Sharp teeth and flashes of green

On February 25, 2020February 25, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I was at Crescent Lake Park recently and saw this guy moving fast. Darting around and popping his head up out of the water at a different place every time. It was dark and cloudy and I could not get a decent picture of him that wasn’t blurry. He only stayed for a few minutes before disappearing under the vegetation and then he was gone for good. He was chomping on something, I’m thinking a turtle. Everyone thinks they are so cute but look at those teeth. Another reason not to let your small dog get near the water in a lake in central Florida (the other is those pesky alligators).

After walking around Crescent Lake Park I stopped by the Safety Harbor fishing pier on the way home. The above parrots landed right in front of me before I stepped on the pier. They only stopped for a minute before screaming down the street.

It was cold this morning in January but people were out sailing.

Up close with some crazy animals

On March 19, 2018March 20, 2018 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals5 Comments

It’s not often you can get up close to a bald eagle. Especially a juvenile one (the all brown one in the last shot). These eagles are all missing a wing and now live at the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. They are in an open enclosure and just love to pose.

Pelicans were just starting to nest.

A night heron in the first shot. He crept up pretty close to me. The wild great blue herons were working on nests in the top of the trees over the alligator exhibit.

A burrowing owl trying to sleep.

Other animals were all just chilling out the morning I was there in early January. Lots of fun animals at the park. Unfortunately most are injured but have a home here at the park.

Our World Tuesday Graphic image-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

A walk around Crescent Lake

On October 5, 2017October 5, 2017 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

Moorhens were all around the lake. Lots of juveniles from early spring.

Other interesting ducks including the pied grebe in the last picture.

Other critters at the lake. The otter was a surprise. I’ve never seen one there before.

The water tower next to the lake and a hawk hanging underneath it. Probably looking for a slow flying monk parakeet. The parakeets nest under the water tower.

Looking across the lake near downtown St. Petersburg. I hadn’t been in a while so I stopped for a quick walk. There were people in the lake in kayaks doing a cleanup. I know there are alligators in there so you wouldn’t want to be in there without a kayak and a paddle to hit one over the head with.

SkyWatch Friday

Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park

On February 13, 2017February 14, 2017 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

All of the above are missing a wing. They are permanent residents at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park.

A wild vulture stopped by for a handout.

Lots of other Florida wildlife there as well.

The flamingos were taking a bath or napping.

A few things from Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park in late December.

Our World Tuesday Graphic image-in-ing

Rainy day funny faces

On October 10, 2015October 10, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation2 Comments

We had a rainy afternoon during our trip in Arizona. We were already out running around so we decided to head over to Bearizona. It’s a drive through zoo that’s 30 minutes away from Flagstaff. We figured at least we’d be in the car while it was raining. Most of the animals had been injured or orphaned and had found a permanent home here. All of the animals have huge enclosures in the middle of the woods. We drove through different zones and saw bears, wolves, bison, big horn sheep and tons of other animals. You could see them wandering around in the woods. Some were eating, some were sleeping, some were playing in the drizzle. Halfway through it stopped raining so we were able to get out and walk around the smaller walk through area. I think this was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

Saturday's Critters

I otter be in pictures!

On November 29, 2014November 29, 2014 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals8 Comments

As I was walking down the trail I saw a head pop up in the creek.

All of a sudden 3 more heads pop up past me. They were heading the other way.

I turned around and headed that way also. I walked along the bank of the creek and every other minute a head would pop up. One of them looked right at me.

They started climbing up on the rocks in front of me.

They seemed curious as to who I was. I backed up to get this picture in and I did not want them to get too close.

I was taking pictures right into the sun so it was not ideal but they were so cute.

What a face!

They stayed on the rocks for a few minutes looking around and then all 4 of them slid back into the water and headed down the creek. The end of the creek was close by and they went into the tunnel under the street.

I was pretty excited to see them at Largo Nature Preserve. There’s not much there at this small park but I had heard several times that otters had been sighted there. I went totally not expecting to see them and there they were. Swimming right beside me on the trail in the first 30 minutes I was there. They came and went fast though. I’ll be back to see them again.

Saw an otter eating while checking on an owl

On January 28, 2013January 29, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography24 Comments

I stopped by a local park to see if the great horned owl was nesting yet. There she was looking like she’s been sleeping for a while.

The park was pretty quiet except for the normal ~~mallards~~ mottled ducks (thanks to Wally for the correct ID. We get a lot more mallards than mottled here.)

And boring old warblers.

I saw this cormorant swimming way too close to the alligator.

Then I heard some commotion in the reeds near me and saw an otter with a fish. He saw me looking at him and moved around to the other side of the reeds where I couldn’t see him.

I moved around to the other end of the boardwalk and was able to see him but he was into the sun. He chowed down on that big fish for a few minutes before taking off.

Just a few things on my walk around a small park recently on a Saturday morning. I’ve seen otters there before but usually down in a little creek and they don’t hang around for a second. The above was out in the open lake but wanted to eat his fish in peace. After that last shot, he disappeared. I looked for him for a while but no sign of him again. I’m keeping my eye on that owl. Last year she had two babies so hopefully I’ll be able to watch more babies grow up this year.

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An otter eating, a snake being eaten and some birds.

On April 2, 2012April 3, 2012 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography22 Comments

I’m standing along Marsh Rabbit Run trail at Circle B Bar Reserve trying to take pictures of the baby sandhill cranes. There were several other photographers there and we were all being quiet while hoping the cranes would get a little closer to the trail. All of a sudden we heard this loud crunch right behind us. We all turned around and saw this otter eating what we thought was a small turtle. He was chowing down pretty hard and making a loud crunching noise. It was almost as if he was saying “Hey guys, I’m back here.” He eventually finished it and swam off.

On Wading Bird Way, I see a great blue heron having a hard time with a snake. I took these right into the sun so they didn’t turn out to great but it was pretty funny watching him fight the snake.

He seemed to look back at me like “Can you help me with this?”

He kept shaking his head and the snake unwrapped around his beak but they continued to fight for a while. Eventually, the heron got the snake down. It made me wonder if the birds ever get bitten by a poisonous snake. Will they die if they get bite? And if they swallow the snake whole while it’s still alive, can the snake bite their stomach? It’s a tough life being a bird.

These blue winged teals didn’t get the memo telling them to go home for the summer. These were the only ones I saw in the park and they were feeding together in a tight group. The tricolored heron was sneaking by them, probably trying to see what they were eating.

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