wood stork – Page 5 – Dina's Wildlife Adventures

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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When I first got down to the end of Marsh Rabbit Run trail, this is what I saw in the marsh in front of me. Mostly wood storks, great egrets and a few great blue herons.

To the left, the corner of the marsh had even more birds with a few spoonbills thrown in.

Everyone was busy either feeding or preening. I didn’t notice that white pelican in the middle until I got home and cropped this picture.

Spoonbill showing me his “spoon” bill.

The marsh was full. It’s been a long time since there were so many wading birds at the reserve.

Spoonbill trying to find a spot to land.

I thought this would be my last trip to Circle B Bar Reserve for the summer. It gets so hot there and the wildlife activity slows down in the hottest months. I usually start spending more time along the coast trying to get a sea breeze. I didn’t think I would find too much but was hoping for a stray spring migrating bird hanging around. When I got down to the end of the trail and saw the marsh filled with wading birds I thought it was worth the 45 minute drive over. The water levels around the area had been really low due to the lack of rain and I guess all of the waders in the area came here since there was still a fair amount of water in the marsh. Most of the smaller marsh ponds here have already dried up. It was nice to see all of the big white and pink birds hanging out together. And no, this wasn’t my last trip for the summer. Two days later I heard there were new late baby sandhill cranes in the park so back I went the next weekend. More on those later.

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