Hit the Trail Jack

Mayra and I decided last weekend to hit Brooker Creek Preserve in Tarpon Springs. (Linda didn’t want to go. Her knees hurt, and I forgot to ask Deb. ) We were gawking at the osprey nest along US 19, that we drove right past state highway 582. We drove into Pasco county before we noticed our mistake. Whoops!!

8300 acres promised to offer otters, bear, dear, fox and etc. As we drove into the park, the vultures were circling along with the Osprey. After walking the 4 mile loop, you can see what we seen. Several Golden Silk Spiders. We heard the eagle and the hawk, but they were no shows. Nothing but mosquitos seemed to fly within our eyes. Of course I forgot mosquito repellant.


We then figured we’d check out John Chestnut Park on the way back home. We didn’t get out. Just checked to see if there was a good area to put in the canoe and kayak. The barbecues were making us hungry.

I tried calling Linda, but she wasn’t home. So we decided to head out in search of some place to eat. We ended up crossing the Dunedin causeway and found ourselves at the entrance of Honeymoon Island State Park. Mayra paid the $5.00 to enter and we headed for the cafe. Food!! Fish and Chips never tasted better. And you couldn’t beat the the view.

We then went in search of the nature trail. As we turned towards the parking lot, Mayra spotted a snake in the road. Mayra stopped the her Jeep in the middle of the road, and we jumped out to get a picture of it. Nothing like seeing an Eastern Diamondback Rattle Snake in the wild. Absolutely beautiful. Good thing Linda wasn’t with us. She would have screamed like a girl.

I was trying to take a picture of a woodpecker with my Minolta (I figured I should use up some of my film), when we a man walking his pit bull came upon us. “There’s two owls in a pine just to the right. Follow me.” We took of with him and with white pit bull, with the black patch over her left eye.

I’ll tell you the Great Horned Owls are hard to spot. He kept pointing and talking about the second one. “It’s in the same tree. See it?” Not really. It took a while to spot it.
The best picture I could get with the digital camera of the Great Horned Owl. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what I captured on film

I was taking a picture of the Monarch Butterfly, when the phone rang. Linda was calling. We had running water in the laundry room. It was time to come home.