Baby hawks and the usual birds at Circle B.

Limpkin eating a snail on Alligator Alley trail.

This looks like an immature red shouldered hawk.

Immature little blue heron turning blue.

Two of the smaller baby red shouldered hawks.

The older sibling.

My first hawk babies were seen at Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland. A red shouldered hawk couple had built a nest behind the barred owl's nest. The barred owl babies had flown the coupe when I got there but a nice surprise was behind the nest. I could hear the baby hawks screaming. The birds were very far away across a river so the above pictures are highly cropped. Things are starting to slow down at the reserve. It's getting hot there and all of the migrate birds are almost gone or will be gone soon. All of the babies are growing up fast. I'm going to try and head out there one more time before the summer heat sets in. Then it's more trips to the coast where at least you get a sea breeze.

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Baby crane is growing up

"Mom, let's do our stretches."

"Not another photographer!"

"I'm getting tired of eating bugs."

"This is way more comfortable than standing."

The baby sandhill crane at Circle B Bar Reserve is growing up fast. I took these a couple of weeks ago so by now he's probably almost as big as his parents. He's still so much fun to watch and seemed very curious about everything.

A few non-bird animals at Circle B Bar Reserve

Always lots of alligators around.

My first wild pig sighting. Thrilling, huh?

There's always tons of cute turtles along the trail.

Fish were coming through the pipes between the ponds and flopping around the rocks until they made it into the pond.

There's always something interesting to find at Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland. Sometimes you forget to look around for other things besides birds. I never thought to notice the fish but I was standing right above the pipes that run the water through the different ponds and saw something shiny flopping around in the water. I'm surprised there weren't any birds around at the time. Seems like the fish would have been any easy meal. Maybe all the birds were full from breakfast there and were napping (it was getting close to lunch).  I've always heard about the wild pigs running around and hadn't seen any until my recent trip. A big mom was across the creek at the beginning of Alligator Alley so I couldn't see her too well. I saw one piglet hiding in the bushes but it never came out.

Variety of birds at Circle B Bar Reserve

A scene from Circle B Bar reserve. Taken at the dock over the lake on Alligator Alley. There were a few great egrets hanging out in the trees.

Blue jays must think they are tough. This one kept trying to pick on a hawk.

The hawk got annoyed and left.

Opsrey defending it's nest from another osprey. The nest is sitting on top of a dead palm tree.

There are a handful of glossy ibis hanging around the marsh. From far away the glossy almost looks black but when the sun hits them you can see the burgandy and green iridescent color.

People say the birding season at Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland is winding down. Especially since the best trail is closed until late fall due to alligator nesting season. But there are still so many different things to see out there. I'm going to try and head back there a few more times before it gets too hot. I still want to see the baby sandhill crane growing up and I just heard there's a red shouldered hawk's nest with babies. I've never seen baby hawks before.

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My first barred owls and I take bad pictures!

Baby barred owl sitting on the nest.

Mom flies over with a squirrel.

Mom looks over at us.

She's thinking about leaving. Who wants to eat with a bunch of photographers taking pictures.

Off she goes. The baby is thinking "bring back that squirrel."

The first time I see barred owls in the wild and I couldn't even get decent pictures. The light was bad. The sun was hitting over the top of the trees but the nest was in the shade. They were really far away and I didn't have my tripod with me. I walked almost the entire length of Alligator Alley at Circle B Bar Reserve looking for the owls. It wasn't until I got close to the end of the trail at the intersection when I saw all of the photographers standing around. For at least an hour we all stood there watching the baby sit on the nest. It was getting hot. The sun was throwing awful shadows on the nest. All of a sudden one of the parents flew up with a squirrel and then flew off again. We waited around for a while and the parent did not come back. At that point I decided to take off for my own lunch. I plan to go back in the next few weeks but I doubt the baby will still be around then. I will take my tripod and I just bought a remote shutter release so I'm excited to use that to see if it helps.

Sandhill Crane Family at Circle B Bar Reserve

"Look mom, I can touch my tummy!"

"Am I a boy or a girl?"

"Wait for me!"

"Yuck, I'm not eating that bug!"

"Ignore the big bird behind me."

"Thanks for the snack, Mom."

"I hate getting wet."

Another serious "too cute" moment, but sad as well. Back in mid-February, I was able to get shots of the sandhill crane on a nest with eggs in the middle of the marsh. A couple of weeks ago I had read that the babies had hatched and were moving around the park with the parents. I saw several pictures of 2 babies posted on flickr but by the time I was able to get out to the park one of the babies was gone. No one knows what happened. Could have been an alligator or bobcat.  I found the family wandering around Heron Hideout trail (along with a long line of photographers). I took my place along the side of the trail and started snapping pictures. The parents stayed really close to the baby and kept feeding it. It was mesmerising to sit and watch the family walk around. They didn't seem to mind the large group watching them since everyone stayed pretty far away and didn't crowd them. After a while the family moved closer to the closed Rabbit Marsh trail and I headed back to my car.

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My first King Rail and other birds too.

My first king rail. This one has been in the same spot for a couple of weeks at the park, just look for the big group of photographers hanging around the corner of Heron Hideout and Marsh Rabbit Run.

Red bellied woodpecker looking at something interesting.

Blue-gray gnatcatcher looking up at the sky. Probably checking out a hawk.

One of the sandhill crane couples had laid an egg in a small nest in the middle of the marsh.  Hopefully, in the next week or two there will be a fuzzy brown baby running around.

Great egret flying along Lake Hancock.

This is why helium balloons should be outlawed. Some poor animal is going to choke on that. I would have grabbed it but I wasn't in the mood to step over the alligators.

One of the smaller ones at the park.

Another gorgeous weekend and another trip to Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland. These were taken a couple of weekends ago during one of the first nice warm weekends we had. People were disappointed that the white pelicans had left but there are still so many things to see there. I never did see the sora rail or virginia rail. Or the orange crowned warbler. The list goes on. You will always see lots of alligators there. I'm going back soon to check on the status of the sandhill crane egg.

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More black bellied whistling ducks

These ducks are just too cute. They almost look like a cartoon character. On my last trip to Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland a couple of weekends ago, they were all over the park. They kept flying overhead in circles. They are mostly considered a non-migratory duck so hopefully they will stay at the park through the summer. It would be nice to see some baby ones this year. It was interesting to see a large flock of sandhill cranes hanging out with the black bellies. They would all wander around together. So far, Circle B is the only place in the Tampa bay area that I have seen these ducks. I'm not sure why they love this place so much. Well, yes I do. I'm heading back there soon.

Duck, duck....(no goose) - Skywatch Friday

Black bellied whistling ducks flying by.

Black bellied whistling duck staring at me. What is it about these ducks that are so cute?

The marsh fields were full of black bellies right before sunset. They all had their heads stuck deep in the muck feeding when a hawk came flying overhead screaming. All of their heads shot up and searched the sky. They seemed very concerned.  After a few minutes they went back to eating. I shot this far away across  the field. They were all standing at attention.

Ring necked duck. I don't see these very often.

Blue winged teal with a little green showing.

Blue winged teal staring at me.

Lots of ducks at Circle B Bar Reserve right now. They are reporting record numbers of black bellied whistling ducks. The marsh fields were full of them on my late afternoon trip recently. There's such a huge variety of ducks there. The ponds are also full of coots. Soon most of these ducks will be migrating back home to the north. 

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