I headed out to Fort Desoto late in the afternoon in early November. There wasn’t a lot of birds around later in the day but it was a beautiful afternoon.
Way out in the bay,
The sun was started to get lower at my favorite spot.
I drove over to the gulf pier before leaving.
Looking back at the old smoke stack.
Silhouettes of birds flying near the pier.
The sun still had a ways to go and I had to get home so I quickly snapped the above.
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.
The above were from an early morning walk in the neighborhood. The baby ducks at the pond down the street were getting big. My neighbor’s royal poinciana tree was still blooming in July.
Typical Florida weather. Raining over our house but I could see the sun down the channel. After the rain stopped, I ran outside and got the rainbow from the backyard and the front yard. The skies here have their own personality.
I stopped by the Safety Harbor fishing pier at the end of March and got lucky seeing manatees. I usually see them most of the time but occasionally they are a no show. This time there were several together close to the pier. They were rolling around as they cruised by.
A few of the birds flying by the pier and a pelican sitting in the mangroves.
This family was already starting the social distancing thing. Kayaking out to a spit.
There was hardly anyone on the pier and I sat for a while taking in the quiet staring at Tampa far off in the distance.
The yacht basin next to the pier.
I caught the barred owl just waking up from his morning nap at Circle B Bar Reserve in early March.
An osprey hovering close to the trail.
My favorite tree twins in the middle of the lake. Here it still was missing it’s leaves. Bald cypress trees lose their leaves in the winter here in central Florida.
The sun was already high up in the air by the time I walked down Marsh Rabbit Run.
A quiet early walk at Circle B Bar Reserve.
Things up in the trees along the boardwalk at Lettuce Lake Park.
You can usually find several night herons in the swamp.
The view from the tower above, taken with my phone. It always makes me feel like I’m somewhere else other than close to downtown Tampa when I’m standing up here.
Looking into the swamp from the boardwalk. There’s gators hiding in there somewhere.
At the end of the boardwalk, the HIllsborough river floats by and turns the corner.
Under the trees along the trail, it was quiet early in the morning. I had the trail all to myself
Heading out of St. Petersburg on the Cross Bay Ferry to Tampa.
The Sunshine Skyway Bridge looked like a mirage from the middle of the bay.
A beautiful sunny day on the water in late November.
Coming back from Tampa in the late afternoon.
Color on the trail.
Crawling critters including that tiny alligator right on the trail.
Small birds along the trail. A green heron, a house wren making a face at me and then chirping and a blue headed vireo.
Having a snack.
A perfect start to a day at Circle B Bar Reserve.
Heading home after work, I stopped at an office parking deck after I got over the bridge into Tampa. Storms were moving in over the area. I could see it raining on one side of the bridge and sunny on the other side. Typical Florida weather.
Driving into my neighborhood, it had just stopped raining and the sun was peeking out.
A rainbow in front of my house.
Later that week, we had other storms coming across our neighborhood. I was able to catch the lightning in the backyard with my phone.
Flowers at the Temple Square Garden in Salt Lake City.
It was a cold sunny morning when we walked around the Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City.
The Joseph Smith Memorial Building was ready for Halloween when we were there in early October.
More from our vacation in Utah this past fall.
