Little critters at Sawgrass Lake Park

Green heron. One of the few birds I saw there.

Looking down the river from the end of the boardwalk.

Dragonfly season is in full swing.

Butterfly. (or moth?)

Another butterfly.

I stopped by Sawgrass Lake Park after work a couple of weeks ago. It's pretty close to work. It's starting to get hot and muggy. There weren't a lot of birds there. This park is usually more of a miss than hit when it comes to birds. I almost always see green herons and anhingas but that's about all. Of course, I usually only go after work and there might be a different crowd there in the morning. I can usually find good critters there though.  I don't know my butterfly species at all. I barely know the bird ones so it will be a while before I start to learn them. They are pretty though, when they sit still. While I was there I got bitten several times by big brown flies. I had a good coat of Off on and still got bit. Those biting flies are worse than mosquitoes. The bites itched for days. No amount of hydrocortisone cream or calamine lotion helped. If anyone has a great remedy, please let me know.



Spring at Boyd Hill Nature Park

Lily pads are blooming and bees are buzzing.

Cormorants resting near the trail.

Anhinga is trying to hide under the statue. (Downtown St. Pete in the background.)

Butterflies are everywhere.

Big tooth giving me a grin. This guy was laying right under the boardwalk.  Since the water was so high he had traveled far into the swamp.

Lots of spring nature happening at Boyd Hill Nature Park in St. Petersburg. Tons of people are coming out to see the grooved bill ani that is still there but there's so much more to see at the park. This was the only alligator I saw. I think since the water was so high most of them were hiding. The place was full of butterflies and dragonflies. There were osprey flying around. They probably have nests somewhere in the park. It's a nice walk when it gets hot because the front trail closest to the lake is almost all shaded and you get the breeze over the water. I'll be heading there a lot this summer.

Non bird things at Circle B Bar Reserve - My World Tuesday

I was disappointed in the alligator count during my recent visit. I only saw this small one. I had heard a really big one had been sitting on the trail recently but I never saw it. It might have still been too hot for them to come out of the water.

I found these tiny frogs sitting on a small palm tree right on the trail.  This frog was smaller than my thumb.

This frog was on the same tree as the above but was a little greener and bigger. I'm thinking he's an older version of the one above? They both have the white stripe down their sides.

There were a lot of these spiders everywhere at the park. Since there hasn't been any rain for a while there were big spider webs all along the trail. They were spread out across the trail just over my head. It was a little creepy walking underneath them.

Still a lot of butterflies at the park. This one looks like his wing has had a rough time.

There are lots of other animals at Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland besides birds. Big spiders were everywhere. I just tried to pay attention where I was walking around trees so I wouldn't walk into any webs. Besides lots of the above, there are wild hogs, otters and coyotes. All of which I have not seen there yet. I hear the wild hogs come out at dusk so I won't be hanging around there after dark. There's also the usual raccoons and snakes as well but I have seen those there.

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Little critters at Largo Botanical Gardens

You can always find lots of bugs and little flying things at the Botanical Gardens. It was hot so there were lots of them out. I walked over to a little lily pond and thought "It would be so cute if there were frogs in here". And then I noticed the tiny frog sitting right there looking at me. He was on the other side and I took the above quick. When I started to walk around the little pond to get closer he jumped under the water.

Below is a beautyberry bush. I told my hubby that we need to plant these in the backyard. They attract butterflies. Eventually we'll get around to it. The last picture was taken from one of the bridges that goes over the river that runs through the gardens. On one end the river has started to become overgrown.

Fun Animals at Chesnut Park

Loud mouth red shouldered hawk.

Butterflies were everywhere in the park.

Yes, this is the back end of a deer. See below for story.

Small alligator close to the boardwalk.



The above turtle was laying in the middle of the road that runs through the park. I took a quick picture then picked him up and moved him over in the grass.

Last Saturday was beautiful. It felt cooler in the morning so I headed out to John Chesnut Park in north Pinellas county. I had only been there once before and didn't see too much on that first visit. I really wanted to see deer. Several people have told me they had seen deer there. After 2 hours of walking through the park I stopped by the boardwalk that runs along the boat launch. A nice lady stopped me and said "There's 2 deer in the swamp here below the boardwalk." As I walked over and saw the deer a guy with a big dog walked over as well. The dog started barking very loud just as I started to take the picture. All I got was the back end of the deer. The thing that makes me really mad is there is a big sign at the entrance to that boardwalk that says "no dogs allowed".  Why do people have no respect? I guess another trip to this park is in my near future.

Carillon boardwalk in north St. Petersburg.

Juvenile northern mockingbird. There were lots of mockingbirds there.

The usual alligator. He was swimming by the birds below.


Three juvenile night herons. The alligator was swimming close by. I think that's why they were standing at attention.

Lots of butterflies around.

Lots of turtles as well.

I found a new park close by work. It's actually not new, I just had not taken the time to stop there. I didn't think there would be much to see. It's a medium size lake with a boardwalk around most of it and surrounded on most sides by office buildings. There's a small section that has a trail and is covered by trees and mangroves. I left work later than usual one day recently and just decided to stop by and walk around. There was a handful of after work joggers running around. It had the usual water birds, alligators and turtles. I'll definitely stop there again since it's so close to work.

Quiet morning at Largo Botanical Gardens

I went for a walk at the Largo Botanical Gardens last weekend and didn't see too many birds. In fact, I think the only thing I saw were moorhens. The above picture is of a juvenile moorhen. I didn't see any alligators there and usually they are everywhere. I'm assuming they are hiding under the water. There were tons of butterflies and dragonflies buzzing everywhere. If it wasn't so hot I probably would have spent more time trying to get different pictures. After two hours in the heat I headed home.

Small things that fly or jump - Atlanta

While there weren't a lot of birds at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, there was still a lot of wildlife there. Lots of bees and butterflies around. They had a pond that was full of frogs. Not just ordinary frogs. They were big beautiful bright green and yellow frogs. I've never seen them that pretty here in Florida. Watching the frog pond was worth the price of admission.

Small critters at Sawgrass Lake

The parks are full of dragonflies, butterflies and bees right now. I stopped by Sawgrass Lake Park one day last week after work and almost all I could find was the above. The last picture is of some creepy spiders with really long legs. The mangroves around the boardwalk tower were full of webs with these spiders all over them. I used my zoom on these. Didn't want to get close at all.

Flying things that aren't birds

I didn't realize there were so many different types of dragonflies. Wikipedia lists over 20 different ones in the Northern Hemisphere but I also read online that there over 150 in the United States. Right now the parks are full of dragonflies and butterflies. My backyard is as well. It's easier to get pictures of dragonflies than butterflies. Butterflies do not seem to sit still very long. Dragonflies tend to land on a twig and sit there for a minute or two. Since there seems to be a lack of different birds to take pictures of right now, the challenge is to get pictures of other flying things. I'm not going to even attempt to identify the above. I'd rather be outside than studying these guys online.