Tag: spider

I came for sunflowers but the cows stole the show!

On By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants8 Comments

In May I made the trip north to Jimmy Mc’s Farm to get a handful of sunflowers. All you can fit in a hand for $5 is the best deal in the area. The farm doesn’t have activities like some of the sunflower farms do but they don’t charge to get in so it’s a deal if you just want sunflowers. I got there right when they opened and walked past the big sunflower field to see the cows. When I got to the back fence the cows all started walking towards the fence. Where they coming just to say Hi?  It was fun to see the calves.

They walked right up to the fence. They were hoping for a sunflower handout.

A few minutes later the farmer brought them some food and they left me, immediately taking off and heading for the food. It was time to pick some flowers.

It was a beautiful morning to be picking them. I walked up and down the aisles and struggled to choose them. They had to be perfect. No bees on them. Not popped out yet (when the center pops out it means the blooms are older and don’t have much longer). I brought 2 big handfuls to the table to check out.

The cows had moved closer to the entrance and were standing near the fence. The owner had a handful of the flowers and were letting us feed the cows with the sunflowers. When the picking season is over at the end of May he lets the cows into the field to eat the remaining flowers.

I stopped on the way out to take a shot of the windmill.

I thought I checked them out for bugs but when I got home this guy crawled out from under a petal. I ran and got my macro lens to shoot the above before taking him out to the backyard.

I gave a few to my neighbor and we still had a lot of sunflowers around the house.

I took this with my phone in portrait mode (stage light setting). I like the way the background is blacked out. My phone takes some pretty neat pictures.

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Gma’s photo

Standing out in the field

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants, Tampa bay sights5 Comments

I found a new sunflower farm closer to my home (still almost an hour away though). Up in Spring Hill, an hour north of Tampa, Jimmy MC’s farm has U-pick sunflowers during the spring. I headed up there on the final weekend of the season almost at the end of May. This is not a big farm with activities for little kids. This is just a farm that you can go and pick your own sunflowers. It’s free to get in and $5 for two handfuls of sunflowers. I parked near the barn and walked out to the sunflower field.

They do have a picturesque tub that you can climb in and take pictures.

It was the last weekend of their season but the field was still full of sunflowers. It was hard deciding which ones to pick. So many! I looked for new buds that weren’t drooping yet and covered in bees. I didn’t want to disturb the much needed honey bees.

I was inspecting each one that I was thinking of picking and found this green spider on the back of one. I didn’t want to take him home (last year I brought home a small creme colored spider and put him in the backyard).

They had a lot of cows next to the sunflower field and I was envious of the ones in the back going for a swim. It was a hot morning. Their pond had really shrunk from the drought. Once most of the good flowers were picked they let the cows in the field and eat the remaining sunflowers.

As I walked back to my car I saw this sandhill crane family in the grassy parking area. I had my camera in the car so I pulled it out and snapped a few shots of them feeding. Junior was almost fully grown but still getting food from his parents.

I loved seeing the windmill out in the cow pasture so I stopped and snapped the above with my phone.

A small part of my stash that I brought home.

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Things in the backyard

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

Some of the birds in the yard in late January and early February. I’m always looking out the window when I’m at home. I noticed the great egret creeping around the tree but he went behind the bushes when he caught the lizard.

I’ve seen several random turkeys roaming around the neighbhorhood and was wondering if they were all the same turkey. These were across the fairway from our house. The top one had a gray head (maybe the juvenile from this past summer) and the bottom shot has a red head. These were taken the same week.

The usual bigger birds in the backyard include a cardinal, blue jay and a crow that’s been hanging around for a few weeks.

There’s always a Carolina wren in the backyard. Sometimes we have two.

Other occasional birds at the feeder are titmouse and woodpeckers.

We had several bluebirds bouncing around the backyard one afternoon. They would catch some caterpillars on the ground and fly up to the top of the bird feeder to eat them.

We’ve had parulas up in our trees for a while now. I hear their shrill all day long. I was able to catch the male (top shot) in a lower branch singing away one afternoon. The bottom shot is either a juvenile or maybe the female. She came down to the bird bath.

A few other things in the yard. That spider looks like he has a smiley face on his back. The gardenia bush outside our front door has been blooming and it smells so nice when you walk out the door. I went out and got these with my macro lens. All other pictures where taken through the windows.

Creeping things along the trail

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals1 Comment

What would you expect to find walking down Marsh Rabbit Run Trail at Circle B Bar Reserve? I rarely see them on this trail but there it was on my walk in late October. As I got closer and he disappeared in the bushes on the side I yelled “Don’t go in there. The alligators will get you” but he didn’t listen.

These guys are always hanging on the side of the trails.

So are these. Marsh Rabbit Run should really be called Creepy Spider Trail.

This is what you see after the trails open back up after being closed for the summer. The sides of the trails are full of spiders. Those tiny dots are spiders in between the trees. That’s why you don’t want to get to close to the sides of the trails (although most of them are pretty high up there are usually a few lower down). I think for the most part these are harmless although I always do a spider check if I feel like I walked through a web.

An eagle cruising far away across the marsh.

My favorite purple clowns were out feeding. These are juvenile purple gallinules that hadn’t gotten their purple feathers in. Soon they will look like the one below. They were eating the tips of the alligator flag plants.

Assuming this is one of the parents.

My Corner of the World

Color and turtles in October

On By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals3 Comments

Yellow and orange from my trip to the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo last month.

The large cactus in the front of the gardens had big blooms on them . The details inside the bloom are amazing. The cactus also had this big pink ball which I assume are the blooms before they open up. Or, maybe they are the seed pod after the bloom dies off?

Little critters. Bees had taken over that bird house.

I found another face in the tree along the boardwalk.

I stopped by and said hello to the resident wood ducks.

After leaving the botanical gardens, I stopped at McGough Park to see if there were any fall migrating birds. I didn’t see many birds but the turtle pond was full of turtles taking a sun nap.

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Up close with a hitchhiker

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

I was playing around with my macro lens using my stash from my trip to the Sweetfield Farms sunflower festival.

There are a lot of different types of sunflowers. Some have all yellow in the middle, some have black middles, some grow big and some grow little.

As I was taking up close shots of the flowers that I picked at the sunflower festival, I noticed this tiny critter hiding under one of the petals. He was smaller than my pinky nail and blended into the yellow petals. After taking some pictures of him, I relocated him to the backyard.

My Corner of the World

Just catching sunrise.

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I use to set my alarm to get up early on the weekends but lately my internal alarm has been going off early and I got out of bed one Saturday morning in November and headed to Circle B Bar Reserve. Although, not that early since the sun was just peaking out as I hit the trails. It’s the perfect time to be there, quiet and not many people there yet. You can hear the birds starting to talk and the whistling ducks were starting to fly back and forth.

One of my favorite views in the morning.

There wasn’t a lot of different birds out. The usuals were there (moorhens, whistlers, herons, egrets, cormorants) but I didn’t see many uncommon birds. The above are fairly common in the winter (female common yellowthroat, house wren and the purple gallinules) but sometimes a little bit harder to find.

Some of the smaller critters along the trail.

The eagle’s nest is pretty far away but I could still see both eagles on the nest. Maybe she’s looking at her eggs in the nest?  Might have been a little early but soon.

SkyWatch Friday

Always looking up in the yard.

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

A few of the 4th of July fireworks from my driveway. Many of my neighbors were setting them off.

Lots of rainbows during the summer rains.

I was standing under the bismark palm tree trying to get some storm shots in the backyard and almost ran into the above. A harmless spiny orb, very common here but I really wouldn’t want to have to pull him out of my hair.

The sun was trying to peek out after a storm.

Dark clouds were swirling in the backyard right before dark.

Lightning shots taken with my phone in the backyard.

Standing on the Safety Harbor fishing pier, I could see a storm over my neighborhood across the bay.

I’m always looking up in the yard during the rainy season.If I hear thunder on one side of the house and the sun is out on the other, I always run outside with my phone hoping to see a rainbow.

SkyWatch Friday