All of the usual winter critters

On March 21, 2026March 20, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

I wasn’t expecting to find anything new at the Largo Nature Preserve in early December. I did find some usual wintering birds including a blue-gray gnatcatcher and a yellow rumped warbler.

Yellow crowned night herons hang out along the boardwalk that circles the small lake. Years ago they nested here but I haven’t seen any nests in a long time.

A female blue winged teal is common here in the winter.

Northern shovelers are occasionally seen here in the winter. There were several males and females on this morning.

A pied grebe was running away.

I found some tiny critters trying to hide on the leaves.

The bald cypress trees were starting to show their fall colors.

In the backyard in early April

On July 21, 2025August 5, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

There’s at least 2 female ruby throated hummingbirds coming to the yard since early April. I see them almost every day, usually in the morning and late afternoon. Most of the time I see only one at a time but several times I’ve seen one on the feeder and then chasing another coming in to feed. I now have another feeder in the front yard just outside the kitchen window as well.

The red shrimp plants were blooming and she was coming to them as well. She also comes to the gardenia bush and the coral honeysuckle but I can’t seem to get shots of her on those.

Squirrels in the backyard being cute.

Northern parulas visit from spring into fall. I was outside when I saw these coming down close to the bird bath and was able to get some shots of them.

A skipper on the salvia. The purple salvia died pretty quick but the red salvia has been blooming. I have yet to see a hummingbird on it though.

Two fly-overs that I was able to catch while I was outside in the backyard was a swallow tailed kite and a short tailed hawk.

I’m assuming this blue jay was working on a nest. I couldn’t see where he went with this beakfull of nesting material.

When Fred’s not feeding on bugs he sleeps the day away just outside our window. I think he was flirting with me here. He is not shy or skittish.

A few days later I realized he was shedding. One morning when I put my phone up to the window he came right up and posed for me.

The full moon in the backyard, taken with my phone.

A little later I went out with my camera and shot the above.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

Blooming in Atlanta

On September 5, 2024November 14, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Atlanta9 Comments

While Brett and I were in Atlanta in June we spent a morning at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. It’s funny that in the 17 years I lived here I never visited the gardens and now it’s my favorite place to stop when we are there to see friends.

I was expecting to see a ton of butterflies but only saw a few.

I love hydrangeas. Tulips and hydrangeas are the two flowers I miss the most from Atlanta. Neither do well in central Florida. I saw the above oriental lace hydrangea and don’t remember seeing this type before.

The lotus was in full bloom.

They had fields of pitcher plants. I wish I could get them to grow in my yard but the one I have in a hanging basket is not doing well.

There was a display of Alice’s Wonderland Larger Than Life topiaries around the gardens.

All of the characters from the book were there. Above are just a few.

The view from the vegetable garden. You can’t take a picture of the Atlanta skyline without a few construction cranes in them.

The earth goddess is my favorite spot in the gardens. I think this is the first time I’ve seen her hair blooming in so many colors. We spent most of the morning here and I took a ton of pictures so more to come.

Riding through the cow pastures.

On December 30, 2023December 27, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

The weather was too nice to be indoors in early October so I grabbed my camera and backpack and threw my bike in the car and headed north to ride along the cow pastures. I didn’t see a lot of cows on this morning. Most of them were on the other side of the pastures and behinds trees.

Eastern bluebirds are common along this bike trail. I caught one with a nice juicy worm.

A sandhill crane couple were heading into the pond for a drink. Or maybe to look for bugs along the grass.

The purple tievine was blooming.

Some tiny critters along the trail.

There is a big barn at the beginning of the bike trail with horses far out in a pasture. It backs up to another barn with horses. As I was heading back to my car I noticed two horses across the pasture that seemed to be having a conversation over the fence. I couldn’t tell if they were showing off to each other or flirting. The one on the other side of the fence was really showing off the teeth.

Two sandhill cranes were right up against the fence near the parking area. I stopped and took the above with my phone.

Teeny tiny critters

On February 13, 2023February 2, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, flowers and plants5 Comments

We had a warm morning in early January so I headed out for a quick trip to nearby Folly Farms in Safety Harbor. The neighborhood community garden has a small butterfly garden and if there isn’t any birds around I can usually find some tiny critters. There was still enough blooming to keep the garden full of bees and butterflies. The fun catch was the ladybug. I don’t see them very often.

Little critters buzzing around

On September 26, 2022September 14, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants1 Comment

It was early August when I visited Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales. I knew there wouldn’t be a lot of birds there since fall migration hadn’t started yet but I was ready for a road trip. There were a lot of other flying critters though so I had a fun morning torturing myself trying to get pictures of little things buzzing around.

I found this spiny orb weaver with a bee in his web.

Color explosion!

On July 12, 2021March 11, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants4 Comments

Since I missed the Sunflower festival at Sweetfield Farms last year, I had to go this year. In late May the zinnias at the farm were in full bloom. While the farm is mostly sunflowers (all boring yellow), I think my favorite part is the zinnia field. So many colors growing in one place. After taking tons of pictures, I went to the “You pick” booth and got some clippers. They were $1 per flower and I got as many as I could carry. One in each color.

The butterflies love the zinnias as well. My favorite part was all of the little flying critters that were landing on the flowers. I could have spent all day here but it was getting hot and I was getting hungry so it was time to pack up.

Kapok Park

On June 4, 2020May 25, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, flowers and plants2 Comments

Teeny critters at Kapok Park.

There’s always a lot of turtles under the boardwalk.

Great trees at the park including the first one with the roots half exposed. It’s been living that way for years.

Another “just being outside” shot at Kapok Park in mid-April.

Pretty things at Bok Tower Gardens

On November 19, 2019November 19, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals5 Comments

Lots of little critters at Bok Tower Gardens in late September. Very few birds. The best one was the white eyed vireo. It was a good morning to work on my butterfly shots.

I found this butterfly couple flying around. Only the top butterfly was flapping. Assuming they are mating?

I was looking for bugs and saw this big eye staring at me from behind a leaf. After climbing around under the leaves for a few minutes he stopped and took a nap on a stalk. He was not much bigger than my thumb.

A very quiet early September

On October 14, 2019October 15, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

Little titmouse looking for snacks. I get there at 8am and someone has already been there and left birdseed on the boardwalk. These guys are not shy.

I’ve never seen a prothonotary warbler at Chesnut park. Both were very skittish.

Other usual birds were parulas and cardinals. The cardinal was a juvenile that was just getting his red feathers. He looked rough.

It was very quiet at Chesnut Park so I left and stopped by Possum Branch Preserve before heading home. It was even more quiet at the preserve. I couldn’t even find a gator in all that muck.