Tag: old trees

A 3 park morning

On By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights7 Comments

It was a 3 park morning in early December but all were in Tarpon Springs. I first started out with a walk at the most northern park, Fred Howard Park and Beach. I drove through the park and parked my car just outside the causeway to the little beach area. This was as far as I got. It was all fenced up to get out to the beach while they were still trying to clean up from the hurricanes in late September and early October. The flooding left tons of debris in the sand so they were sifting through to make sure no one gets injured when they open it back up and the parking lot was a big sand mound so they had to get that cleared.  (It did open a week after I had made this trip).

As I walked around the park area I noticed most of the trees near the shoreline had their tops broken off.

Vultures were watching me walk around.

My next park was Sunset Beach Park just 5 minutes south of Howard Park. It had already been cleaned up and had just opened up to the public a few days before. I found a small flock of skimmers in the muck when I got out of my car.

The tide was super low this morning. The above were taken on the backside of the beach area.

Zooming in I could see the beach area of Howard Park just north of where I was. This was looking on the side of the island that is covered in boulders. The tide was so low I probably could have walked across the muck to get there.

Zooming in even more I could see great egrets dotting the exposed sand, picking off the exposed sea creatures for a snack.

A great blue heron flies close by.

My last stop on the way home was Craig Park just south of the main tourist area of Tarpon Springs. It’s a small park but has beautiful old trees with branches that touch the ground. It looked like most of the trees here did ok with the hurricanes but this whole park was underwater.

The main attraction here in the winter is the chance to see some manatees. There’s a natural spring here that is warmer than the gulf water and the manatees come into the bayou when it gets really cold. There were at least 10 the morning I was there but since the tide was so low they were huddle in the middle and farther away from the sidewalk. I was able to catch a few on video with their snouts coming up for air.

SkyWatch Friday

generic linkup party

Foggy walks

On By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights14 Comments

In mid-December I was out for a walk at the Safety Harbor waterfront. The sun was trying to come out but it never did fully appear. My first stop is always the remains of what’s left of the fishing pier. I miss walking out on the pier and seeing the manatees but they are going to rebuild so one day…

The birds love having the pier to themselves.

Later in my walk I could see a dolphin far out in the water (top left corner of the water).

The sun was still trying to break through.

Sites on Main Street include the 300+ year old Baranoff tree (bottom picture), named after the original owner of the Safety Harbor Spa Hotel. Everyone was glad the tree survived the 2 hurricanes.

A few days later I went out for a foggy walk on the Dunedin causeway. The tide was low and you could see the different colors of the seaweed that was left on the sand.

The sun was trying to break through here as well.

SkyWatch Friday

linkup party

A botanical gardens on the other side of the state

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

While Brett and I were on our “No power” trip (no electricity from Hurricane Milton) to the east coast in October we spent an afternoon at McKee Botanical Gardens in Vero Beach. It was our first time in the Vero Beach area and I had heard about the Gardens from friends who live nearby. It was a beautiful place to wander around and the gardens were full of things blooming and flying.

The gardens were started in the early 1920’s and there were a lot of tall old trees.

I managed to find a few migrating birds including a northern parula, a black throated blue warbler and a Swainson’s thrush.

A pileated woodpecker flew in while I was looking for migrating birds and started eating the seeds on a nearby palm tree.

There were so many different types of lizards. Tons of them in all sizes but we didn’t see any bigger iguanas. The bottom one is an invasive Peter (or rainbow) rock agama that was introduced into south Florida’s wildlife in the 70’s.  They have recently made their way farther north and are now plentiful in Vero Beach.

We were taking a break on a bench and this squirrel brought his snack over and ate in front of us.

The Hall of Giants is an original building of the gardens and was built to house the largest table at the time (found in New York City), built from a single piece of mahogany.

The gardens also had a lot of tiny waterfalls.

an image of a red sports car with a lady caricature going at Vroom Vroom high speed, Senior Salon Pit Stop Vroom Vroom Linkup New AnythingGoes badgeOpen every Tuesday! Get those posts seen and make others happy! Come join the #happynowlinkup #bloggers

 

 

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life

Mellow yellow at Myakka River State Park.

On By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, flowers and plants5 Comments

It doesn’t get much better than standing in a huge open field of yellow flowers. The pictures would have popped more if I had a blue sky but the clouds kept the heat down as I hiked out into the field. It was quiet and I was early enough that there wasn’t many people around, just a few others farther down the field.

I hiked down a side trail along the tickseed fields hoping to see some critters but this was all I got at the end of the trail. A big pond without a bird or critter around.

I drove to the boat ramp and got out and walked towards the big lake. I had to walk down worn paths through more tickseed. All of this area was under water at one time but the lake had been losing a lot of water over the years and keeps getting smaller.

I was walking along the edge of the lake but kept my distance from the water, keeping my eye out for alligators. This area may be under water right now during the rainy season but in mid-May when I was here we hadn’t had much rain for a while.

Another trail takes you where the water turns into the river and you can see the other side closely. This is where the alligators tend to hang out. The area closest to the water here is roped off for obvious reasons. I was using my 100mm-400mm lens to get these shots of the alligators napping on the other side. I love seeing them from far away.

The water was shallow here and you can clearly see them laying in the water. There were so many of them in this corner of the park. I counted 22 along the river area.

There were some interesting tiny critters along this trail as well.

As I stood and watched the alligators sleeping a black bellied whistling duck flew by.

There are some really cool old trees here. I took the above with my phone on the wide angle setting.

Some vultures were hanging out in the parking lot.

I always stop at this one area for a quick walk before leaving. You can see the river farther down but the trail is short. This is what old Florida looks like. I wish this park was closer to me. It’s almost 2 hours to get home with traffic during the day.

SkyWatch Fridaylinkup party

An early morning walk in Tarpon Springs

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights7 Comments

It was a hot summer and I was trying to do my short morning walks near water. One morning I drove up to Tarpon Springs and started a quick walk along the bayou at Craig Park. In the winter this bayou will be filled with manatees but on this morning there was nothing in the water but the reflection of the sun.

Bright colors on a nearby building.

The park has many great old crooked trees. Some over 100 years old.

I stopped at nearby Sunset Beach before heading home. The water was crystal clear and it was low tide.

This tiny beach has a lot of trees along the water.

Another stop was nearby Crystal Beach pier. The water isn’t as nice here, mostly grass beds along the shore but it’s still a beautiful view looking at the water or back at the palm trees.

SkyWatch Friday