An early morning walk

On February 21, 2026March 6, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

There was a mist over the wetlands as I walked out on the trail at the Roosevelt Wetlands. It was mid-November and a cold morning although it warmed up fast. The mist and dew made it easy to see the spiderwebs.

The muhly grass had lost their pink blooms and now just looked like white feathers in the mist. The sun was coming up as I walked along the trail.

It’s common to see a spotted sandpiper in the fall and winter here.

A Savannah sparrow was trying to hide in the reeds.

The northern harrier that spends winters here was so far away this trip.

A tricolored heron flies by and lands in the water.

Some type of wasp? I haven’t seen one of these before.

A bunny hides in the shade. If I get any closer he’s going to dart into the bushes.

Flying critters in November

On February 8, 2025February 1, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

I had just gotten out of my car for a walk when I heard the monk parakeets screaming towards me. I grabbed my camera out of the back and started shooting as they landed in the trees in front of me. Unfortunately it was right into the sun. Monk parakeets are smaller than the nanday parakeets and they don’t have the black heads. Both types are not native to Florida and there are tons of them here.

They were bouncing and moving around across the trees and I was able to catch a few shots with the sun behind me while they were feeding.

After a few minutes they all took off across the water.

After my walk along the waterfront at the Safety Harbor fishing pier I stopped at Folly Farms to see what was flying around. Even though it was mid-November it was still pretty warm and there were lots of little critters buzzing around.

🎵 “Fly like an eagle” 🎵

On July 15, 2023July 7, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals4 Comments

And he’s off, flying like the eagle that he is. 48 days from the first time I saw the baby eagle sitting up in the nest to the day I saw him flying. He was probably flying a few days before and I just missed it but it was great to see him taking those first flights.

He flew down the field to the next set of utility towers. One of the parents was sitting in the tower next to him. He landed on a the tower briefly and then flew over to the parent.

I could hear him screaming and I think he was telling his parent to go get him some food. The parent may have been trying to get him to follow him to hunt but I don’t think Junior was ready at this point. When the parent took off Junior flew back to the nest tower.

He came back and landed on the top of the tower.

I saw one of the parents flying by through the trees.

Junior landed back on the nest and waiting for his breakfast. He must have been hungry because it looked like he was chewing on a stick or maybe playing with it.

Someone was watching me from the field.

There are always a lot of red bellied woodpeckers in the trees at the eagle’s nest and this morning I got a brief glimpse of a great crested flycatcher.

I was looking for little critters while I waited for the eagle parent to bring Junior his breakfast but it got late and I had to run some errands so I left.

A spring morning in late March

On June 12, 2023April 4, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals, flowers and plants5 Comments

I don’t remember ever seeing this green caterpillar. I found it in the butterfly garden at Folly Farms in Safety Harbor in late March. I usually only see monarch or gulf fritillary caterpillars. I had to look through tons of green caterpillar pictures to find it. This is a orange barred sulphur butterfly. I do see them here but have never seen the caterpillar.

So many little things flying around late in March. It had already been warm for a while so everything was blooming and the garden was full of butterflies, bees and other little critters.

There wasn’t many birds around though. A dove and a few bluebirds were all I could find on this morning.

I caught a swallow tail kite diving down behind the trees.

This was interesting. They have installed a wind phone at the farm. Originated in Japan, the phone is not connected but allows a one way conversation with deceased love ones. There’s a chalk board and you can leave notes. I did pick up the phone to make sure there wasn’t a dial tone (or maybe someone else on the other end?).

A spring morning out

On May 15, 2023April 4, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals8 Comments

The water around the Safety Harbor fishing pier was really low the morning I was there in mid-March. There were a lot of shorebirds far out on a tiny spit. A few black bellied plovers, red knots and dowitchers were mixed in with tons of willets, gulls and terns.

Heading around the edge of some mangroves I could just make out 3 Canadian geese.

Several manatees were coming up for air.

A red-winged blackbird posing on the mangroves.

I stopped by Folly Farms on the way home. Lots of little critters there.

I rarely see butterflies mating.

Little critters in early spring

On April 29, 2023April 29, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

It was early March and I was sitting on a bench in the butterfly garden at Folly Farms in Safety Harbor hoping to see hummingbirds (it was probably a little early for them though). No hummingbirds yet but I did see some usual birds. Titmouse are common here and parulas were everywhere in early spring. Both have distinct calls.

The giant milkweed was full of caterpillars.

Little critters in the garden. The yellow butterfly looks like she was laying eggs.

I’m not sure what this plant is but I’ve seen it at several botanical gardens. It’s really cool and the flowering part is huge.

Teeny tiny critters

On February 13, 2023February 2, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, flowers and plants5 Comments

We had a warm morning in early January so I headed out for a quick trip to nearby Folly Farms in Safety Harbor. The neighborhood community garden has a small butterfly garden and if there isn’t any birds around I can usually find some tiny critters. There was still enough blooming to keep the garden full of bees and butterflies. The fun catch was the ladybug. I don’t see them very often.

Little critters buzzing around

On September 26, 2022September 14, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants1 Comment

It was early August when I visited Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales. I knew there wouldn’t be a lot of birds there since fall migration hadn’t started yet but I was ready for a road trip. There were a lot of other flying critters though so I had a fun morning torturing myself trying to get pictures of little things buzzing around.

I found this spiny orb weaver with a bee in his web.

Tiny critters at the botanical gardens

On August 1, 2022August 1, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants2 Comments

I think this lizard was flirting with me at the Botanical Gardens in Largo.

Tiny critters were buzzing around the butterfly garden.

A few of the butterflies in the butterfly garden. I was expecting to see many more than this. I didn’t see any yellow ones. I keep saying I am seeing less and less of them every year. I wonder if it’s all of the spraying that is being done. Spraying for invasive plants, spraying for mosquitoes.

A soft shell turtle swims by under the bridge. I was only able to get his funny shaped head in the shot. He almost blends in with the brown lily pad leaves.

A young moorhen walking around the spatterdock lilies in the pond.

A few of the flowers blooming in early June.

“I’m walking on sunshine, yeah!”

On June 30, 2022March 22, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants11 Comments

There’s something magical about standing in the middle of sunflowers.

There were all types of sunflowers here at Sweetfield Farms in early May. Some had yellow faces and some had black faces. Some had big faces and small petals and some had small faces with long yellow petals. I grabbed a pair of clippers and went out to pick a bunch to take home but it was tough to decide which ones to pick. I ended up with a bunch of different ones.

Most of the faces had bees on them but when you clipped them the bees flew off. If you are really afraid of the bees, you can buy the ones in the barn that are already picked. Either way they were $2 a stem. I really didn’t feel like there were a lot of bees swarming around me though. There are plenty without bees as well.