Gone Fishin'!

 I keep looking for good spots to fish in case I decide to go fishin'! I remember my Grandmother loading her car to go to the river to fish. I think she was about my age at the time.

When we were walking the paved path at Blue Run Park, a Black-crowned Night Heron flew out from the lower branches and caught a fish in one 'fell swoop'! 

It's probably about the size I would catch or more likely I would snag one of the lower branches! lol

Swallowing it WHOLE!

This is a bird we don't see often so it was a nice sighting.

And something we've never seen before were these 4 Pileated Woodpeckers together.

I think the one in the center was doing all the work. The other two were preening!

They are common at the Rainbow River but I think the most we've seen at one time is 2. There were 3 on the tree and another one down below.

Someone stopped to watch with us and he kept saying he had never seen this many together either.

A Limpkin greeted us at the beginning of the hike.

A good day was had by all!

Have you been fishin' lately?

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’.  

Beautiful Birds at Blue Run Park and berries at HTP!

 

Summertime hiking in Florida? I wouldn't recommend it! 

I can't stay in the house all the time so I've gotten out some. 

But the hikes are fewer and shorter and earlier!

The vegetation loves the heat and pop up showers we have in the afternoons but it makes it a challenge to get good photos.

The Black-crowned Night Heron was a good sighting though.

And this Great Blue Heron is trying to beat the heat under a tree with Spanish moss. (and you know I always imagine what my critters are saying)

You know if you climb up here you'll sink us.

See what I mean.....your end is already sinking!

Hmmmph!!!

Are you still here?

The Rainbow River is very beautiful and definitely 'old Florida'.

I zoomed in to see this house on the river.

Oh, look! Here comes a river boat motoring down at a leisurely speed.

Life is going at a slower speed. So what can you do?

Oh, let's see....put on long sleeves and go out in the heat and pick blackberries at Halpata Tastanaki Preserve?

There are a few wild blueberry bushes in the berry patch too.

And it's not too hot to cook in the oven for an hour to make a cobbler, is it?

Life is good! Even in the heat of summer!

Stay cool and safe this week and enjoy each day!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’.  

I have a Shiner!

I had fun with my post yesterday but that was BEFORE! 

I always knew things could get worse but I had a crazy accident right after it published. Let's see, I pulled all the bedding off my bed and was in the process of washing 3 loads of laundry. I was in the middle of vacuuming the bedroom, I had the ironing board out ironing pillow covers to change them in the lanai and the roofers were on top of the roof measuring it for a new roof. I went into the front room to iron the pillow covers and reached up to pull the chain to change the setting on the ceiling fan and BAMMMM!!! The heavy glass globe fell off and came down on my face and knocked me to the floor. It hit me on the brow and cheekbone. Luckily my sweet hubby had just come inside so I yelled for him. He helped me up and brought me an ice pack and went back out to check on the roofers. 

So another day...another headache. Oh, and a shiner too! Let's see....how old am I? In all these years I don't think I've ever had a shiner! I wonder how I'll look with a mask on and a black eye? 

I'm sharing photos of a beautiful Black-crowned Night Heron that we saw at Blue Run Park.

It landed in the tree and fluffed it's feathers.

And it looked like a different bird!

Can you see it in this photo, the Great White Egret is in the water and it's in a tree in the top right corner of the photo?

 

And just a couple of neat photos of the Wood Ducks we saw that day.

We saw the male and female.

They were behind grasses but I thought the photos were still good.

So...just when you think things couldn't get any worse....isn't  that what I said yesterday? I'm going to go ahead and publish this early and link to my parties tomorrow. I may need to take a few days off to recover. I'll visit everyone soon I hope!

Take care and love one another!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’. 

Black-crowned Night Heron and a scary critter

We haven't seen a Black-crowned Night Heron at Blue Run in a long time!

Of course the park was closed for a few weeks but I don't think we've seen one of these Herons at all this year. 

So this was exciting to spot. In fact, another hiker spotted it and told us where to look!

It's always a challenge to see through all the limbs and grasses to look down into the water.

And that is duckweed in the water. It is a plant that grows on the top of the water and is very beautiful.

We have to walk all the way to the bridge to look down and try to spot alligators!

And there he is! 

This young man had just started fishing very near the alligator but he didn't stay long. I don't mean the alligator ate him....I mean he rowed on down the Withlacoochee River!

One more pretty bird photo to leave you with something beautiful!

Do you have a river or lake you can drive to or hike to and take photos? It sure feels great to get outside!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’.