around The World

Summer at the lake

Posted on September 11, 2017 by dinajohnston

Lots of the usual birds at Lettuce Lake Park in late July. The first shot is a very young parula and the 2nd is a shot of the young parula being fed by the parent. The last shot is of a very young red bellied woodpecker waiting for the parent to give him a bug.

The usual titmouse and I caught a glimpse of a brown thrasher high up in a tree.

Things along the boardwalk.

There’s water somewhere in that lake. These were taken before the rainy season and the plants had taken over the lake.

Random fun at the Lowry Park Zoo

Posted on July 31, 2017 by dinajohnston

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.