butterflies – A Snowbird's Life Through the Lens

a second look, adventure, birds, butterflies, Chinsegut Conservation Center, exploring new places, Florida wildlife, friends, fun, gardens, nature, Nature Coast Botanical Gardens, Nature's beautiful creatures, nesting, perseverance, photography

Beautiful day, part 2…

March 6, 2023March 5, 2023 naturecoastimagesblog

Only it was really part 1, because I have a few images from my second trip to Chinsegut Conservation Center in just a week or so. That was our first stop, since it was the farthest north we intended to go. When we got there the feeders were being loaded up, again. The gal said that they’d been filled up the night before and were empty already. It didn’t take long for the birds to get to work on emptying them again. That’s a red bellied woodpecker in the feature photo.

Another Mrs. Cardinal enjoying the suet that was also refilled that morning.

Birds of a feather eat together. Pine Warblers.

Yes, I think the pine warblers outnumbered everyone else.

Heading south we stopped at the Nature Coast Botanical Garden next, and wandered to the music by a band that was playing in a little gazebo next to the train garden. We saw the train make its last trip around the track before being put away for another week. But I found the waterfalls at the garden to be especially pretty that day.

Plus a butterfly, which made me happy to see.

Stop number 3 was to see what was happening at the eagle nest. The two ‘babies’ were on their own while we were there. But a couple who were just leaving said that one of the adults had just been up in the tree keeping an eye on them.

There seemed to be some tidbits in the nest for them to be snacking on.

This was all the action we saw from them, and we didn’t wait for a parent to return,

Our last stop of the day was at the rookery, and those were the pictures I posted yesterday. This morning we watched a live streamed photography class given for our photography club. And I’ve got a book I need to get back to…

'scene' along the way, a second look, adventure, attention to detail, attitude adjustments, birds, bugs, bunnies, butterflies, egrets, exploring new places, friends, fun, making memories, nature, perseverance, photography, road trip, technology

Celery Fields…

January 2, 2023January 1, 2023 naturecoastimagesblog

A couple of years ago I spent a day being chauffeured around by another photographer, seeing many birding spots that day. Celery Fields was one of our quick stops, since we were in the area. But my over all impression was that it was rather flat and we didn’t take pictures there that day. Maybe we stopped with a different view that day, but I never added it to my mental ‘must see’ locations. Our intention in going this time was to ride the trails and see some birds that a friend had photographed there. But we quickly found that those long slow dirt trails were going to be too much for our trike and scooter, so we rode on the sidewalk and found plenty beautiful subjects to shoot.

I’m always on the lookout for bees and that’s what I hoped this was. I didn’t have the right lens on the camera and it didn’t seem to be focusing as I wanted it to, but I took some shots anyhow. I’m glad I did. The feature photo seemed to have the same problems also, but turned out okay.

This is the view we saw, definitely not flat. Each turn of the trail revealed yet another hill to climb.

Though the people on the hill caught my eye. I think he was being sent to retrieve his brother. I wish I’d rolled the zoom back a little.

If this guy had been lost he was found in the end,

This egret was the reason we did ride on the sidewalk, which revealed a few more photographic subjects.

I thought this was a glossy ibis, but I had to check to be sure and it is, but he’s in his non-breeding plumage.

A little blue was hanging out with the egret and ibis also.

We missed a great opportunity to get pictures of this immature red-shouldered hawk when we first arrived. Lucky for us he flew into the trees nearby and posed a while.

I saw the beautiful color of this fella’s feathers, but when he turned his head I was a bit disappointed to see that it was a turkey vulture. But I suppose they have their place in the big scheme of things.

This little bird was high in a tree so I had to zoom to the max, and then look it up on Merlin. It’s a loggerhead shrike, which I’d heard of but seeing it was a first for me.

It’s a shame that we didn’t look up info on this location before we visited because there is a lot more to be seen here. But we’ll be back…

bugs, butterflies, flowers, fun, gardens, nature, Nature Coast Botanical Gardens, Nature's beautiful creatures, perseverance, photography, second chances

Buzzing by the gardens…

November 17, 2022 naturecoastimagesblog

Yesterday I did what I used to do when I lived in Spring Hill, I dropped by the botanical garden rather than drive past it. I doubted that butterflies would be in abundance in this cooler weather, and I was right. But right there in the butterfly garden I found something I haven’t seen in ages, a big fat bumble bee. And the afternoon light was nice. What a treat.

I was amazed at how solid his wings look in this photo.

He was ignoring me completely as he flitted from flower to flower.

I wish I could claim to have set up this shot, but it was just lucky.

I love it when a spur of the moment inspiration turns out so well. Life is simple these days, all it takes is seeing a tiny little creature to make my day. Life is good.

adventure, attitude adjustments, birds, bugs, butterflies, exploring new places, friends, fun, nature, on closer examination, perseverance, photography

Taylor Lake Park…

October 26, 2022October 25, 2022 naturecoastimagesblog

I hardly know where to start. Somehow we came across the name of a park in the area, one that we hadn’t heard of before. The John S. Taylor Park in Largo, FL. It’s not a huge park, the walk was an easy 1.6 miles around. We stopped to see and photograph birds quite a few times. I’ve seen comments about migratory birds being in the area at this time of year, or maybe it’s just such a pretty park that the birds like to call it home.

Bluejays used to visit my backyard in Spring Hill, but it was a nice surprise to see them yesterday. This one seemed to want to say something.

I think I like this photo of a bluejay the best.

But my new camera has the ability to track birds in flight, so I was happy to capture this photo. I have a lot more to learn about the settings in this camera though.

Anhingas were sunning themselves, as they are most everywhere you go in Florida.

Getting the camera to focus in for a macro shot was a slight problem.

I had just said that we hadn’t seen any bees that day, meaning big fat bumble bees. But when I stopped to look at the little flowers in the bushes along the shore I found tiny little bees on tiny little flowers.

The tiny little butterflies in the grasses were plentiful also.

A fisherman pointed out this little gator to us.

I would like to think that we would have noticed this big gator sunning itself even if the fisherman hadn’t pointed him out.

There are lots more photos to go through, but they will have to wait for another day. It’s time to go out and enjoy another gorgeous day in sunny Florida.

a second look, butterflies, Florida landmarks, Florida wildlife, flowers, friends, fun, gardens, making memories, Nature Coast Botanical Gardens, perseverance, photography, technology

Butterfly garden…

September 15, 2022September 15, 2022 naturecoastimagesblog

The thought of another rainy day had me a little down in the dumps yesterday. But when the sun came out in the early afternoon we decided to go to the Nature Coast Botanical Garden with our cameras. The last time I was there they had recently pruned all the greenery back, and I thought it looked a bit sad. This time the greenery was lush, almost overgrown, and the butterflies were seemingly frantic in their activity. The feature photo is the two black butterflies who were in constant motion, chasing each other and flitting from flower to flower. After the fact I thought of the adjustments I might have made in the camera to help stop the action, fearing I hadn’t gotten any sharp photos. I’m actually surprised to have gotten a couple.

This garden has the luxury of lots of shade, and many tables and benches that you might chose to stop at to relax. You might even bring lunch. I used to pass this garden almost every time I left the house, now it’s a little out of the way, but not too far.

I love this little castle planter. I can’t resist taking a picture every time I visit.

This sculpture is finished now, carved out of the trunk of a tree that stood here. What a beautiful addition to the garden.

While my friend looked at the train garden I was excited to see this big yellow butterfly, who posed rather nicely for me.

I really didn’t get as many good shots of him as I thought I had. The new camera has a ‘joy stick’ that you can move with your thumb to adjust your focus. It’s not natural for me to use that yet so I cut off pieces of his wings in a lot of shots.

The train garden sits like a little oasis surrounded by the train tracks. The owner runs the trains on Saturdays, at least some Saturdays, and there is a button the kids can push to make the sound of the train whistle. Tucked away in that foliage are two little waterfalls, but you will have to take my word for it since they were well hidden.

This train station seems new to me. Those passengers will have to wait a while for the next train.

It’s a treat to get outside even for a little while. And dinner with the photo group finished the day off perfectly.

a second look, birds, butterflies, dragonflies, ducks, egrets, Florida wildlife, learning, nature, perseverance, photography, technology, weather

Pond critters…

September 13, 2022September 12, 2022 naturecoastimagesblog

I could probably save myself a lot of time and effort if I didn’t do everything by the seat of my pants. I set the new camera up to take bursts of photos, not remembering that this camera will take LOTS of pictures per second. When you add that to the fact that I had set it up for silent shutter, then you might have a clue how I managed to get 1077 photos in probably a half hour down at the neighborhood pond. So I had many, many virtually identical pictures to look at. Not the greatest pictures either. Learning the hard way, but learning.