Tag: water lily

A botanical gardens on the other side of the state

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

While Brett and I were on our “No power” trip (no electricity from Hurricane Milton) to the east coast in October we spent an afternoon at McKee Botanical Gardens in Vero Beach. It was our first time in the Vero Beach area and I had heard about the Gardens from friends who live nearby. It was a beautiful place to wander around and the gardens were full of things blooming and flying.

The gardens were started in the early 1920’s and there were a lot of tall old trees.

I managed to find a few migrating birds including a northern parula, a black throated blue warbler and a Swainson’s thrush.

A pileated woodpecker flew in while I was looking for migrating birds and started eating the seeds on a nearby palm tree.

There were so many different types of lizards. Tons of them in all sizes but we didn’t see any bigger iguanas. The bottom one is an invasive Peter (or rainbow) rock agama that was introduced into south Florida’s wildlife in the 70’s.  They have recently made their way farther north and are now plentiful in Vero Beach.

We were taking a break on a bench and this squirrel brought his snack over and ate in front of us.

The Hall of Giants is an original building of the gardens and was built to house the largest table at the time (found in New York City), built from a single piece of mahogany.

The gardens also had a lot of tiny waterfalls.

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Road trip to central Florida

On By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants, Tampa bay sights4 Comments

Bok Tower Gardens was bursting with color this summer.

I struggled to get a decent shot of the hummingbird. The light was bad but I managed to get the above. It was hot and muggy so it makes it harder to wait to get the hummer in those fleeting seconds of feeding.

It’s hard to ignore the cute cottontail bunnies

The bell tower

After leaving the gardens, I headed to a nearby fish camp to see if I could find any birds. It was quiet the morning I was there but I’m sure on the weekends it’s busy.

I did find two sandhill cranes feeding along the drive in.

Looking out over the lake, it was such a beautiful calm scene.  It’s these small hidden places that make Florida special.

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December at Bok Tower Gardens

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants3 Comments

Cool and pretty plants at Bok Tower Gardens in central Florida.

Little critters and flying critters. Hummingbirds were everywhere but I could not seem to catch them feeding. They would fly behind or into the bushes.

I love walking around Bok Tower Gardens. There’s always something different to see. I don’t get there often since it’s close to an hour and a half from my house (and that’s without traffic). I managed to get there a few weeks before Christmas but was wishing it was cooler than it was. Otherwise, it was a perfect morning.

On my way back to the main road, I passed a house that had 4 sandhill cranes in their front yard, along with a few ibis. I pulled over and quickly snapped the above from my car. It would be really cool to see these guys grazing in my front yard but it would be rare to get them that close to the bay.

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