Florida Botanical Gardens and a new park

One robin says to the other "Man, this Florida living is nice. I'm never going back up north."

Red bellied woodpecker says "No, this is not a berry in my mouth."

Mallard says to moorhen "Stop chasing me." Moorhen says to mallard "Then why are you running? You're much bigger than me."

Yellow rumped warbler says "I'm all alone."

The big yellow flower says "Spring is already in Florida."

The first turtle says "Last one out gets eaten by an alligator."

Spring flower says "No snow down here."

It was a couple of weekends ago that is was freezing (by Florida standards). It was the last cold weekend we had for the season. I got to the Florida Botanical Gardens around 9am and my car said it was 42 degrees outside. I thought "This is crazy. I should have stayed home in bed." But the sun was out and it warmed up pretty quick to about 60 degrees. There weren't a lot of flowers out but I did find a few that were blooming. A big flock of American robins flew by and a couple landed on a tree right in front of me.

Before I headed home, I decided to try out a new park close by the botanical gardens.  George C. McGough Nature Park in Largo is a small nature park. I had recently read that the resident owl who has lived at the center since being orphaned as a baby was missing. Someone broke into the center after closing and cut open his cage. The owl never learned to hunt for himself.  My thought is the people who did this thought they were doing the owl a favor but the owl will probably starve to death. Which is right? Set him free to starve or stay locked in a cage for life? The owl visited schools for learning programs and to teach kids about conversation and wildlife. At this point the owl has not been found.  The park sits on the intercoastal waterway and has a nice boardwalk that goes out over the water. The day I was there it was so windy. I didn't see any birds at all on the whole walk. Only some turtles and flowers. I'll have to give the park another try soon.

Below is an attempt to record a cardinal singing.

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Atlanta birds in the cold - My World Tuesday

Woodpecker and friend sharing the feeder.

American robins were everywhere.

Not sure what the birds are with the stripe on their wings. I don't think they are red winged blackbirds. I didn't see any red. There were some grackles mixed in.

Sparrow was waiting to get to the feeder.

Female cardinal at the feeder.

People say there are robins in Florida in the winter but I have never seen one here. I've only seen them in Atlanta. I forget about them until I visit the in-laws. On my Christmas eve walk around my in-law's neighborhood I found a handful of birds in the cold. One house had a bird feeder that had quite a few visitors. I was glad I had brought my 300mm lens with me. I almost didn't thinking it would be too cold to be outside (for me and the birds) but both myself and birds were out a good bit.

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Also,check out more birds at World Bird Wednesday below.

Baby robin gets a worm.

I was in Atlanta over the 4th of July weekend. Unlike here in Tampa, it was sunny and cool (85 degrees). It was so nice I had to get out and walk around every day we were there. I had my first visit to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens this trip. The first time I tried to go there was in April in the afternoon. It was so busy the parking lot was closed so we didn't stop. It was beautiful there. Everything was groomed to perfection. The gardens are right in the heart of the city and sits next to Piedmont Park. At first I thought I would be the only person looking for birds but later I saw a group coming in with binoculars looking up in the trees. I found the above baby robin hopping around under some trees. It seemed to have found a worm. The last picture is one of the parents.

More Atlanta pictures to come.