Boat trip in Tampa Bay - Skywatch Friday

Hubby getting the boat ready. He didn't realize he had a visitor sitting by the lamp watching him. This is the first time I've seen an egret get so close. I guess he heard the boat motor and thought we were coming back with some fish.

Ibis and 2 laughing gulls fighting over a dead horseshoe crab.

Spotted sandpiper bobbing up and down the beach. He stayed pretty far away.

Osprey looking for lunch. That's the Bucs football stadium behind the airport parking deck in the background. We were on the other side of the bay.

Mallards swimming by.

Osprey catching a fish in the bay.

I noticed this bulldozer tearing down mangroves along the water.  I thought it was now illegal to do that. Not sure what they're doing.

Tampa from across the bay.

We took our boat out recently and heading for a small lagoon near the St. Petersburg/Clearwater airport. It's usually quiet there and we rarely see any other boats. There's a small beach there and we call it the "horseshoe crab graveyard". The beach is always littered with dead horseshoe crabs. I don't know why they end up here. Maybe the tide and the way the waves are flowing. Sometimes there are shorebirds hanging around. We anchored and swam over to the beach and walked around. Although, as soon as we start swimming onto shore the shorebirds take off. I hate scaring them away from their small piece of paradise. Last time we were there it was still a little cold and the water near the beach was full of stingrays so I stayed in the boat. I'm all for the stingray shuffle but when there's not even an inch to put your feet down I get creeped out. We stayed for a while and watched the small commuter planes land and take off at the small airport. I was a little disappointed we didn't seen any dolphins or manatees this trip.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

Baby ducks growing up

I peeked out the dining room window and saw some ripples in the water. At first I didn't see them but the ripples looked like something big. I grabbed my camera and went out the back door as the mallard family went swimming by. They come close to the dock hoping to be fed. Some of the neighbors feed them but I'm restraining from it. They shouldn't grow up on stale bread. This mom had her webbed feet full with 8 babies. They stayed pretty close together.

Sunset in my backyard - Skywatch Friday

For just a few weeks, twice a year, the sun sets right down the middle of our channel in our backyard. The rest of the time it's either on the extreme left or right and goes down past trees. We're at the end of the channel. Looking down from our backyard you have to take a left in front of the houses at the other end to get out into the open bay. A few weekends ago we had perfect weather and I had to go outside and take some pictures. By now the sun goes down on the right side of the channel behind all of the palm trees.  Below is the view from my kitchen, taken through the dining room window.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

Duck, Duck, Frog

It's that time of the year again. Baby ducks swimming by our dock!  This one had 10 babies. There were 2 females so it could have been 2 families hanging out together. It was late last weekend when the sun was just going down in the channel when I saw them. I struggled to get some decent pictures with the low light in the channel. The 2nd and 3rd picture I used the flash to get some extra light.  Then I saw some other ducks down at the end of the channel with the sun hitting on the water right before it went down in the trees.  As I was going back in the house I noticed the frog peaking out of our shutter.



Weekend in the backyard - Skywatch Friday

Early in the night before dark I took this picture of the moon coming up over the palm tree in our front yard.

Orange blossoms on our tree. I wish I could can the smell and add it to the blog, like a "scratch and sniff here".  Our backyard smells so good right now.

Lots of mallards hanging around in the channel.  Soon we should start seeing baby ducks.

I see this little bird every month or so hanging around my neighbor's dock. It's always alone. I think it's a spotted sandpiper. I spotted it late Saturday afternoon and ran out to take a picture.

The hooded merganser that's been hanging around the channel was seen again this weekend. I wonder if it will migrate back up north. Should be leaving soon if it does.

This is my version of the super moon, taken on Saturday night. Every twenty years the moon rotates closest to the earth and was suppose to be brighter and bigger than normal.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Rainy day backyard birds

Hooded merganser in the backyard channel. Taken from the bedroom window.

I was trying to sneak out in the backyard but the hoodie was gone in a flash as I opened the door.

Female house finch sitting on my sad grapefruit tree in the rain.

Male house finch.

Female house finch.

Back in early February we had a rainy weekend. I was sitting on the couch watching tv when my husband says "I see a hoody in the channel."  I looked out the window and there he was. I took the first picture through the bedroom window. Since he was so close to our dock I wanted to try and sneak out and get a closer picture. No such luck. He was off like a flash.  As I was standing in the drizzle in the backyard watching the merganser fly away I saw some movement in the half dead grapefruit tree. I took a few pictures and realized I had not seen these birds before that I can remember. House finches are common but I don't ever remember seeing the red on top of the brown that the male had.  There were 3 different ones sitting in the tree.  See, being a couch potato on a rainy day can have rewards.



A weekend with a kingfisher

These were taken a couple of weekends ago.  It's the last time I've seen the kingfisher in our neighborhood. I hope she hasn't gone home yet. I need to tell her it's still snowing up north so she might as well stay a little longer.  I finally got a picture of her with a fish. She caught it and then kept banging it on the wall to kill it before she swallowed it.  She took it down the channel so I didn't get to see her swallow it but she came back a couple of hours later and hung around for a while. I don't see how that fish could fit in her little body.

The osprey was trying to eat his fish on our neighbor's dock while the kingfisher was banging on hers.

Kingfisher pays another visit

More pictures of my neighborhood female belted kingfisher. She's so cute, I can't stop taking pictures of her.  It had started to rain a couple of weekends ago and the last 2 pictures of her are in the rain sitting on my dock. All taken through the bedroom window. I'm not sure when she'll head back up north for the summer, maybe March?  I'm going to miss her visits.

Unusual backyard visitors - Skywatch Friday

Ring billed gull on our dock. We usually only get laughing gulls in our neighborhood.

Turkey vulture sitting on our dock.  This is the 2nd time I've seen one on our dock in 7 years.

The tide was so low the muck was showing on the sides of the channel. The turkey vulture found something to dig out.

Pelican on our neighbor's dock. We have never gotten pelicans in our channel. In the last week I've seen one hanging around.

Posing for me.

Eastern phoebe sitting on my fence. I've never seen one of these in our backyard.

These ibis aren't unusual. Actually, there's always a flock somewhere in the neighborhood. One night they were sitting on the lamp post down the street. I took this through the kitchen window.

Snowy egret sitting on my dock. I see these every once in a while in the channel.

Last weekend was a perfect weekend. I was in and out of the house all weekend but when I was in I was always looking out the windows for any visitors. We had several different ones this time. We don't usually get pelicans and eastern phoebes. It was a nice mix of birds. It was very windy and that might have been what brought in the new birds to our channel. I also saw 2 pair of hooded mergansers but they stayed down at the other end of the channel and I didn't even try to take a picture that far away.  Sunday before sunset I went out and snapped the above picture. It was nice outside but it got cold fast when the sun went down.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit http://skyley.blogspot.com/