Everyone was eating breakfast along the trail.
Some of the birds were eating the seeds from the bitter melon (or balsom pear).
A few usuals along the trail.
A scruffy looking pine warbler trying to hide in the bushes.
A snail kite across the marsh. He had been diving down getting snails to eat but he was so far away I couldn’t get a clear shot of him moving.
Color along the boardwalk at Lettuce Lake Park.
This squirrel was chowing down on what looked like a nut from the cypress tree.
The usual birds at the feeder near the nature center.
Along the lake and in the swamp.
Starlings took over our backyard a long time ago but this is the first time I noticed them nesting. My neighbor has a dead palm tree that sits up against our fence and for weeks I kept seeing this starling popping her head out of a hole in the side facing our kitchen window. There was also one sitting on the top of the stump most of the time. I never saw any babies poking out but weeks later I saw an adult feeding several young ones in our neighbor’s yard.
It’s that time of the year when mama ducks are cruising the channels with babies.
One morning I saw the above woodpecker in a hole higher up in the dead tree. The woodpecker spent all morning cleaning out this hole so I thought we’d have babies at some point but I think she ended up not staying. A few days later I saw a starling going in the same hole and I haven’t seen the woodpecker since.
We have 2 Bismark palms in our backyard that are about 5 years old and this is the first time I’ve seen something blooming inside of them. It’s weird that they are suppose to be the same tree but the blooms look completely different.
Hibiscus on the side of the yard.
The deer where feeding at my usual parking spot.
The squirrels being their usual cute self.
The usual birds hanging around the boardwalks.
A usual big fat gator on the bank of the pond. He was well camouflaged at first.
The usual wintering belted kingfisher up in a tree.
A quiet morning at Chesnut Park.
Birds in our backyard, They are all regular visitor’s. A great blue heron, an anhinga drying his wings with some seaweed on his beak and a red bellied woodpecker.
Arriving home one day I saw a Cooper’s hawk eating something in my neighbor’s yard. Then later we had a red shoulder hawk on my neighbor’s sailboat mast.
We have a hooded merganser couple that hangs our in our channel during the winter. Every so often he comes close to our dock.
Plants in the backyard.
The sea fog had rolled in one Sunday morning.
One of the big moon events recently. Taken in the driveway.
A house sparrow on our dock. They nest in the hole on the side of the dock.
A hawk sitting on our fence.
An anhinga getting a snack on our neighbor’s dock.
A woodpecker getting a snack on our palm tree.
A blue jay giving me a funny look while sitting on our neighbor’s boat.
Things on our muhly grass.
The moon in the backyard in the morning.
Just a few things in our backyard in the past couple of weeks.
Little critters.
Cute critter. I think he was afraid I was going to steal his nut.
I’m don’t know what this bird is. Any ideas? I think it may be a juvenile.
A woodpecker chewing on this pretty flowering tree.
Pretty colors.
Crazy ducks.
It was already hot in late April when I stopped by the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo. The summer rains hadn’t started but the heat had already arrived.
Pelicans in the mangroves.
Green herons were everywhere.
My first Wurdemann’s Heron (parents are a great blue heron and a white morph great blue heron). They are fairly rare and mostly seen in south Florida. Our sailboat captain pointed him out while we were kayaking around some mangroves about an hour south of Key West. He looks almost like the great blue heron but his head and neck are more white.
It looks like he has something stuck on his eye.
Red bellied woodpeckers were everywhere.
A grackle in the fountain at our hotel.
Our hotel resident green heron.
After looking all week for the white crowned pigeons, I found them in our hotel parking lot the day we were leaving.
Random birds I found in Key West in April.
My goal for my recent trip to Circle B was to find the baby sandhill cranes that had eluded us the weekend before. As soon as I walked out on the trail, I saw the family far out in the middle of marsh.
The family was moving quickly towards the tree line away from the trail. Both babies were there but I could only get a few quick pictures of one before they were gone in the tall grass.
Hairy or downy woodpecker?
Palm warblers were everywhere that morning.
Yellowlegs walking by a handful of blue winged teals. I love the purple tint on the teal on the far right. They were keeping an eye on the shorebird.
Typical Florida great blue heron picture. He was sitting high up in a tree on Alligator Alley. He has this determined look on his face.
Early in the morning the sun was coming through the famous dead trees at the beginning of Marsh Rabbit Run trail. These trees usually have black bellied whistling ducks, woodpeckers or egrets sitting on them. This morning they were empty.
Just a few shots of a recent trip out to the reserve to look for the sandhill crane babies. This was taken several weeks ago so they are probably pretty big by now. I was glad I caught a few seconds of them before they headed out.
For more sky pictures check out Skywatch Friday 