Ducks and gulls at Lake Morton

Ring necked duck

I'm not sure what this is. I couldn't find it in any of my bird books. Maybe some type of mallard?

Ring billed gulls catching some bread. That duck better duck!

I think the ibis said "Hey lady, did you bring any peanut butter to go with this bread?".

A group of male and female ring necked ducks. They were chasing after the bread that people were throwing.

Nice ball on the head.

It all starts with a person strolling into the park with a bag of bread. Chaos happens. Ducks that are normally shy of humans come swimming up. Geese start attacking your ankles.(That happened to me the first time I came to this lake. I was taking pictures and a goose started banging on my ankle. Startled me.) Gulls start diving everyone close by. Ibis by the tons come flying in. Should it be illegal to feed the wildlife? It probably is. I know it's cute and fun for the little kids but do the ducks need to fill up on bread all day. On a Saturday afternoon there are tons of people there feeding them with bread. The geese are the most obnoxious ones. After the one banged his beak on my ankle I stay clear of the crowd and take pictures with my longer lens.

Are they really wildlife if they are being fed on a daily basis?

Amazing Circle B Bar Reserve - Skywatch Friday

These blue-gray gnatcatchers are so cute. He was like "Look up in the sky."

Ring billed gull eating a fish on the trail.

Limpkin walking around the trail with a snail.

My first decent American bittern picture. This is only the 2nd time I've seen this type of bird. The first was probably the same bird. It has been hanging around near the intersection of Heron Hideout and Marsh Rabbit Run trail at Circle B Bar Reserve for a while now. They are really hard to spot because they blend in so well and don't move for hours but if you're there on the weekends just look for the group of photographers taking pictures at that intersection.

Circle B has several bald eagle nests but they are very far away.

This one was a pretty decent size.

I took this looking north across the marsh on Wading Bird Trail. Usually, this area is full of coots but for some reason it was nice and quiet that afternoon.

I had never been to Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland in the afternoon. Only in the morning and I'm usually on my way home by noon. One Sunday recently it was just too nice to sit inside and watch my husband watch golf on tv. I decided to head out for a long walk at Circle B. I thought the trip might be a bust since everything would be hiding and napping in the afternoon. It was late enough that all the animals were up and moving around. I saw a few things there that I had not seen before including northern shovelers. I'll be posting more on those later and also have an otter video to post later. Next time I go I think I might have to pack a lunch and spend the whole day there.

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

Windy day at Honeymoon Island

Is this a caspian tern or common tern?  They both look alike. Anyway, it's fairly rare to see one here. Too many laughing gulls around.

Black vulture posing on snag.

This looks like a pine warbler. It was the closest thing in my Audubon guide.

Woodpecker hanging upside down.

 

I think this is a juvenile ring-billed gull (adult below). There were a handful of ring billed gulls hanging around on the beach. This one was eating the insides of the conch.

Adult ring billed gull. I like the way their feet matches their beak.

Kiteboarder at Honeymoon Island.  Looking down to Clearwater beach.

Two weekends ago it was very windy. I decided to hit the nature trail at Honeymoon Island to see what was going on with the eagles there. I had heard they had 2 baby chicks but they were still too small to show their heads. It didn't feel windy on the inside wooded trail but I decided to head north along the mangrove trail to the north end beach. The wind was blasting. There were only a few gulls hanging around, no other shorebirds.  There wasn't a large variety of birds on the trail. I think the weather had blown them away. There are tons of osprey, more on those later. I decided to hit the beach before I headed home but when I got there it was just too windy (and I was hungry) so I didn't stay long. The rocky beach section was full of live conchs. The gulls were feeding off of them and a few shell seekers were looking around.  A few kiteboarders were out and they were moving fast across the water.

When I got home my husband said "Weren't you cold?" I said "No, wimp."

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/