Riding the “rails”.

Posted on May 25, 2020 by dinajohnston

The Sora rail was the talk of the reserve back in early April. I’ve only seen a few rails and they were all at Circle B Bar Reserve. This was a rare sighting for this area so a handful of people were coming to the park to find him. There were actually 3 there and they stayed for a few weeks. They stayed close to the reeds and were digging around in mud looking for food. Since then we’ve had some rain so the ponds are filled back up. Maybe that’s why they eventually left.

The Virginia rail on the left was a nice surprise. I had heard one was there but didn’t see it. I saw the sora on the right far out in the marsh heading towards the reeds and snapped a shot of him and when I cropped this up I realized the Virginia rail was behind him.

Lately there’s been a glossy ibis hanging around the pond. This is another bird that I usually only see in central Florida so it was weird to see him here.

You can always see gators and bunnies here.

It was nice just being outside.

Along the trail.

Posted on February 3, 2020 by dinajohnston

Color on the trail.

Crawling critters including that tiny alligator right on the trail.

Small birds along the trail. A green heron, a house wren making a face at me and then chirping and a blue headed vireo.

Having a snack.

A perfect start to a day at Circle B Bar Reserve.

Foggy start to the morning

Posted on March 18, 2019 by dinajohnston

Walking out on the trail at Circle B Bar Reserve, the fog was just starting to lift.

On the other side of the marsh, the sun was trying to break through.

Great blue herons in the fog.

A few critters along the trail. That big one always sleeps in that same spot across the ditch.

Lots of the usual birds along the trail.

A bright red flash of fall in the moss. It usually starts to look like fall around here in January.

Gator day at the park.

Posted on February 5, 2019 by dinajohnston

I had my first real close encounter with a big one recently at Circle B Bar Reserve. I’ve been visiting this park for over 10 years and until recently, I always joked that the gators were fake. They never seemed to move, just sleeping on the other side of the pond. I was at the park early and the water levels along the trails were high. The first picture was taken with my 300mm lens so I wasn’t that close. The second one was taken with my phone. That’s my shadow at the bottom. There were people coming up behind me and once the big guy crossed the trail, we all headed down together. Our theory was safety in numbers. By the time we got to were he had crossed, we saw him swimming half way across the lake.

Another big one on the same morning, taken with my 300mm lens.

A few tiny ones on the trail.

One of the “really” big ones across the lake, on the other side of the bank.

Otherwise, it was a slow morning with the usual turtles and warblers.

It finally looks like fall in late December.

Linking to My Corner of the World.

Cute little birds at Circle B Bar Reserve

Posted on April 18, 2018 by dinajohnston

Lots of cute little birds around the nature center in mid February: palm wabler, blue gray gnatcatcher, female indigo bunting and several female painted buntings.

Of the course everyone wants the shot of the male painted bunting. We knew there was at least one there but after searching over an hour, I was about to give up when this guy above stopped for a second before taking off again. I snapped this quickly before he was gone only to get a blurry shot.

Red leaves in the winter.

Linking to Wednesday Around the World.

Beauties and Beasts

Posted on November 21, 2016 by dinajohnston

A juvenile little blue heron in the swamp.

A very young night heron.

Another young little blue heron across the lake. Trying to blend in.

A downy woodpecker working on a hole.

“This tree smells funny.”

It looks like fall, but looks are deceiving. It was still over 80 degrees in late October.

Creepy crawlers along the boardwalk.

Weird bugs in the water right below the boardwalk. They looked like water roaches.

Stuff from my late October walk at Lettuce Lake Park.

Random stuff at Chesnut Park

Posted on March 28, 2016 by dinajohnston

It doesn’t look like fall here until late January or early February. And then days later the spring buds start popping out.

Chowing on something.

Curious deer.

Pretty pied grebe.

A quiet morning at Chesnut Park in mid-February.

Across the country for red leaves

Posted on November 1, 2015 by dinajohnston

I had to go all the way across the county to get some fall colors. These were taken in late September in Flagstaff. It’s now the first day of November and there is still no sign of fall yet here in central Florida. Still in the 80’s which is us normal for us.

These were taken at the Flagstaff Arboretum. We were there in a transition period. Not a lot of flowers since spring and summer were over but the leaves were changing and it was beautiful out. We took the long trail through the woods around the park and at one point, this is the view. If you crop the picture you would think you were all alone out in the forest. But then you see the solar panels. Brings you back to reality. I keep saying that I could live here, well, except for the 100 inches of snowfall a year in the winter.