A quiet morning out.

Posted on June 6, 2022 by dinajohnston

It was a gorgeous morning to be out on the beach in early April.

Far out in the water I could see a willet with a snack.

Terns were cruising by.

Laughing gulls were pairing up.

The rare kittiwake was still on the pier, a week later than when we first found him.

I still kept seeing the same warblers on the trails, a hooded and a black and white. I kept telling myself it was still early for migration here.

After a quiet morning at Fort Desoto Park I headed home but not before stopping by Possum Branch Preserve for a quick walk. Two red shoulder hawks were sitting on the big dead snag outside of the preserve. I guess the hawks are pairing up as well.

A green heron trying to hide in the marsh.

It was pretty quiet at this park as well. I started taking pictures of butterflies since they are starting to be more plentiful. At least I got a good walk in before heading home for lunch.

Critters in the yard in January

Posted on March 7, 2022 by dinajohnston

Brett was in the car, backing out of the driveway on the way to work when he called me. He says “There’s deer in the front yard”. He was afraid if he got out of the car and came back in to tell me they would leave. I went flying out of the house with my camera to see them cruising through our yard and around to the back. This will never get old.

One morning I was walking by the back window and saw a hawk sitting on the bird feeder. Ugh, well that’s not going to get me any songbirds. Again, I grabbed my camera and headed out the door. He didn’t even flinch as I walked up to the feeder. I finally waved my arms at him and he flew over to a nearby tree. I think he was trying to catch some lizards.

A few of the visitors to the birdbath in January. The yellow throated warbler has been hanging out for a while now. He will probably head north soon for the summer.

This looks like a new visitor. I’m not sure what this is. It’s a juvenile. It’s got the beak of bunting or a goldfinch. Or, maybe it’s a house finch? The yellow around the head is throwing me off.

Right before dark as I was closing the curtians I saw this dove sitting on the bird bath every night for a week. It was a chilly week so I was wondering if he wanted to come in to warm up? One night I could see the moon coming through the trees so I ran out and shot the above.

I added sunflower seeds to the feeder and finally got a bluebird on it. My neighbor has a feeder full of sunflower seeds (and one with mealworms) and he always has a lot of bluebirds.

I’m always amused at the antics of the many squirrels in the backyard. I think this one was taking a nap in the sun except he was upside down. He stayed there for a while.

Critters out the back door

Posted on October 30, 2021 by dinajohnston

This red shoulder hawk was stalking my cockatiels through the window. I heard Harley starting to scream and ran over and looked out the window and saw this. He was sitting in a low branch right up against the house. I ran outside and walked right up to him. After picking up a big branch and shaking it at him, he finally flew off. He was not intimidated by me at all. I don’t think he realized he couldn’t get my birds that were inside the house. He came back again the next day and I went back out and shook the big branch at him again and I haven’t seen him since.

I think this squirrel mistook the hanging plant for a bird feeder. He’s looking at me like “Lady, where’s the food?”

I saw the deer from the kitchen and grabbed my camera and ran out to the back porch. The deer were across the fairway and glanced at me for a second before continueing to eat. This was late in the afternoon. They stayed out there until right before dark and then headed off into the woods down the street. It’s a little strange for me to see deer grazing right out my back door.

When I was out taking pictures of the deer, I shot the above of the ibis on the tee. There’s always a ton of ibis on the golf course.

Until next winter

Posted on July 8, 2021 by dinajohnston

High up in a tree, a young red shoulder hawk has the best view.

An osprey in a tree right over the trail was trying to eat his fish in peace but there was a steady stream of people walking by and he stopped to yell at each one.

Wood storks cruise by as I headed down the trail at Circle B Bar Reserve in early May.

A typical Florida shot of a great blue heron.

Herons were everywhere and constantly cruising by. The one in the second shot flew way to close. I almost cut him off.

Dragonflies were everywhere as it was getting warmer.

Another typical Florida shot.

This plant was growing all across the marsh. I think this is water hemlock.

Moss covered oak trees lead the way back to the car. This was my last trip to Circle B until the weather cools off. It’s way to hot to be out here without a breeze. Both of the main trails are closed for the summer due to the alligators nesting on the trails so I’ll wait until the fall when the winter birds start to arrive again.

Walking through the fog.

Posted on May 20, 2021 by dinajohnston

Some of the critters along the trail at Circle B Bar Reserve in late March including that cute little mouse in the bottom pictures. The alligators were out everywhere and making their loud mating bellow. Even if you couldn’t see them you could hear them bellowing all over the marsh.

It was a quiet morning for flying critters.

The trails were covered in fog when I got to the preserve early in the morning. There wasn’t a lot of traffic on the trails and it was a nice quiet morning. I like being here in the fog for a change of season since it makes it seem like winter even if it was mild and muggy.

The bottom two pictures are panos with my phone.

A new preserve close by

Posted on March 30, 2021 by dinajohnston

I had only recently heard about Lake Dan Preserve through a hiking group. It’s only 30 minutes north so I decided to check it out in early February. It was a colder morning but the sun was warming up. The parking lot was small and hawk was sitting in a tree right over my car. There wasn’t a lot of birds when I first got there. Only a few yellow-rumped warblers. Probably because that hawk was sitting there out in the open. I hit the trail and walked across the bridge over the lake.

Out on the edge of the lake I could see deer getting a drink.

As I got farther down the trail, I came across a deer that was standing right in front of me. She stared at me for a few seconds before taking off across the field. She did stop and look back for a few seconds before heading into the woods. There were a lot of deer up here roaming around. All females that I saw this morning.

The only thing I didn’t like about the trail here was that most of it was soft sand which didn’t help my hip. Even walking on the edge didn’t help. I could feel my hip starting to hurt. I really need hard dirt or paved trails for now to keep my hip from going back out again so I didn’t walk as much as I would have liked to.

I found this interesting swamp pond about half way on my walk on a side trail. It was very quiet and I could barely make out deer getting water on the far end. I’m sure lots of critters use this instead of the big lake close by. It was kind of cool to be out here in the quiet and the bald cypress trees in the middle made it feel like winter. It’s amazing what you can find a half hour out of Tampa. First shot is out of the camera, the second I added a filter to make it look more like winter. I wasn’t sure which one I liked better.

Back on the trail.

Posted on July 6, 2020 by dinajohnston

My first trip back to Circle B Bar Reserve since mid-March. It has been closed all of that time and had just re-opened the week before I went in late May. I was there very early and headed out to the trails. This red shoulder hawk was welcoming me back.

Not many people there at 7:15 and it was good to be back on the trails.

Not many birds either. Just the usual suspects posing along the trail.

Talk about feeling like you are being watched. The alligators were close to the trails. They were use to having them all to themselves for 2 months.

The clouds were rolling in but I didn’t care.

So much for the social distancing thing. This group came by and instead of walking by on one side of the trail in a single file, they crowded the trail. I stepped off to let them go by but I couldn’t go too far off without stepping into the marsh and getting eaten by a gator. It was time to head back to the car at this point.

Not before stopping to catch this pretty cattle egret.

A quiet morning at Chesnut Park.

Posted on December 2, 2019 by dinajohnston

The baby deer from this summer were almost grown up in late mid October. You can barely see the spots on the first two.

The squirrels were busy eating.Some had better snacks than others.

The usual birds were chilling or hanging.

The day after we got back from Boston I was craving a walk in woods so I headed out for Chesnut Park near my house. Back to my shorts and tshirt routine. And now it’s December 2nd and I feel like I should be posting pictures of snow or Christmas decorations but it ‘s just another day in paradise here in central Florida.

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Seeing the big boys

Posted on September 3, 2019 by dinajohnston

I stopped by Chesnut Park on the way home from work in late July just after it had stopped raining. I was hoping to see baby deer. It’s rare to see them on a Saturday morning when the park is busy but they usually come out from hiding and play in the rain during the week. I didn’t see any babies on this trip.

A very young buck with some pine straw hanging out of his mouth.

I did get to see 2 bucks with bigger antlers which is a rare thing to see at the park. A park ranger once told me the park is mostly full of does and the bucks come down from Brooker Creek Preserve in the spring and summer to mate but don’t hang around Chesnut Park long. These 2 were hanging out on the baseball field by themselves. When I walked up to the edge of the field they stopped and glanced at me for a few seconds then ignored me. This guy was trying to be cool but little did he know that he had some grass stuck between his ear and antler.