I finally made it to the Tampa airport to see the big flamingo statue. It’s really big and right in the middle of the airport.  I was there picking up my sisters. Both were in town for a week of Florida fun. We had a busy week doing tourist things and eating a lot. Our first stop was the Manatee Viewing Center at the electric plant. They had put in a new dock that goes half way across the channel. The electric plant seemed so big seeing it this close. It was much better seeing the manatees close up as they swam under the dock to get to the inside of the channel. The view from the old d ..read more

I was on my way to Crescent Lake Park but stopped at nearby North Shore Park first to get a glimpse of the sun coming up over the bay. It was a beautiful morning in late January but also chilly and there wasn’t any birds on the beach. I saw the white pelicans right when I got to Crescent Lake Park. Only about half of them were still there and I was thinking they would be gone before I made it back down here again. Luckily a few of them were right at the edge and I was able to see them close up. I stopped at the Safety Harbor fishing pier on the way home. It was cloudy when I first got there ..read more

Almost 2 weeks after my first trip down to Fort Desoto to see the baby great horned owls I was back at the park. It wasn’t as cold and windy this trip. The babies should be much bigger and I thought I would be able to see them quickly but I didn’t at first. Mom leaned over and out popped one of the babies from under her wing. The babies at this age are pretty funny looking, almost like an alien. Baby was looking up at Mom as she was preening. I walked around to the side to see the baby better but I was shooting straight into the sun. And, I was standing in the woods and getting eaten alive ..read more

It was really cold in early February. I was headed to Fred Howard Park for a cold walk and didn’t think I would see many birds but I threw my camera in the back anyway. I saw a “gulp” of cormorants out on the rocks along the causeway and after my walk I stopped on the way out to shoot them all resting. The beautiful ring billed gull was a bonus. Cormorants were flying back and forth and another ring billed gull flew in. My walk started out on the tiny beach at the park. I walked the little parking lot loop and then started out for the long causeway ..read more

An early morning transport had me driving an injured red shoulder hawk and a black vulture from the Raptor Center in Brandon to Penny, the rehabber, in south St. Pete. I didn’t get a picture of the vulture. He was in a box and was jumping around a lot so didn’t want to open the box. I think he was being released soon. A few days later I got an emergency call to see if I could pick up an injured eagle that was being rescued.  It was only 15 minutes from my house so I jumped in the car and met George from Birds In Helping Hands who had just grabbed the eagle. The eagle had been on the gro ..read more

Mr. Grumpy (great blue heron) greeted me when I got to the Largo Nature Preserve in early January. It was chilly so that might have been why he was fluffed up. Blue-gray gnatcatchers were everywhere. A limpkin was across the pond and had a snack. The pied grebes were still being cute. I don’t often see 2 together. It looked like they were having a spat over something. A little later I saw one of them with a big crawfish. The pretty grackle was yelling at me for being on his boardwalk. I found an alligator in a corner of the pond. The first shot up close is with my camera and the 2nd on ..read more

The 2024 New Year’s Day sky at the Safety Harbor fishing pier. No sunrise this morning. After walking around the park area for a while the clouds were starting to part and I could see blue sky. I stopped at nearby Folly Farms for another walk before heading home. The holiday lights were still shining in the trees. It was hard to capture the lights in the daytime. Next Christmas I will try and get here at night to see the lights. The weather was mild and there was a lot of color in the butterfly garden. The balloon cotton-bush/balloon milkweed was full of caterpillars. It felt like spring ..read more

You know it’s winter here when you see the water plant in Tarpon Springs full of ducks. There are mostly redheads but also a few scaup and ring necked ducks mixed in. The few times I stopped by in the morning they were all sleeping but I caught a few bathing and shaking off one morning. I saw one female bufflehead in the mix. Heading farther north to Craig Park I saw 2 eagles sitting on a tower. I pulled over and took the above. When I was heading home later they were still sitting there. I’m assuming they don’t have a nest since both are spending the morning on the tower. When it’s cold ..read more

It was the middle of January and it was blasting windy and cold but I still made it down to Fort Desoto to see the new baby great horned owls. They had nested right on the top of a dead palm tree. This was a late day shoot so you weren’t shooting right into the sun so I was there late in the afternoon. Not long after I arrived Mom was sitting on the nest with feathers sticking to her beak. What was she eating? The little baby had been hiding under Mom’s wing but it made a brief appearance and Mom gave it a few bites. I hated that big branch that was in Mom’s face but if I moved over to the r ..read more

This was way too easy. I had heard there was a Baltimore oriole that has been hanging out near the ball park at Crescent Lake Park for weeks. It was the end of December and he was a little late for fall migration. I walked down the sidewalk towards that end of the park and saw a flash of orange in the trees. There he was, hopping around looking for bugs high up. After snapping several pictures I headed over to the lake. Across the pond I could see some white pelicans under the big banyan tree. They were hiding in the shade so I kept going to the other end of the lake. I found four feeding ..read more