Along a Florida river

On April 16, 2025May 11, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park has 2 entrances. The back entrance which puts you at the main park was closed due to flooding and damage to the main entrance building from the hurricanes so when I went to visit in January I stopped at the tourist entrance on the main road. From there you have to take a ride on a tram or a boat to get to the park area. I decided to take the boat since I hadn’t done that it many years. It’s a 12 minute ride through a typical Florida river. The guide talked about the different wildlife and plants you see along the way. This river runs through the park.

There are wood duck nesting boxes along the river and although it was too early for nesting we did see some of the wood ducks hanging out on the boxes.

After my initial fun of seeing the wild manatees I started looking around the park for any birds. I found some pileated woodpeckers right along the boardwalk where the manatees hang out in the winter. The top one was eating those berries. The two on the bottom were eating bugs around the bottom of the trees.

As I was taking pictures of the woodpeckers I could hear wheezing above me. I realized there were cedar waxwings eating the small dark berries in the tree over my head. At first they were high up in the trees but a few came down closer.

They are beautiful birds that look very distinguished with that black mask and yellow tipped tails. They only pass through here in the late winter into spring.

The resident injured white morph great blue heron was close to the boardwalk. It’s rare to see the white morph version of this gray and blue bird. I’ve only seen one in the wild at Fort Desoto many years ago.

A typical Florida sight, a great blue heron sitting on a sideways growing palm tree.

As I walked along the boardwalk that runs along the river I could see many of the trees were uprooted during the hurricanes.

The water was calm and clear on this chilly morning.

A stop at Swan Lake on the way home

On April 27, 2024April 16, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

While my sisters were visiting in late February we drove over to Disney Spring early for some shopping (mostly looking though and getting a good walk in) and lunch. We decided to break up our 2 hour drive home by stopping at Lake Morton (aka Swan Lake) in Lakeland and get out to look around. There were only 2 baby swans from a black swan couple but there were a lot of nests.

Redheads and ring neck ducks are easy to find in the winter. There were several that were swimming close to the edge of the lake.

A young ring billed gull sits on top of one of the swan food feeders that sit on the edge of the lake. He looked pretty with his matching pink feet and beak.

The usual skittish wood ducks were coming close to the edge of the lake as well. One walked right up on the grass in front of me.

Balance act.

The small pod of white pelicans were still there, napping and preening on the brick wall.

The pink trumpet tree was in full bloom.

A 3 park morning

On January 18, 2022January 7, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photographyLeave a comment

I was out early one morning right before Christmas. My first stop was the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular but thought I would do a quick lap around the gardens. The gardens were decorated for Christmas and you could see the lights all over the bushes and trees. I thought this owl statue was cool and would have loved to see it all lit up but I didn’t make it here for the night holiday lights this year.

The usual birds were in the main pond. A green heron at attention, a wood duck (the entire family was floating around the pond) and there were lots of moorhens.

After the botanical gardens, I stopped at nearby Largo Nature Preserve to see if there was anything new. A grebe spent some time preening close to the boardwalk and there have been some northern shovelers there for several weeks now but nothing new or different.

My last stop before heading home wasn’t really a park but the Dunedin marina. I was hoping to see dolphins or manatees hanging around the marina but I didn’t see any on this trip so after walking around for a while it was time to go home for lunch.

A hot morning in August

On October 5, 2021October 5, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

A quiet (swampy) place to reflect. Just ignore the Beware of Alligators sign on the right.

This one was watching me as he cruised in front of the dock.

I found a few wood ducks in front of the dock at Chesnut Park.

Young cardinals were all over the park. They were all pretty scruffy looking, not having gotten their adults feathers in all the way yet.

A limpkin trying to hide behind some weeks.

The little chickadees were so cute. There were a lot of them here in early August. I saw my first one here at this park more than 10 years ago and then didn’t see any for a long time. Now I’ve seen a few around on most of my visits in the past few years.

After leaving Chesnut Park and heading home, I stopped at a small park nearby on the bay to see if anything was around the fishing pier. I had fun watching this dog romp around in the low tide. He stuck his tongue in the water for a drink but he did not like that salty water.

The one that got away. After taking a bunch of pictures of the dog in the water, I look up and see the back of an eagle heading the other way. I’ll have to keep an eye out here during the winter to see if there’s a nest nearby.

Baby swans on a hot spring morning.

On July 17, 2019July 17, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

A female wood duck up above and her 4 juvenile babies hanging out on a rock.

It’s always fun to see the baby swans.

Across the street from the lake, in front of the library in Lakeland, there were still 2 swans sitting on nests. At least they had a good shady spot away from the crowds and a nice view of the lake.

Two butterflies together on the street. Where they mating? I’ve never seen this before.

Photographing New Zealand

Getting up close with Florida critters.

On October 9, 2017October 10, 2017 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

Up close with a ruddy duck.

And black bellied whistling ducks. One was missing an eye

A pretty lady wood duck.

A very important sign. Even the night heron standing in front of it should not be fed.

“Hooo’s there?” said the burrowing owl.

Crawling critters behind glass.

Growing inside the aquarium, the beauty berry can be see in the many of the parks around Tampa. The birds and critters eat the berries.

On the wall in the aquarium, this would make cool wallpaper.

A few things from a recent trip to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. When it’s too hot to see the fishies from the beach, it’s time to head inside at the aquarium.

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Lots of birds at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park

On February 15, 2016February 16, 2016 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

Lots of robins in the trees.

White pelicans were floating around.

Wood duck on a log. He didn’t have a tag on so I’m thinking he’s a wild one that is just hanging out here for the food.

Spoonbill shaking off.

It’s rare to be this close to an osprey. Especially when they are taking a bath. This one was in the big aviary.

This wood stork was missing part of its wing.

Both eagles are missing a wing.

A rare white morph great blue heron was in the main pond. I didn’t see a tag on him. He’s got a beautiful face.

I made my annual winter trip up to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park in mid-January. It was one of the first cold morning we have had. There was lots of bird activity at the park from injured birds that live there to the wild ones that fly in to visit. I took a ton of pictures so more on those to come.

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Cute and cool at the lake.

On July 20, 2015July 21, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

What is it about little ducklings that are so cute???

Even hybrid mallards are cute when they are sleeping.

The wood duck is just cool, posing for me.

Another cool duck, the shelduck is not native to Florida. The city of Lakeland bought them for the downtown lake.

Even grackles eat fish.

The usual things sleeping and floating around Lake Mirror.

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Standing in one spot taking pictures

On March 23, 2015March 24, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography10 Comments

It’s always fun seeing a cormorant trying to gulp down a big fish.

Wood duck reflection.

I think this is a male american goldfinch in his winter feathers. He was high up in the trees and didn’t sit still for a minute. I rarely see these here.

Great blue heron hopping around in the trees.

There were a lot of great blue heron nests high up in the trees. It was hard to see up there but this nest had two babies that were almost grown.

Green heron hanging around.

Most of these birds were not tagged. They might just be hanging out with the permanently injured birds for the winter.

This is a white morph great blue heron. I’ve never seen one here before and this is 2nd time I’ve ever seen one. He wasn’t tagged so I’m not sure if he is just stopping by for a quick visit.

A great egret trying to catch some minnows and coming up with a beak full of leaves.

I made my annual trip to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park in early March. It’s a safe haven for permanently injured birds and other Florida animals. A lot of wild birds and ducks hang out there to get free food. Some come in to nest in the trees over the water. There’s always a lot to take pictures of at the park. Sometimes in nice not to have to run around in the woods looking for tiny birds high up in the trees. Sometimes it’s nice to just stand in one place and take lots of pictures.

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Weird mix of birds at the Florida Botanical Gardens

On December 3, 2012October 5, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography16 Comments

Wood stork high up in the tree. He was all alone.

Red bellied woodpecker has a big nut. I think he was hiding it in the hole.

Pileated woodpecker on a utility pole. These birds have done a lot of damage to the poles there. You can see where they try to patch them up but the woodpeckers just move and create new holes.

A lone female wood duck. I found her in a small pond behind the old butterfly garden.

Red bellied woodpecker and easter phoebe were sitting in the same tree. I could hear the phoebe singing from across the lake.

Wild monk parakeet hanging on a pole. There’s a small flock that always seem to be around the gardens.

I finally made it over to the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo after trying the weekend before and getting deterred by a huge crowd coming for an event. This Saturday morning it was quiet. I could even hear that phoebe singing all morning. There wasn’t anything unusual there. But still, it was a nice morning out and I got a good 2 hour walk in.

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