Lake Apopka on Father's Day

I was pondering what I wanted to do on this Father's Day and opted to take a drive along the Lake Apopa North Shore Drive to do some contemplating since this would be the first one without my Dad. I almost decided against it since there was an approaching storm headed that way but when has a little rain stopped birding?

The only problem was that the storm was coming from the East meaning we wouldn't have that nice morning light. One of the first birds I spotted was a juvenile Black-necked Stilt picking at snacks in the water.



Nearby, a juvenile Common Gallinule sat on its nest and called loudly.



The first clouds moved closer and made the morning nearly dark as I tried for my first Osprey photo.



Even with a bit more light I had to do some acrobatics inPhotoshop to show the next Osprey doing its own acrobatics during breakfast.



American Alligators were pretty active this warm morning and they were cruising most everywhere. Some days you can hardly find a few.



The last time I was out here the Green Herons were constantly flying by instead of posing. At least I had one cooperate today.



I thought I had another Green Heron fly over the road ahead of me. It wasn't until I got home to look at my images that I figured out that it was actually a juvenile Least Bittern! Didn't know they nested out here.



Something else I had never seen before was a female Red-winged Blackbird catching a dragonfly to eat. Thought they only ate seeds. I guess mostly...



There were a lot of Anhinga around today and one female perched on a branch next to the drive.



I rounded the next bend and spotted an Osprey with a large fish. He just looked at me like, "Don't even think about it!"



Another Osprey flew in just below the first bird on a perfectly placed branch. I eased forward whispering, "Please don't move..." but he decided to take flight as I snapped. I think I like this shot even better than the one I was hoping for.



As usual, you loose count of the number of Common Gallinules at some point. Still a bunch of juveniles around.



I was pleased to have a couple of Common Ground Dove around, especially at this spot. They are typically seen near the end of the drive.



Hunkered down on the bank of a canal was a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron.



Male Red-winged Blackbirds are always calling from branches all over the property.



Just below him was a young American Alligator prowling though the water as the rain began to fall.



Can't recall seeing so many Bladderwort blooms out here. Perhaps I was never here at the right time. There were large rafts of them all over the back stretch.



Just before the last big turn heading toward the swallow area, a female Boat-tailed Grackle hopped up to take a look around.



Not too much farther along, a Pied-billed Grebe surfaced with a tadpole.



It spent most of the time flinging it around and diving back under water to retrieve it again. It then began to thrash it about to tear off smaller piece. Made me smile for some reason. It was really shaking that thing!



Once it made a small enough collection of pieces it began to eat them one by one.



A juvenile Little Blue Heron paused for a moment before continuing to forage along the road.



Another Black-necked Stilt family was feeding a bit farther into the Marsh with the parents flanking their chick as they picked through the grasses.



This shot reminds me of an Audubon painting the way it is posed.



I really was happy with this shot of the juvenile Black-necked Stilt. The background was perfect and those feathers are just to so pretty.



In between showers, a Rainbow weakly appeared for a minute or so before being swallowed up again.



Speaking of swallow, I was finally at the area where the Barn Swallows nest and many adults were there with juveniles in tow. I didn't even try for a flight shot today. Not in these conditions.



A relaxing tour of the property. Happy with some of the photos. Missing Dad.

Lake Apopka New Year's Drive, Part 1

Another year, another trip to Lake Apopka. I am really starting to enjoy the fact that I get there right as the gate opens and can be one of the first, and then the first, to be out on the drive. Gives me time to get to birds before others and snag some shots before the traffic scares anything off. Like this American Bittern that strode upon the stage just after sunrise.



The first American Alligator of the morning cruises the canal.



While more begin to hunt near the Pumphouse.



Red-winged Blackbirds are easy to spot through out the drive.



You can see and hear them calling all day long.



Ospreys are busy having breakfast as soon as the Sun has come up and can be found atop most phone poles.



I spotted this Limpkin along the edge of the road and followed it to an open space just up ahead.



There it revealed it had breakfast, too, and tried to position the snail shell to extract the tasty snail inside.



It let me watch the whole time even though it was still weary of my clicking camera.



Around the bend, a Snowy Egret prowled along a branch.



You can never have too many shots of Great Blue Herons. Especially when they let you get right next to them in the early morning light.



Wilson's Snipe are typically very skittish and you usually see them fly off in front of you when you walk through their hiding places. For some reason, I found a pair on the side of the drive that decided staying still was a better choice.



I guess they figured that those few blades of grass were disguise enough.



Common Gallinule are copious and as hard as I try I can't resist a shot now and again.



Another more showy Snowy Egret wades into shallow water in search of a snack.



A Red-shouldered Hawk called from one of the few manmade items on the back part of the drive.



A few Savannah Sparrows can be found flitting through the green grasses right along the road but seldom pause for a good shot.



Most of the Eastern Phoebes I saw today were so busy feeding that I couldn't get many good shots. This one stayed still for a little bit for me.



One final Red-shouldered Hawk was perched in a snag at the last turn out of the drive.



I am still trying to find the reported Gray-headed Swamphen. I have missed it on the previous 5 times around. The day is young so why not have one more try before heading home? Part Two is next!

Yearly Birding Stop at Ft. DeSoto

My father and I left dark and early to get to Fort DeSoto and the Tierra Verde Duck Ponds to try and find anything. I always try to get over here at some point when we visit at Christmastime. We stopped by the ponds first so we got to the Loop a little late but there was still a nice sunrise going on with our 3rd sundog of the weekend.



I was really hoping to find a Franklin's Gull somewhere. We missed the one that was here last year and many are being seen on the Atlantic side of the state. Unfortunately, all we could find were Laughing Gulls.



Ospreys are nesting now and thy often fly by in search of a meal.



We enjoyed watching the large flock of Brown Pelicans on the rocks next to the pier.



Just after we pulled into the North Beach parking lot I spotted a bird off to the right. It was an American Kestrel that actually stayed put after I got out of the car. That never has happened before!



Not too long ago (OK, maybe a couple years) I heard that Pinellas County was going to try and get rid of all the non-native Australian Pines. You could the difference right after we parked. The whole wind-break before the beach was gone and once we got to the sand all we found were stumps.



They cut those larger trees but it looks like they are just poisoning the smaller ones. Sorry, I have a soft spot for Australian Pines. I recall growing up along the shoreline and listening to the wind going through the branches. A wonderful sound to me.



We continued walking and there was this single Ring-billed Gull out that just wanted to have its picture taken. OK, with me.



On the way back I decided to test the macro function on the new camera. My first subject was a chunk of Sand Dollar.



I spotted this grouping of Mangrove stems sticking out of the sand on the way out and the shadows just pulled me down for a close shot.



Tiny shells sit above ripples caused by the waves.



Suddenly a Forster's Tern got near and was feeding along the edge of the waves. It finally was in a pretty good position to try for a shot.



We headed toward the duck ponds again but that will be in another post. When we got back to the house I was trying some more macro shots when this silly Northern Mockingbird popped its head out from a bush.



Stay tuned for the duck story following soon!