Saw an otter eating while checking on an owl

On January 28, 2013January 29, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography24 Comments

I stopped by a local park to see if the great horned owl was nesting yet. There she was looking like she’s been sleeping for a while.

The park was pretty quiet except for the normal ~~mallards~~ mottled ducks (thanks to Wally for the correct ID. We get a lot more mallards than mottled here.)

And boring old warblers.

I saw this cormorant swimming way too close to the alligator.

Then I heard some commotion in the reeds near me and saw an otter with a fish. He saw me looking at him and moved around to the other side of the reeds where I couldn’t see him.

I moved around to the other end of the boardwalk and was able to see him but he was into the sun. He chowed down on that big fish for a few minutes before taking off.

Just a few things on my walk around a small park recently on a Saturday morning. I’ve seen otters there before but usually down in a little creek and they don’t hang around for a second. The above was out in the open lake but wanted to eat his fish in peace. After that last shot, he disappeared. I looked for him for a while but no sign of him again. I’m keeping my eye on that owl. Last year she had two babies so hopefully I’ll be able to watch more babies grow up this year.

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Blue skies at the pier – Skywatch Friday

On January 24, 2013January 23, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography16 Comments

Brown pelicans can always be found around fishing piers.

Common loons are a little more rare here in central Florida. Although, this is the 3rd one I’ve seen this winter.

He was preening around the city pier in Anna Maria Island when I went looking for the rare razorbills.

By the time I saw him with a fish, he was pretty far away from the pier. Extremely cropped.

It was weird seeing downtown St. Petersburg across the bay. It’s almost an hour drive from where I standing to get back to St. Pete.

Snowy egrets were hitching a ride.

Rod and Reel fishing pier. There’s a restaurant on that top floor. There was a long wait the morning I was there. I did not eat there that morning but would like to go back with Hubby and hang out and get some breakfast.

The first few days after Christmas were beautiful which was nice coming home from rainy Atlanta. It was a bit chilly. Everyone had on jackets. But, the sun was out and it was going to warm up that afternoon. I went down there looking for the rare razerbills and found a few other fun things too. Pelicans were everywhere and it was a nice surprise seeing the loon feeding even though he kept drifting farther away. The tourists were out in full force, walking around and riding bikes. I’m sure they were glad to be out of the blizzards going on up north at the time.

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Tweeters and croakers at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens

On January 19, 2013January 19, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn Atlanta, bird photography14 Comments

Not a tweeter or croaker but still cute. I think he thought I couldn’t see him behind that branch.

Blue jay in the winter.

Sparrows landing on the feeder at the gardens.

The feeders were busy but mostly sparrows and blue jays.

Inside one of the buildings was a tropical frog exhibit. These were all in indoor enclosures.

Blue frog posing.

This was an exotic frog inside. We did not see any of the outside frogs in the frog pond that morning. I think the air was too cold for them and they were hiding in the water until the sun came out.

Mockingbird posing on an empty rose bush.

Just a few of the animals we saw on our pre-Christmas walk around the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.

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A morning in a cemetery – Skywatch Friday

On January 17, 2013January 8, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn Atlanta, bird photography6 Comments

It wouldn’t be a day out in nature without seeing some squirrels.

Blue jay keeping an eye on me.

I think this is a chipping sparrow? They were all over the cemetery.

Getting a drink from an empty planter.

Robins were everywhere.

Mockingbird on a cross.

A warbler in the bushes.

I could hear this carolina wren singing all over the cemetery.

Flowers were still blooming.

You can see the capital from across the cemetery.

Even though it was a little cold, it was a beautiful morning. The sun came in and out all morning. Nothing like spending a little time in a cemetery right before Christmas. I’m sure the people there thought I was crazy with my long lens taking pictures of birds. I’ve always said “Cemeteries have good birds.” Even in downtown Atlanta. I was surprised to see so many birds there. I didn’t see the red-headed woodpeckers that I had seen on my last 2 trips there. They may have been hiding. I thought I’d only be there an hour and then go somewhere else, maybe the zoo close by but ended up staying 3 hours.

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Breakfast with a limpkin family

On January 16, 2013January 4, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

I turn the corner to head down Marsh Rabbit Run trail and see the above standing in the middle of the trail. He didn’t seem spooked by me.

In fact, he walked right by me. That’s my shadow. I’ve never seen them this close before. Then I realized there were 3 others close together in the ditch below the trail. They all came up on the trail and I realized it was a family. Two parents and two almost grown babies. This was one of the late summer families.

They all seemed very relaxed as I sat down on the trail and watched them.

One of the parents brought up a snail from the ditch.

The smaller one ran under mom and waited while she dug out the meat.

Then the parent ate one herself. Doesn’t that look yummy?

The other juvenile got fed.

What a way to start the walk down the trail. I sat there for about 20 minutes watching them bring up snail after snail. This has to be the most tame family in the park. A crowd of photographers started to gather behind me and we were all amazed that they didn’t seem bothered by us. After a while the family went back down into the ditches and headed out into the marsh. I headed down the trail to see what I could find but nothing else could match that.

Rare birds for me in an Atlanta cemetery

On January 14, 2013January 15, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn Atlanta, bird photography18 Comments

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This eastern towhee was very accommodating. He just sat there staring at me.

Another towhee looking for food on the ground.

Dark eyed junco getting some food.

Upclose. The cemetery was full of these guys.

Mouthful of seeds.

Posing on the planter.

As I was taking pictures of the juncos, this white breasted nuthatch flew into a tree right in front of me. He only stayed for a few seconds and it was the only one I saw that day.

Two days before Christmas I had a few hours to kill in the morning. I headed for the Oakland cemetery in downtown Atlanta. It was cold (35 degrees is almost death degrees for this Florida person). I had tons of layers on and actually remembered my gloves which I wore the entire time I was there. Oakland cemetery is a very old historic cemetery with a few local famous people buried there (including Margaret Mitchell who wrote Gone With The Wind). When I first got there around 8:30 there was no one else around but by 9:30, people were wandering around. Tourists come to visit and locals walk through when walking their dogs. A few joggers cut through the cemetery as well.

The cemetery was full of birds but not a lot of variety. At first I thought the above were all first sightings but after digging through some old pictures when I got back from the trip, I had seen all of the above only once before and gotten really bad pictures which I never posted. I have not seen these birds in Florida, only Atlanta so I was excited to get shots of them. There were several towhees and tons of juncos everywhere. A few other more common birds were there but more on those later.

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Flying penguins in Florida???

On January 5, 2013January 5, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

I get to the City Pier and see my first razorbill as it pops up from under the pier.

He was chasing after the little minnows.

Down again after that last bite.

Giving me the eye.

All wet.

All morning they kept feeding around the pier.

After an hour, they went cruising down the beach. We (a big group of photogs) followed them.

Safety in numbers?

Bye, bye.

The first post of a razorbill sighting in Florida was around 12/7. By 12/14, razorbills had been seen at the piers at Anna Maria Island, which is about an hour south of me. Soon the Florida bird forums were flooded with sightings of them all over Florida including the gulf coast. With it being right before Christmas and me working in retail, I could not get down there before leaving for Atlanta to spend the holidays with the in-laws. We drove back from Atlanta late Wednesday night and I immediately packed up to drive down early the next morning to find them. Hubby had to go to work and was like “Why don’t you sleep in?”. I said “No way, I gotta go find those razorbills.” Luckily, they were still hanging around and may still be there until spring.

This is a rare bird in Florida. Only 14 sightings on the east coast in the history of recording bird sights. No one knows the real reason they came this far. They usually spend their summers no more south than North Carolina. Some wonder if hurricane Sandy messed up their feeding grounds and they headed farther south for food. But to be on the west coast, they had to swim down around the keys and back up the gulf. People are worried about how they will make it back home. Do they know to go back south the way they came or are they going to try to go north up to the panhandle and get stuck there in the winter? They usually don’t migrate over land so it’s not known if they will fly across.

The sightings of this bird rare to Florida has even made the local news Razor bill article.

I spent about 3 hours watching a small group of razorbills swim around the two piers there along with a large group of photographers and bird watchers. As I was leaving, I heard a young girl yell “Look at the penguins. I didn’t think there were penguins in Florida.”

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The last bird of 2012 and first bird of 2013

On January 2, 2013January 1, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography10 Comments

Yesterday a lot of people were posting their last bird of 2012 and first bird of 2013. My last and first bird has been the same for 19 years. At night when I put Buddy to bed and in the morning when I wake him up before I even open the curtains. Spikey has been number 2 for the last 7 years.

Buddy will be 20 years old this spring. This was taken on Christmas day last week while visiting the in-laws in Atlanta. Buddy and Spike always make the trip with us in the car.