The Florida Aquarium Revisited

I thought I would revisit the Florida Aquarium in Tampa Florida. There was such a lot to see and I only gave you a taste of the aquarium when posting in June. The most interesting bird to me was the Roseate Spoonbill and they had a pair standing in a tree. There is something about their bill and their color that just makes me smile.

Did he just wink at me?
They are fun with the vulture like bald cap.
This one was on one foot and you can see the other tucked underneath.
This is my tribute to a great bird.
If you want to see other wild birds from Florida I suggest you visit Klaus at Virtua Gallery for some great photos of Florida birds.

The Florida Aquarium Has More

The Florida Aquarium offered a multitude of fish shots. these two reef fish were very colorful. This blue one was iridescent.
Hear is a little Long Eared Owl or a Screech Owl.
This was the best orchid I saw, how colorful.
This is when I give a shout out to Klaus of Virtua Gallery, my Florida bird expert, if you've haven't seen his sight you should. I think this is an White Ibis.

What the heck is this reddish one, a Glossy Ibis.
A heron for sure, maybe a Tri-colored Heron.
I think this is a Limpken, then again Klaus might know.
I really liked the aquarium and have so much more to show.

The Tampa Skyline

Here we are winging our way to Tampa and the Tampa skyline is on the horizon. You know your close when you can see the only high spot for miles. We were at the beach and I thought this cupolo was nice.
I tried a see through shot for effect.
Across the street there was the top of a restaurant that I couldn't resist.
Finally here is the Florida Moon for my Brother-in-Law Shep. He asked me to capture it at 7 AM because it was putting on a daylight show. It came out fair for my Cannon SX100-IS looking into the morning sky.

Sky Watch Friday - Florida Sunset

It's Sky Watch Friday and it's your chance to post your Sky pictures and go to Wiggers World to join. Why don't you get a photo of the sky and join in.

A trip to the beach is mandatory when you are visiting Florida. I took this on the Gulf of Mexico.
The sun was putting on a nice show.
We left before sunset and i got some nice cloud shots as we headed home.

This cloud was lit by the sun over the horizon and lighting up the sky.

Some More Small Animal Captures

My Brother-In-Law and I went out trying to get some bird pictures (and we did) but how could the Fishing Guy skip a fish pictures. This was taken at the boat dock. You can see the high Florida sun putting a shadow on the launching ramp. There were at least eight of these fish about 6" long and are called Needle Fish.
We were standing on the dock, which is the white in the corner of the picture, as I captured the Needle Fish.
We went to a beach and saw many holes. some of them had little balls of sand near them. I finally saw what was in the holes and got a few pictures. The hole is 1/2" and the crabs are 1" wide.

This one had a large claw and a great color.

The Small Animal from Florida

We are back from Florida and my SD Card has a lot of pictures. This one posed on the down spout at our relatives house. Thanks for all your comments on the fun post I did on the run down shack down the road from their home.

I am showing tonight one of the smaller Florida animals the brown Anole.
Thanks to Klaus I could fix the name.

I was able to get in close-up and see him clearly.
This one was a little larger and the first time I saw him was very skittish.
The second time I saw him he took his stand in his home area.
I did get him a little mad so he showed his red colors to let me know he was a tough little guy.
I enjoyed them and they take care of the smaller bugs around the outside of the house.

Visiting Florida

My wife and I are really lucky when we come to Florida because we are able to stay at the relatives palatial estate. They were really lucky to get this place at a steal in the Florida market. It is a real fixer-upper and they have only been there for 5 years and the repairs are slow. If you click on the picture you can see the wonderful setup a guest house and maids quarters on the rear portion of the property. They have 50 acres of swamp land directly behind the house. It is located on Atlantic Way in Weekie Wachee , FL (which is quite famous for it's Mermaid Show at the Water Park).

I hope you can see the fine TV/Computer tower on the front of the house which is my communications system with the world. Here is the guest building in which we stay at night. It has a cool breeze at night from the swamp. You should hear the great serenade you get from the alligators during the night. The only thing that worries me a little is the Black Bear Crossing Sign down the road. We haven't seen one yet but who knows.
It sure is nice to have a place you can drop in and feel so comfortable from the moment you arrive. Thanks Brother and Sister-in-law for a great place to visit.