Standing on the observation tower, an osprey saw me and said “Hey, there’s Dina. I’m going to swing by and give her a hug.” or maybe not. He just banked and kept cruising by.
A juvenile moorhen eating yucky pond grass.
Limpkins were everywhere. Up on the boardwalk and down in the swamp with a snail.
This guy must have gotten a piece of some bad tasting grass.
Trying to hide on a log. Not sure what this guy was but I was using a long lens.
Before Hurricane Irma took down a lot of the trees.
Up close with a ruddy duck.
And black bellied whistling ducks. One was missing an eye
A pretty lady wood duck.
A very important sign. Even the night heron standing in front of it should not be fed.
“Hooo’s there?” said the burrowing owl.
Crawling critters behind glass.
Growing inside the aquarium, the beauty berry can be see in the many of the parks around Tampa. The birds and critters eat the berries.
On the wall in the aquarium, this would make cool wallpaper.
A few things from a recent trip to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. When it’s too hot to see the fishies from the beach, it’s time to head inside at the aquarium.
Not everyone gets to see a barred owl up close. At the zoo you can although I zoomed in on his face to get closer. Mr. Sleepy is permanently injured and lives at the zoo.
Above are some of the parrots that get to fly around the zoo in the mornings.
Pretty lorikeet in the aviary.
“Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” goes the old saying. She was feeding him something. Still, I’d be a little nervous doing that.
Another Mr. Sleepy, it’s rare to see a koala bear moving around during the day. I caught this one stretching.
Creepy critters behind glass.
Injured manatees recuperating at the hospital at the zoo.
Fun at the zoo in late July.
Critters at the park.
I was standing on the boardwalk looking for birds and heard a noise in the leaves. Thinking it was a squirrel, I didn’t look down right away. When I did, this was staring up at me. She was so close I had to pull out my phone to take a picture.
I stood there quietly and watched the deer roam around for a few minutes. The mom and older baby were having a bonding moment. They kept an eye on me but went about their day.
Chesnut Park on a Saturday morning in November.
Linking to Saturday’s Critters
I still haven’t seen any news on this great blue heron nest. A while ago there was a great blue heron always sitting on the nest for weeks. Then it was abandoned. Weeks later when I was there, I saw this great blue heron looking around. So are they trying again? They’ve had babies in this nest for several years now.
I found the limpkin family again on this trip but they were further away from the trail. The babies were growing up so fast. They now look like the parent, only smaller.
Northern Parulas were all along the trail but they stayed high up in the trees.
A green heron prowling around in the muck.
A glossy ibis doing the same thing.
The dragonflies were out.
A few crawling critters were out on the trail.
Just a few things I saw on my walk in mid-March at Circle B Bar Reserve.
You gotta look up as well as down when walking the trails. This guy was hanging over my head. I think it’s a harmless black racer.
Does he think I can’t see him behind that stick?
A pretty silk orb weaver. These guys were all over the trails.
Spotted orb weaver. This and the one above are the two I see the most on the trails.
Next time I’m going to count how many of these I see down the trail. I’m guessing more than 50?
Up close.
A pretty type of flying bug, I don’t see many pink dragonflies around.
This guy was hanging in the port-o-potty in the parking lot.
She said, "I don't like spiders and snakes And that ain't what it takes to love me You fool, you fool I don't like spiders and snakes And that ain't what it takes to love me Like I want to be loved by you"
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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