Still hot in October.

Posted on December 1, 2020 by dinajohnston

Busy little birds at Bok Tower Gardens. A black and white warbler, a titmouse (with a nut), a red eyed vireo and a female redstart were the only migrating birds I could find in mid-October. I realized as I was running around in the woods at Bok Tower why fall migration is much harder than spring migration. The birds are more scarce in the fall and it’s just too hot to be running around looking for tiny birds high up in the trees. Here in central Florida in the spring, if you are lucky to be out on a day when there are a lot of birds around, at least the weather is usually cooler. On this morning in October it was 85 degrees by 9:30 and the humidity was brutal. It takes a lot of patience to wait for these little birds to come down from the tops of the trees and it’s hard to be dripping in sweat. With that said, it was still a fun morning out even if I only saw a few birds.

Beauty in the pond.

A grasshopper high up in the tree. He caught my eye while I was watching a hummingbird on the other side of the tree.

I was taking a break on a bench when this little squirrel came up to me. He looks like he had a bot fly problem this summer. He should be okay though.

Reflections on the pond.

Looking down on the pond, the fish were waiting for a handout.

Beautiful flowers in Naples

Posted on July 9, 2019 by dinajohnston

Lots of pretty flowers at the Naples Botanical Gardens.

Lots of little critters too.

Shots of the gardens during our long weekend in Naples for a staycation in late May.

The one picture I took at the Naples Zoo above. A statue of a turtle in the ocean made out of recycled plastic which was cool. I didn’t love the zoo. It was a few minutes from our hotel so we stopped in before lunch. I felt like you couldn’t see the animals very well based on how they had the exhibits set up. You had to wait in line to board a small boat to cruise around a small pond to see the primates. You couldn’t just walk around and view them. It was too hot to wait so we left. We are spoiled living so close the Tampa zoo which is soooo much better.

Spring at Bok Tower Gardens

Posted on May 9, 2019 by dinajohnston

The flowers were in full bloom in mid-March here in central Florida. Although this year it felt like spring all winter.

Reflections on the pond in the early morning.

The pathway in the children’s garden is fun with all of the colored stones. I usually don’t walk over to that part of the gardens but was following some birds flying around.

The vegetable garden is near the children’s garden. I usually walk through there to see if there are any birds stealing the food.

Above is a short video of the bell tower when the bells were ringing. You can hear them ringing throughout the gardens but it’s pretty loud in front of the pond. The gardens are in Lake Wales and about an hour and 20 minutes from my home in Tampa without traffic. I would probably come here all of the time if it were closer but usually try to come in spring and fall.

More rainy day flower pictures

Posted on October 18, 2017 by dinajohnston

Pictures from a walk around the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo during a morning summer rain shower. Most people say the rain never lasts long in Florida in the summer but sometimes they last most of the day. This morning in August it rained all day. At least it wasn’t hot.