Carillon Wetlands

Female anhinga panting in the heat. This one has pretty colors on her face.

My first brown thrasher. They're suppose to be fairly common but I haven't seen one before. It was getting dark and even with a flash I had a hard time getting this bird.

Alien duck!  (Baby moorhen)

Another alien duck in the shadows right before dark.

More alligator food.

There's a small wetlands park in the middle of an office park very near where I work. There are two small lakes, one is surrounded by office buildings and has a boardwalk around it. The other is surrounded by townhomes and has a walking path around it. I had heard there were bitterns there so I stopped by after work last week. I didn't find the bitterns but I found a few other things. Right before dark I found a moorhen with a baby. They are the funniest looking babies. Yes, both lakes have alligators so that rabbit better watch out!

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).

Interesting things at Fort Desoto

This was an interesting sight. He was paddling in the north beach lagoon. It was pretty shallow there.

Yes, another dragonfly picture.


Someone had made a shell tree and the dragonflies were all landing on it.


Cute little plover running around.


First time I've seen a bunny at Ford Desoto. He was at the north beach.

One night last week I stopped off at Fort Desoto after work. Yea, it's on the way home if I take a 35 minute detour. It was hot and not crowded. There weren't many birds there. Only a few willets and plovers (besides the usually laughing gulls). The park is still full of dragonflies. They were everywhere. The highlight of the trip was having the bunny jump out from some mangroves. He sat there eating grass in front of me. I heard the long billed curlew has been hanging around the north beach lagoon again so I'm going to have to head back down there soon to find him.

Roosevelt Wetlands

Beautiful glossy ibis. We don't see these very often in Pinellas county. This one looks like it's in full breeding colors.

Blue winged teal duck. We don't see these very often as well. I love the spots on his wing and the bold white stripe on his face.


Red winged blackbird making a lot of noise.

A belted kingfisher from very far away. These birds are very skittish. This picture was extremely cropped. This was the first time I had seen a kingfisher at this park.

The usual alligator.

The usual alligator snack food. Rabbits are showing up everywhere.

I made a quick stop at Roosevelt Wetlands after work one day last week. I needed to get out and walk around after sitting at my desk all day. This place is really a preserve instead of a park. There are no restrooms, playgrounds or real parking. There are houses sitting around half of the lake. You can usually find some different birds there. There were a lot of ducks hanging around the lake. I got my first decent picture of a blue winged teal above. There were several of them there and they stayed close together out in the middle of the lake. I plan to make a lot of stops at the wetlands now that it's still light after work and it's close by.

Non-bird animals at Kapok Park

I stopped by Kapok Park on the way home from work one day this week. I was very disappointed to find out when I got there that the boardwalk that runs over the lake and along side of it had caught on fire last weekend. Part of it was completely gone. Park officials had the entire boardwalk fenced off. I'm sure it will be forever before it gets fixed. The boardwalk was a great viewing spot for all of the lake. I ended up wandering around the rest of park and did manage to see some other animals besides birds. There were 3 rabbits running around the park. I managed to get pictures of the 2 above. As I was leaving, I noticed a ripple in the water along the river before the big lake. I stopped and saw 2 river otters swimming around. They were moving fast and only stuck their heads out of the water but I managed to get the above shots.