Tag: wood ducks

Birds at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

I saw lots of birds during my visit to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park in January. Kingfishers were still hanging around (they are only here in the winter). This one was posing nicely for me although this shot was heavily cropped.

A few migrating birds passing through included a redstart and a blue headed vireo.

I usually see pileated woodpeckers when I’m here.

Ibis in a dead snag.

A typical Florida scene, a great blue heron on a fallen tree.

Wild night herons hang out here.

A few of the permanent residents include roseate spoonbills and a rare white morph great blue heron.

Wood ducks nest along the river here and occasionally they hang out in the park.

The flamingos were sleeping.

Not a bird but a red fox eating some yummy vegetables for breakfast.

Saturday's Critters

Where wild Moms raise their kids

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals6 Comments

Moms raising their kids on the ground. A brown thrasher feeding her almost grown baby and starlings babies begging for that worm.

A tiny Mom, the ruby throated hummingbird, raising her baby in a tiny nest the size of a golf ball high up in a tree.

Moms raising babies up in trees include the pileated woodpecker and great horned owls.

These Moms raise their babies in rookeries, often high in trees or bushes over ponds with alligators to keep the babies safe from snakes and raccoons. These are roseate spoonbills, snowy egrets, great egrets and little blue herons.

Raising babies near water and often with many kids to keep up with include mute swans, limpkins, wood ducks and geese.

Skimmers and oystercatchers raise their babies on the beach.

This is one tough Mom.  Since Pinellas county is so overpopulated most eagles nest in utility towers or cell towers. There are only a few out of 40+ couples that are in trees. This single parent Mom, in my neighborhood, lost her mate this winter when her babies were just starting to grow up. She raised these babies alone, getting food for them non-stop all day. She did get a boyfriend later on to keep her company. I’ll have more on this eagle soap opera later.

Big critters raising their babies in the woods.

Saturday's Critters

 

A two park morning

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I hadn’t been to Chesnut Park in north Pinellas county in at least 3 months (even though it’s 10 minutes from my house). I usually see a lot of the same things in my neighborhood so I haven’t been going as much as I used to. I haven’t seen any barred owls in my neighborhood and I heard there was a pair very visible on the boardwalk at the park so I headed over early one morning. I didn’t have to look hard to find it. There was a line of people trying to get pictures of it with their phones since it was sitting so close to the boardwalk. I snapped a few shots with my camera and left. The above are cropped up.

There are purple gallinules that hang around near the dock over the big lake but most of the time they are far away. On this morning there was one feeding on spatterdock right in front of the dock. He was putting on quite a show.

Wood ducks are usually here as well but I didn’t see any around the dock until I saw the above flying across the lake.

I made a stop at the bathroom and ran into some deer.

I made a quick stop at nearby Possum Branch Preserve before going home. It was really quiet here. I could smell the pink/purple weeds all around the preserve that had just started blooming. It has many names: sweetscent, camphorweed, sourbush or saltmarsh fleabane. We just call it the smelly pink weeds.

It was void of birds with the exception of a few usuals including the great blue heron and common grackle (which is really pretty when the sun hits his feathers).

There was a big one napping along the bank of the small pond. I gave him plenty of space so this is super cropped up. But, if you are not paying attention you could be surprised walking around that corner. I had seen him from the other side of the pond so I knew his was there.

A hot morning walk with the usual critters

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

All of the usual big birds were at Chesnut Park for my morning walk in late June (anhinga, yellow crowned night heron, limpkin).

The wood duck babies were almost fully grown.

Birds were flying overhead (royal tern, osprey).

 

Things were blooming in the swamp.

Deer and bunnies were easy to spot.

I don’t often see barred owls here but this one was very visible, taking a nap along the boardwalk.

 

A cardinal was eating the seed that someone had left on the boardwalk.

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Baby quackers everywhere

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I stopped by Lake Morton in downtown Lakeland on my way back from Lake Wales in late April. I wasn’t sure what I would find but I wasn’t expecting to see so many wood duck babies. The first family I saw had 7 babies. They were napping close to Mom (it was after lunch at this point). 

Dad was standing near the family. These guys are usually pretty skittish so it was weird to see him walking around on the grass.

I found another family a little ways around the lake. This Mom had 4 babies (one was tucked under her).I think wood duck babies have the prettiest faces.

Farther around the lake and I found another Mom with just one baby.

A couple was swimming out in the middle of the lake.

On the other side of the lake another Mom had 7 babies and they were swimming around under the big leaves. As I stood there taking pictures, Mom came up on the rock and the babies followed.

Then I found a Mom with 3 babies.

There was one Muscovy family and I couldn’t resist taking pictures of those fuzzy yellow duckies.

This was a fun afternoon. The amount of wood ducks on this lake seem to get bigger every year. I’m assuming the numbers get smaller in the summer with some of them migrating north during the hot months. I usually don’t get over to Lakeland during the heat of the summer so I’m not sure.

Little critters at the botanical gardens

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants2 Comments

This beautiful hanging orchid plant was blooming in mid-April at the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo.

I love these spikey pods that bust open and are filled with fuzz. I still can’t figure out what these are.

A butterfly had landed high up on this silk floss tree.

Tiny critters in the butterfly garden. There were a lot of monarch caterpillars on the big milkweed plant. I think the bottom caterpillar is an orange barred sulfur butterfly.

Usual birds here are the dove and the brown thrasher.

And of course I can’t walk by and not take pictures of the wood ducks floating around. This time I also saw some on the fence.

A crow flying by with an egg in his beak. Probably a turtle egg.

I stopped at nearby Largo Nature Preserve after leaving the botanical gardens and it was pretty quiet there. I did notice some heads sticking out of holes in some dead trees near the parking lot. A screech owl had been nesting in one. I never made it back here to see if there were any babies. A red bellied woodpecker was checking out the other hole. Probably just started to work on a nest.

Color and turtles in October

On By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals3 Comments

Yellow and orange from my trip to the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo last month.

The large cactus in the front of the gardens had big blooms on them . The details inside the bloom are amazing. The cactus also had this big pink ball which I assume are the blooms before they open up. Or, maybe they are the seed pod after the bloom dies off?

Little critters. Bees had taken over that bird house.

I found another face in the tree along the boardwalk.

I stopped by and said hello to the resident wood ducks.

After leaving the botanical gardens, I stopped at McGough Park to see if there were any fall migrating birds. I didn’t see many birds but the turtle pond was full of turtles taking a sun nap.

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The prettiest ducks in Florida

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Wood ducks are common year round at the Florida Botanical Gardens. They nest here and if the timing is right you can see them swimming around with babies in the summer. I found 3 males and one female swimming around the main pond early in May. These guys are usually skittish so I stayed at the other end of the pond behind some trees and they just floated around, bathing and flapping. I wondered if there were other females already sitting on eggs somewhere.

At one point two of the males started arguing. Not sure what started it but one was chasing the other away but then they stopped and continued to float around together again.

Pelicans, wood ducks and swans (Oh my!).

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

Lake Morton in Lakeland is a good spot to find white pelicans in the winter besides Fort Desoto. There are a lot fewer at Lake Morton but you can usually get closer. They hang out on the brick retaining walls around the lake. Most of the time they are sleeping when I’m there but on a recent trip they were moving around a little. I think two of them were fighting over space on the floating pole.

A coot swimming by.

Wood ducks were napping up in the cypress trees and some were swimming around the lake.

There’s always turtles sitting on the cypress knees.

The city of Lakeland were selling swans in late October. When I was there they were in holding pens on the lake. I felt bad that they were leaving their home but there have been banner crops of babies over the last few years and the lake is over-run with swans. Swans were getting hit by cars and fighting with each other. Hopefully they’ll go to homes that have more room for them. If I had a small pond on my property I would buy a pair. The money goes back into the fund to feed the swans at this lake.