Around the neighborhood in early January

On May 18, 2026May 11, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals1 Comment

Another foggy morning in the front yard in early January.

The winter birds were coming to the suet feeder every day including pine warblers and yellow throated warblers.

Annoying blue jays are always around but I don’t see them take a bath often.

At some point I realized that black bellied whistling ducks were hanging around the pond across the street. I would hear them whistling in the morning or near the end of the day. The pond is shaped like a big square and there are houses on two sides (woods on the far back side and the front side runs along the street in front of our house). I think they must have been sleeping here. Some mornings they would take off and come back right before dark. Some days they were here most of the day. I was able to sneak over and hide behind a tree and get some shots of them.

They would spend the morning flying back and forth across the pond and chasing each other around. They would get water and hang out with the ibis. I rarely saw them swimming in the water (aren’t ducks suppose to swim?). Later in the month I counted over 30+ here and I took tons of pictures of them so more on them later.

An anhinga swimming by me wondering why I was hiding behind the tree.

I always keep my eye out for the gators. I’ve seen 2 in this pond.

A snapping turtle came up on the grass while I was watching the ducks.

Flowers blooming around the yard before the cold spell hit.

I saw the neighborhood coyote couple again. They were in the same spot where I saw them last summer. This time I had my camera in the car as I was leaving the neighborhood. It was early on a Sunday and there were no cars behind me so I was able to get some good shots of them as they crossed the street in front of me again.

They are such a handsome couple although I would not want to be walking by myself at night and come across them.

A hot walk at the wetlands

On August 1, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

I made it to Roosevelt Wetlands not long after sunrise in early May.

A least tern flies close by.

There’s been a couple of skimmers coming here to skim the lake. The bay is a couple of miles away and these birds are usually along the shoreline but occasionally they skim the lakes.

There are several pairs of black necked stilts nesting here. There were a few couples that weren’t on nests yet and were close to the trail. It’s early for babies so I’ll plan on coming here several times early in the summer.

A spotted sandpiper was in the muck. They usually only spend winters here so this one was late leaving.

Dragonflies on the trail.

Across the pond I saw this great old snapping turtle coming up for air. His back was covered in moss and he scooted along in the shallow part.

Color on the trail. The first one is Indian blanket flower. I planted a few of these in my front yard where there is full sun. They are drought tolerant and need full sun and I love seeing them all over the trail here. They don’t get watered here at all. Mine died immediately. The yellow flowers are tickseed. There’s just a little here and I was planning a trip down to Myakka State Park in mid-May when the park is full of it.

The sun was up pretty high as I walked back to my car. There is no shade here so it was time to go home.

More from my early April bike ride

On June 26, 2023June 17, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals5 Comments

Pedaling by the stables on the bike trail.

I found a pair of kildeer far out in the cow pasture.

A Savannah sparrow posed for me on the fence.

I spotted some turkeys on the far side of the cow pasture.

Critters taking a nap along the pond (these were both cropped up).

This is the first time I have seen a snapping turtle on this trail.

My first ever sighting of a Sherman’s fox squirrel. They are only found in Florida and south Georgia. I have heard of sightings of them farther north of Tampa and had heard there were some seen along this trail but I hadn’t seen them until this morning. There were 2 and they stayed far on the other side of the cow pasture so these are heavily cropped. They are bigger than the abundant gray squirrels we have in our backyard.

A red shoulder hawk had something furry in his talons and when I stopped to get my camera out he turned around to hide his prey. I quickly snapped the above and then left him to his meal.