Saturday, March 19, 2011

Part ONE: Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park in Florida

My daughter's future Mother-in-Law
volunteers at
and was gracious to have invited us
to see it
with her and her family.

She knew how much I love tropical birds and
animals
and that I love to photograph them.

I want to thank her very much for our wonderful day there.

So, for the next few blogposts, I will be sharing with you
some of this lovely park and its enchanting wildlife.

If you ever get to Florida, I highly recommend you make this a stop
on your trip.

It is not a huge park, but very charming and you will get a kick out of the animals.

It used to be privately owned and now the state of Florida has purchased it.

All the animals in it are native to Florida, (except LuLu, the 51 year old
resident hippopotamus..(more on her in blogposts to come!).
It just happened to be  her birthday on the day we went to the park!!)

So, relax, put your feet up and let's start the tour of some of the sites, shall we?




Thankfully, the only alligators we saw while in Florida were at this park!:








I am sorry to say that I don't recall the name of this kind of bird!
Maybe if Cindy is reading this, she can leave me a comment to let us know?!:
(I purposely shot him from the back as I loved his red cap!)







This bear had taken off the garbage can top and was playing around with it
like a flying saucer...it was too funny!:








Here is that same bird from the front. Isn't he a beauty?:









I think this is a white pelican....just chillin' out in the sun:








A Cormorant cooling off by spreading his wings:







A magestic eagle:
















Just LOOK at the brilliant ORANGES and PINKS
on this Flamingo's feathers.
They said it depends on what they eat (berries and such) that determines their colors.
I'd say this guy must be eating at the right places!!
It is spectacular!:

My next blogpost will have more shots of these spectacular birds
along with more of Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park...
Hope to see you then!!
******************************************************************************
We are MORE than half way through the month of March, people!!
That means you have to hurry now
and
send in your winning photo for the FREE PHOTO CONTEST here on my blog.
This month's theme is:

RED

That's right, you read right...use you imagination and send in a photo that
signifies RED to you....I can't wait to see what creativity I know you have!
Send me your photo no later than midnight on March 31st, 2011
following
THESE RULES!!!
at

16 comments:

  1. Brian MillerMarch 19, 2011 at 8:08 AM

    ha. that bear is too cool...captain of his own starship...we used to get gators in the lake out back when we lived in FL...so i got some up close and personal time...

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  2. MadSnapperMarch 19, 2011 at 8:16 AM

    the bird with the red head is a Sandhill Crane. don't see a lot of them in the wild. love that bear shot a lot. my son lived in Homasassa for 2 years and i was not aware of the park, that was about 18 years ago so maybe it was not there. i did not own a digital camera and that might be why. now i want to go there. thanks and can't wait to see the rest of the story

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  3. UnknownMarch 19, 2011 at 8:23 AM

    Beautiful park.
    So many kinds of wildlife in there.
    Great photographs too.
    Costas

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  4. TracyMarch 19, 2011 at 8:42 AM

    Joan, I love all the photos but the one in particular that made my heart smile was the bear with the trash can lid...he's saying 'now that I'm all ready to go, who took my snow?'
    A great way to begin my morning; coffee and beautiful photos!

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  5. Linda ReederMarch 19, 2011 at 10:41 AM

    What a great place for photography. Well done.

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  6. Ruth HiebertMarch 19, 2011 at 11:00 AM

    Thanks for the tour of this park.The pictures are lovely.
    Ruth✿

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  7. UnknownMarch 19, 2011 at 11:40 AM

    The last photo is breath-taking!

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  8. The Retired OneMarch 19, 2011 at 12:09 PM

    The white bird is a sandhill crane..I was confused because here they are brown. They are one of my favorite birds here and I have taken several pictures of them in the wilds of Michigan.

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  9. Country Gal March 19, 2011 at 2:28 PM

    Beautiful photos . Have a great first day of Spring !

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  10. Grandmother MaryMarch 19, 2011 at 3:14 PM

    Where in FL is this lovely place? Great shots!

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  11. Diane AZMarch 19, 2011 at 5:11 PM

    Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park looks like a wonderful place to visit. Your pictures are fantastic, I especially like the bear!

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  12. L. D. March 19, 2011 at 5:49 PM

    That is nice to find a new place to take photos.

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  13. BernieMarch 19, 2011 at 9:43 PM

    These are great, so clear! We will see each other for sure because God willing when I move home next year I plan on buying a small place in Florida. Will spend 6 months in NB during the summer and spend 6 months in Florida during the winter.....that is my goal!....:-)Hugs

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  14. HilaryMarch 20, 2011 at 12:38 PM

    These photos are wonderful. The birds are spectacular but I can't help but want to hug that adorable bear. What a clown.

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  15. Debbie LoMarch 22, 2011 at 10:59 AM

    I just love your animal photos. The flamingo is gorgeous! Just love the colors it had!

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  16. dancilhoneyMarch 27, 2011 at 8:48 PM

    Really great photos thanks to the author of this blog. I am a retired also since moving into the retirement villages wa we have made many lovely new friends.

    ReplyDelete

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