Birds & Scenery, Juniper Springs Campground

The U.S. Forest Service “Juniper Springs Campground” is on Highway 40 in Marion County, FL, between Ocala and Daytona.  This public campground features junipers, pines, sweet gums, palms, and huge oaks.  There is a rustic display of an old spring-fed electric power generating mill in the campground.  This mill, like the campground, was built by the U.S. Conservation Corps during the 1930s.

This is a natural spring area which offers a several miles-long canoe and kayak run (rentals available) as well as a nice semi-natural swimming pool (no alligators!).  Because it was chilly we skipped the water-oriented sports.  I have included a few pictures of the stream that runs from the springs.

We did try to do a little bit of bird watching.  We saw several woodpeckers and sapsuckers and did see a nice male Common Grackle bird.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the slightly larger version of the picture.  Enjoy!

 

Some Favorites

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks at Tuscawilla Park in Ocala, FL

I have selected favorite photographs I have taken in Florida in the last three years to share here today.  I tend to love Wood Storks, all the different woodpeckers, assorted ducks, and the various herons and egret,s the best!  I hope you will like seeing these old favorites!

Wood Stork in The Villages, FL

A Little Blue Heron in The Villages, FL

A Green Heron in Dunellon, FL

 

 

A Great Egret in Breeding Plumage, The Villages,

Snowy Egret, The Villages, FL

A Pileated Woodpecker, Ocala, FL

 

 

 

 

 

 

Woodpecker Wednesday

Male Pileated Woodpecker

A pair of Pileated Woodpeckers, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, and a Downy Woodpecker were all spotted at Blue Run Park in Dunnellon, Florida, on February 16, 2015.  I also saw a Red-bellied Woodpecker at the Dutton Island Preserve near Jacksonville, Florida, on February 11, 2015; and a Downy Woodpecker at the Guana River State Park on Highway A-1A between Jacksonville and St. Augustine, Florida on February 12, 2015.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger picture.  Enjoy!

Downy Woodpecker

Female Pileated Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker

 

Downy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Male Red-bellied Woodpecker

Wordless Wednesday: A Pileated Woodpecker

This Pileated Woodpecker came to visit across the street from my home on August 8, 2014, when I snapped these pictures.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger picture.  Enjoy!

 

A Look at Some Woodpeckers

Red-headed Woodpeckers and a Pileated Woodpecker were the focus of my picture-taking efforts on several days in the last couple of months.  I took the photographs of the Red-headed Woodpeckers at a small pasture area where there are lots of dead standing Pine Trees.  That pasture is very close to the entrance to the development where I live.  These tall dead trees provide the woodpeckers a place to live and also sometimes have many insects that the birds eat.

The Young Pileated Woodpecker was spotted in my own front yard.  That was the only time I have seen a Pileated Woodpecker here in Florida in the few months I have made my hone here in Marion County, Florida.   I had also seen a Downy Woodpecker here in my front yard once, and that was back in March.  Sorry to say, I missed getting a picture of that particular bird here.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger picture.  I hope you’ll enjoy these pictures.   I really love spotting and photographing  my favorite birds, the Woodpeckers!

Woodpecker Wednesday – A Pileated Woodpecker

A young adult Pileated Woodpecker visited the Oak Trees in my front yard and my next-door neighbor’s yard yesterday morning.  This is the first Pileated Woodpecker I have seen in my three months of living in Florida.

Pileated Woodpeckers are among the larger of the woodpeckers.  Like most woodpeckers, the Pileated Woodpeckers like Oak Trees a lot.  Oaks provide Acorns as well as a variety of insect larvae and also sometimes provide shelter within hollowed-out tree trunks for these birds.  There are many Live Oaks in my neighborhood.  I had only seen a Downy Woodpecker here but my hubby has heard the distinctive call of the Red-headed Woodpecker so I expect that this Pileated Woodpecker has woodpecker companions of several kinds.  I took these pictures on June 25, 2013 from my front yard.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger picture.  Enjoy!

It’s Woodpecker Wednesday!

Female Downy Woodpecker

Red-headed Woodpeckers with their crimson red head all the way down to their shoulders have been here in my yards almost daily now.  I also have been enjoying seeing the juvenile Pileated Woodpecker, several Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers and an occasional Northern Yellow-shafted Flicker and Red-bellied Woodpecker.  I just love the picture of the two Red-head Woodpeckers flitting about one another.  I think that this young pair were discussing their future!  The Northern Yellow-shafted Flicker was hunting for insects in the grass just at the base of my Tulip Poplar tree.  The smaller woodpeckers like the Hairy and Downy all tend to come to the feeders cautiously.  They sometimes have to wait for the larger birds to finish.  The little woodpeckers do tend to be OK with the presence of the other small songbirds but get very flighty when confronted with the jumbo cousins.  They just hang out on the dead Oak next to the feeder until it is their turn.  I am crazy for woodpeckers!  I took these pictures from my deck and windows in the last few days.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger photo.  Enjoy! P. S. Please excuse the wonky lay-out – happens with captions sometimes.  Oh well.  Many thanks!

Red-headed Woodpecker

Male Downy Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker

Male Northern Yellow-shafted Flicker

Red-headed Woodpeckers

Pileated Woodpecker