A hot quiet walk at Roosevelt Wetlands

On September 3, 2025October 15, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

In early May I made my last trip out to the Roosevelt Wetlands for the summer. There is no shade here and not many critters during the dead of summer. I was standing near the parking area and could see across the lake to the waste plant mountain. All of a sudden tons of birds took off across the open mound. I’m not sure what scared them, mostly gulls and terns. There’s a lot of hawks in the area and I think most of the eagles are gone for the summer.

Cattails along the trail.

After staring into the reeds for a while I saw a bittern’s head pop up. He stayed hidden after he saw me.

Little critters along the trail.

A bunny hops across the trail, trying to hide fast before I pass him.

Color along the trail in the form of tickseed.

I saw a purple gallinule heading into the reeds and noticed a baby was right behind her. I was able to get a quick shot before the baby disappeared.

A female grackle posing. When I cropped this up I noticed the ladybug on the bottom right.

Standing near the waste plant, looking across the lake to the parking area. It’s a long walk back when it gets hot and the wind blows from the waste plant area.

A little blue heron flies by.

The northern harriers and winter ducks have all gone north for the summer. There was no sign of baby black necked stilts which is the highlight of late spring. Critter traffic comes to a halt through August so I took a long break from visiting.

Mellow yellow at Myakka River State Park.

On August 22, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, flowers and plants5 Comments

It doesn’t get much better than standing in a huge open field of yellow flowers. The pictures would have popped more if I had a blue sky but the clouds kept the heat down as I hiked out into the field. It was quiet and I was early enough that there wasn’t many people around, just a few others farther down the field.

I hiked down a side trail along the tickseed fields hoping to see some critters but this was all I got at the end of the trail. A big pond without a bird or critter around.

I drove to the boat ramp and got out and walked towards the big lake. I had to walk down worn paths through more tickseed. All of this area was under water at one time but the lake had been losing a lot of water over the years and keeps getting smaller.

I was walking along the edge of the lake but kept my distance from the water, keeping my eye out for alligators. This area may be under water right now during the rainy season but in mid-May when I was here we hadn’t had much rain for a while.

Another trail takes you where the water turns into the river and you can see the other side closely. This is where the alligators tend to hang out. The area closest to the water here is roped off for obvious reasons. I was using my 100mm-400mm lens to get these shots of the alligators napping on the other side. I love seeing them from far away.

The water was shallow here and you can clearly see them laying in the water. There were so many of them in this corner of the park. I counted 22 along the river area.

There were some interesting tiny critters along this trail as well.

As I stood and watched the alligators sleeping a black bellied whistling duck flew by.

There are some really cool old trees here. I took the above with my phone on the wide angle setting.

Some vultures were hanging out in the parking lot.

I always stop at this one area for a quick walk before leaving. You can see the river farther down but the trail is short. This is what old Florida looks like. I wish this park was closer to me. It’s almost 2 hours to get home with traffic during the day.

Lots of critters at Myakka River State Park

On August 17, 2024August 7, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals3 Comments

I saw lots of critters during my visit to Myakka River State Park in mid-May. The park is so big that I drive through and stop off at different ponds or trails and take short walks. The above limpkin was on the bank under the bridge where a lot of alligators hang out.

I saw these ladies up ahead and pulled over and got out to snap the above. They were grazing right near the road. There was a baby with 2 does.

I parked and walked along an elevated trail that runs along the big tickseed field. I was hoping to see deer farther out in the field but all I saw was an eagle and some vultures on the utility poles. I shot the first 2 from the beginning of the trail. The poles were sitting right on the trail and as I got closer the eagle just looked at me for a second and then ignored me. He was pretty high up.

Cute little pigtails!

There was a family of feral hogs along the road.

I saw another family farther down the road. There were twins here but the 2nd one stayed far in the woods with some does.

I got to the boat ramp and got out and hiked closer to the big lake. Far out I could see a sandhill crane couple with older kids as well as a few limpkins.

This vulture was digging up something in the muck. Probably left over dead fish.

Right before leaving I saw another baby. Mom was already far back in the woods and the baby was taking his time catching up with Mom. It’s weird how the fawns are out in May here but less than 2 hours north in the area where I live we don’t see them until mid to late July.

Tombstones and tickseed

On August 8, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, Tampa bay sights6 Comments

In mid-May I headed down to south Sarasota for my annual trip to Myakka River State Park to see the tickseed blooming. I left early in the dark since the traffic going through Sarasota is so bad now. What use to be an hour trip from my old house in Tampa is now an hour and a half if I don’t hit traffic so I wanted to be early enough to miss the morning rush hour. I got down to the exit in record time and since I had 20 minutes before the gate opened at the park I stopped in at the nearby Sarasota National Cemetery. So many tombstones. All members of any Armed Forces can be buried here. The cemetery is fairly new, opening in 2007.

The Patriot Plaza amphitheater opened in 2014 for memorials and ceremonies. It was quiet before 8am this morning, only a few maintenance men and myself.

As I got closer to the park I noticed what looked like a prescribed burn along the road. I was hoping that wasn’t the case in the regular part of the park.

Just past the entrance I pulled over and got out and shot the above with my phone. The sun was up but it was cloudy or mostly hazy. This is what the two lane roads look like as you travel across back roads in central Florida. The road looked like a mantenance road to nowhere. This is part of the park which is over 37,000 acres but visitors are not allowed in the outlying areas.

Once in the park I pulled over at the first field to see the tickseed. Yellow flowers forever. It is native to the area and grows wild. Since this is an undisturbed prairie it grows all along the fields here.

I also stopped where everyone else stops. The first bridge you come to in the park that goes over the river. There’s always a lot of alligators in this area and you can see them from high up on the bridge. I spent several hours at the park until the heat got the best of me. I took tons of pictures so more on those later.

Taking the long way home

On November 13, 2023April 11, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals6 Comments

I was out running errands one morning this summer and I had my camera in the car so I took a long slow back road to get home. There wasn’t much traffic on this road so I pulled over to get some shots of the yellow tickseed blooming and the clouds moving in.

I found a cow pasture with a sandhill crane family feeding on the bugs in the cow patties. The couple had a juvenile with them.

A cow was poking her head through the fence to get to the good grass.

A swallow tail kite flies overhead while I was pulled over taking pictures of the cow.

Meadowlarks were singing along the cow pasture.

Why did the vulture cross the road? I saw this vulture sitting on the road up ahead. Then I saw a few more along the ditch so I pulled over.

They were feasting on what looked like a cow leg. So many questions! Did the cow get loose? Did the leg fall off a truck? I didn’t see any cow pastures on this part of the road. Where did it come from? Or was it something else? A wild hog? That would be a pretty big one if so. Vultures are nature’s cleaning crew and they were doing their job.

Two native things – yellow flowers and gators

On October 5, 2023October 4, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, flowers and plants5 Comments

When you first drive into Myakka River State Park you come to a small bridge. Most people pull off and park and walk over the bridge to look for alligators. I did the same. I saw all of the above from the bridge. Fourteen alligators in the first few minutes of driving into the park (all from a far away safe distance). That limpkin in the last shot was a little too close though.

After the bridge I pulled over at the big field to get some shots of the tickseed in full bloom.

Out in the field I noticed an eagle sitting high up in a utility tower.

There’s something magical about standing in a field of yellow flowers, especially one this big. I was only standing right off the road.

After taking in the flowers I headed over to the edge of lake to see what I could find. Walking down the path from the parking lot I had to keep my eyes open. This guy was just off the path so I stayed far away.

Looking across a small creek I could see the river bank full of them. I counted 32 alligators this morning. I’m sure it’s the most I’ve seen in one day.

Yellow flowers and birds

On October 2, 2023April 9, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

It was mid-May and I was hoping the yellow flowers were out at Myakka River State Park. Tickseed is the official Florida state wildflower and blooms naturally in central Florida during May. The park is one of the best places to see it blooming. Huge fields of yellow as far as you can see. I was hoping to see some birds as well since migration was still going on.

I ran into some other birders when I first got there and they were heading into the swamp just off the main road to see some barred owls (you could actually see the owls from the road if you knew where to look through the trees). We couldn’t find the adults but the 2 juveniles were easy to spot. They both still had a little baby fuzz on their heads. The oldest was trying to take an early morning nap until the sun hit his face. The younger one in the bottom shot was wide awake and looking around.

We then found one of the adults. She took off quickly farther into the woods.

The thistle was also blooming.

Some black bellied whistling ducks flew overhead.

There were several limpkins feeding along the bank of the river.

I watched this great blue heron play with his food for 15 minutes before leaving.

I saw a record number for me of alligators on this trip to the park. More on them and the tickseed later.

A mellow yellow morning

On July 14, 2022March 22, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals6 Comments

I headed down to Myakka River State Park in mid-May. It’s about an hour and a half from my home near Tampa. I knew I probably wouldn’t see a lot of birds since the water was low in the lake and spring migration was mostly over but that was okay. I really came to see the fields of yellow. Tickseed (formal name is coreopsis) was named the state wildflower in 1991 and you can see plenty of it here. I got to the open field and got out of the car and used my phone to take the above pano. Yellow as far as the eye can see.

There was also some thistle blooming along the road which added some pink.

I was hoping to see some deer or turkey crossing the field but after waiting an hour all I got was a crow.

The sun coming through the tree.

Along a path near the lake, the thistle was growing so high I couldn’t see over it.

Besides the yellow tickseed in May, this park is known for having a lot of alligators. Looking across a river there were several sunning themselves and one swimming by from the left. The pink buds in front of the tickseed is swamp milkweed.