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.



STA5 Revisited

I had made an afternoon visit to Estero Lagoon earlier in the week with hopes to capture the Green flash in the setting sun.

The Willet above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in March 2011.

No luck with that although I had an enjoyable time nonetheless.

There were no birds in the north lagoon upon my arrival which might be expected under the circumstances.

The Snowy Egret above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in March 2011.

A good number of shore and wading birds worked the surf as shelling by humans was observed.

The lores of one Snowy Egret in particular had a brilliant dark pink that can be seen during the breeding season.

The Royal Tern above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in March 2011.

What I believe to be the same pair of Reddish Egret seen a few months ago were present with one of the birds sporting its leucism.

A few Willet meandered by followed by a few Ruddy Turnstone.

The Ruddy Turnstone above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in March 2011.

In addition, a solitary Osprey and a Royal Tern had control of the sky above.

A Brown Pelican arrived in the last light of the day and dove in the water in search of prey.

The Snowy Egret above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in March 2011.

After photographing the setting sun, a solitary Roseate Spoonbill was seen actively feeding in the lagoon.

An 18 inch red snake (possibly Red Rat Snake) was seen in the mangroves in the last light of the day.

The Brown Pelican above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in March 2011.

Due to my inability to appropriately plan a visit to STA5, I made a last minute email to Margaret England to advise her of my interest in joining the first Big "O" birding tour of STA5 on the morning of March 23rd.

Upon my arrival a few minutes after sunrise, I was surprised that there were no vehicles at the entrance gate.

The sunset above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in March 2011.

A South Florida Water Management District employee entered STA5 as I waited in anticipation of seeing Margaret greet her visitors to the Stormwater Treatment Area as was the case in February.

As the minutes ticked by I sensed something was wrong.

The Snail Kite juvenile above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

With Snail Kite active in the northeast corner of Cell 1A, I walked to water control structure G-343A which allowed me site of my vehicle and any incoming cars.

The water level in Cell 1B appeared lower to me than I thought I had seen it last month.

The Purple Gallinule above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

If this was indeed the case, it was only a matter of inches and possibly impacting the number of birds which were half those within this cell seen previously.

A water control structure to the east of the entrance to STA5 appeared to have water pumped into Cell 1B near maximum flow.

The scene above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

Some bird species certainly favor ideal conditions for them to be present in an area.

This was brought to my attention by Tom Obrock in my first observation of Black-necked Stilt at the Exit 131 Rest Stop on Interstate 75 in late July of 2010.

The Snail Kite juvenile above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

Although I observed a handful of the stilts at STA5 in February, it was a treat to see them again this past week.

Shortly after I settled down to observe and photograph the scene, a SFWMD helicopter was apparently making a survey of the area and flushed the stilts from behind tall grasses to my southwest.

The Caspian Tern above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

I had not seen one of these "official" helicopters since an overflight at Bunche Beach Preserve about a year ago.

I was able to count 11 (one is out of frame in the image enclosed) of the birds in the flock before they flew out of view and would not return.

The aircraft above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

In addition to the stilts, as many as 25 Fulvous Whistling-Ducks were seen in flight and was likely my first sighting of the species.

After the helicopter left the scene, the ducks returned either individually or in small groups.

The Green Heron above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

I had never observed so many Green Herons as on this occasion which made low flybys on a frequent basis.

It was a treat to see the male and female Snail Kite with a juvenile while for some reason the male Snail Kite is not seen predictably at Harns Marsh Preserve among the many females of the species there.

The Black-necked Stilt above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

Many of the other regular species expected to be seen in the area were present in my few hours of observation at the STA5 water control structure.

Later in the morning I was surprised to see a small caravan of cars approach from what appeared their first lap along the levies.

The Anhinga above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

It was at that point that I knew I wish I were able to have committed to this trip much sooner.

I was impressed to hear that this group of observers had arrived at 6:00am "for sunrise" although it didn't actually occur until about 90 minutes later.

The Fulvous Whistling-Duck above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

Sunny conditions predicted for the day were were not seen in the morning with heavy fog and low cloud cover through mid morning.

After the fog burned off the clouds that remained diffused the available light making the long distance photography somewhat of a challenge for focus tracking and sharp images especially considering the necessary heavy crops of the images taken.

The Limpkin above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

Although it was my expectation to again explore STA5 on this visit, I'm glad that things happened as they did which gave me the opportunity to have a better understanding of bird behavior in a relatively confined area over a longer period of time at this venue.

I'm looking forward to a return to STA5 next winter.

The Green Heron above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

Interesting wildlife news this past week was the report of the sighting of the oldest free flying bird known that is a survivor of the most devastating earthquake and ensuing tsunami to strike Japan since records have been kept.

The Laysan albatross seen is believed to be in excess of 60 years of age and was observed supervising its chick within Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge after the disaster.

The Snail Kite above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

The albatross was banded in 1956 with the designation triple O seven as seen in the most recent photograph of the bird.

A great story about the bird and facts about the species may be read here.

The Blue-winged Teal above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

Chesnut Park birds and animals.

I was walking along the boardwalk and heard a scream. I backed up thinking "that's a hawk close by". I look all around and found the above screaming right above my head.

All of a sudden he notices me. He looks at me like "where'd you come from" and took off.

I found this male anhinga posing on a stump. I like the way his white feathers stick out on his head.

I found this green heron poking around in the reeds.

My goal every time I go to Chesnut Park it to get pictures of the wild deer that live there. This is all I got. I saw it right as it was dashing under the boardwalk and ran deep in the woods. My husband said "Why do you keep taking pictures of deer butts?" Cause that's all I keep seeing. One of these days though...

This small alligator seemed to be smiling at me. Alligators are like dolphins in that they seem to both have a permanent smile on their faces.

Circle B Bar Reserve in December - Part 2

Yes, this cattle egret ate the frog. Down in one gulp!

Osprey flying over me.

 

The osprey finally got a fish. I tried to get him hitting the lake to catch it but it was directly in the sun and did not come out well. As he flew past me I was able to get the above.

Turkey vulture peeking out behind the tree.

 

Green heron in the lake.

More birds from my pre-Christmas trip to Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland. The place is finally hopping with variety. Lots more from my post-Christmas trip later.



Lots of animals at Carillon Park.

Lots of turtles in the lake at Carillon Park.  Now that it hasn't rained in a while the water is really low. There were turtles all along the edge of the lake.

Limpkin giving me the eye.

Green heron walking along the railing.

Cute bunny on the sidewalk eating some grass.

Blue jay in the tree before sunset.

This looks precarious but there are metal bars along certain parts of  the lake. This was taken just before sunset.

Opsrey sitting on a palm tree with a sliver of the moon behind him.

One last trip to Carillon Park before the time change and it's dark after work. It's a small lake surrounded by office buildings. There's an amazing amount of wildlife there considering it has office buildings and a hotel all along the lake. Since the weather had cooled off a bit there were tons of joggers out on the boardwalk. I didn't see any small migrant birds, only water birds. I might have to try and get over there for a quick walk during lunch when the weather gets really cold (under 70 degrees).

A week from the dining room window

Last Wednesday night I came home from work and peaked out the dining room window. I was expecting to see the osprey sitting on my neighbor's sailboat mast but instead there was a green heron on the boat.

I think he saw me taking his picture. He stood up and posed.

Thursday night I came home to pouring rain. I peaked out the dining room window again and saw a blue heron standing on the boat. He didn't stay long.


Saturday morning I woke up and saw that the green heron was on the boat again.

Sunday afternoon I looked out and saw a big log floating in front of our dock. It had a small shorebird sitting on it. It was about to rain so I quickly ran outside to get a picture. It's a spotted sandpiper. We had one hanging around our neighbor's dock last summer for a few weeks. He stayed for a couple of hours and then the tide took the pole out of our channel and he floated out with it.

Eagle Lake Park

Baby mallard swimming around.


More babies.

The usual red winged blackbird.

Green heron hiding in the bushes.

There's a new park in town and it's called Eagle Lake Park. It's in Largo and it was the original home of the Taylor family who started one of the first citrus packing plants in Florida. Largo was original known as "Citrus City" back in the early 1900's. The park is beautifully landscaped with great bike paths, walking paths, boardwalks over the lakes and playgrounds. The original house built by the Taylor family in 1929 still stands there but I did not have a chance to check it out while I was there after work one day last week. There were a ton of people there and not too many birds. I walked halfway through the park thinking I wouldn't even take my camera out of my backpack. I found a handful of baby ducks in one of the lakes. Right before I was leaving I saw the above green heron hiding in the bushes. I'll try and check out the park later in the summer after the newness dies down. There is suppose to be several eagle nests in the park but I did not see any nests in the trees.