Baby owls and some ibis on a sunny morning – Skywatch Friday

On March 28, 2013March 7, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography13 Comments

One baby was facing me and the other one (on the right) was turned around.

The older baby (on the left) was stretching her wings.

This nest is so tiny. They were up against each other the whole morning. Mom was close by on an upper branch.

Out on the beach, ibis were digging for breakfast.

Double dipping. An ibis and a great egret were feeding together.

I found the above birds at the north beach marsh. The tide was really low this morning.

It was another perfect morning in late February.

The beach was quiet. The water was calm.

Lots of shells on the beach.

By now the baby owls at Fort Desoto are flying around from branch to branch. I heard that the park ranger has taken down the orange fencing that went around the area where the nest was which means they have fledged. They grow up so fast. I think they’ll still stay in the area for a couple of months so I’ll look for them next time I’m at the park. There weren’t many other birds at the park. It was cool and windy so the north beach was lacking in shorebirds. I could only find a few ibis and great egrets that morning. Spring break has begun and the beach will become a different place, full of loud kids chasing birds. Can’t wait.

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A sad picture but happy ending.

On March 27, 2013March 7, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography9 Comments

These beautiful loons only stay in Florida for a few short months during the winter.

I caught one busy getting his own fish.

He was gulping them down, one after another. Then the below happened.

A loon had gotten caught in fishing hook and the fisherman was pulling him up on the pier. At least the fisherman next to him had told him not to cut the line, to pull him up and get the hook out. It’s better to use a bait net but they pulled him so fast no one had time to get the net. I ran over to the corner and shot the above quick right before he came up on the pier.

A volunteer from the Tampa Audubon was there and helped get the hook out. The hook came out quick and the loon was released back into the water.

This pelican was not so fortunate. He has fishing line stuck somewhere on his body. He was on the other side of the pier that is not accessible.

A few other sights on the pier that morning. And we wonder why they just cut the line instead of pulling up the bird. They can’t even bother to pull up their own pants.

If you missed the story the Tampa Bay Times posted on this issue that I attached in my last post, here is the link again. This not new news. I found this article from 2010 about the same subject.

Baby eagles flapping their wings.

On March 26, 2013March 26, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography18 Comments

“Am I doing this right?”

“Is this the standard eagle pose?”

“Do these wings make my butt look big?” (says the baby eagle if it’s a she).

“Man, the chicks are gonna dig these.” (says the eagle if it’s a guy.)

“I have lift off.”

“Quiet down, I’m trying to sleep.”

“Kids!”

Above is a short video of the baby eagle flapping his wings. I stopped by the nest on a cold windy day in mid-February. Both babies looked good. By now they are around 2 months old? I’m not sure when they hatched. Only when I could see them peeking over the nest so they could be close to 3 months old. By now they are flying far away.

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A new bird at the Sunshine Skyway fishing pier

On March 25, 2013March 25, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

My 2nd trip to the Sunshine Skyway fishing pier to look for the rare kittiwake was successful. I parked my car near the end of the pier (you can drive on this pier since it used to be the old bridge) and got out of my car thinking I was going to spend hours looking at every bird flying by for it. Well, it was sitting right outside my car. I took this from my car window.

He had a friend, the royal tern, standing next to him.

Many birds were on the pier even though it was a windy cold morning.

After watching him for a few minutes, he stood up. By now several other photogs were standing there taking his picture.

He flew off.

Snowy egrets were hitching a ride on a fishing boat.

Sleepy pelican.

The rare kittiwake sighting in central Florida comes at a price. Because the two birds (yes, there were two at first) picked a busy fishing pier, one of them got caught in a fish hook and sinker and died about a week after they arrived. A birder happened to be on the pier and saw the rare birds and posted it on a bird forum. Hoards of birders came from all over the state to see the birds. Several people saw the bird swallow the sinker and get hooked and posted the event on the bird forum. Not to mention all of the hooked pelicans, loons, gulls and terns that they saw. Because the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary is not taking in injured birds due to financial issues, they did not respond to the numerous phone calls they got. A new bird rescue group is starting up and hopefully they will be able to help save many of the injured birds there. More on injured loons later.

An article about the recent kittiwake death and all of the injured birds at fishing pier from The Tampa Bay Times can be found here.

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Sandhill crane babies at Circle B Bar Reserve

On March 18, 2013March 30, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography29 Comments

Here’s mom with a dirty beak. Always keeping her eye out for any birds of prey flying around in the sky.

Yummy bug for breakfast!

Taking turns eating.

“I get the next bug.” “No, it’s mine.”

“Mom, there’s not a bug under my butt.”

“I hate being wet, don’t you?”

“This stick does not taste good.”

Coming back down the trail later, I saw this. It feels like these people are too close. I know the birds are pretty tame and use to people being on the trail but can they get too tame? Most people were across the trail from the babies and the babies were running around being curious and walking right up to people. I heard later that one of the babies sat down on a person’s foot. I know the guy above in the middle had a 500mm lens but chose to use his short lens and sit really close to them. Families were walking right up to them and taking pictures with their camera phones. The cranes could just leave and head out into the marsh but that marsh is full of mean and hungry alligators so I think it’s better if they stay on the trails but I felt a little off that people were getting so close. I only had my fixed 300mm so I kept having to get up and move back. Maybe the crowds of people will keep the hawks and eagles away. Anyway, they were so cute and fuzzy. And funny and curious. They picked up every stick and checked out every bug. I took a ton of pictures so I’ll post more later.

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Baby blue is growing up – Skywatch Friday

On March 7, 2013February 27, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography14 Comments

I walked down the trail and see this up ahead. Mom and baby blue staring off into space. At this point, the baby looks just like the parents.

He’s still got those baby fuzz feathers on his head.

His beak is as big as the parent’s. He’s begging to be fed.

Staring down from high up above.

The baby really wants to be fed. He kept grabbing Mom’s beak. Mom’s thinking “Your dad better hurry home with that fish.”

Doing a little house cleaning. Baby was copying whatever Mom was doing.

I think the baby was 8-9 weeks old at this point. Several weeks after I took these I saw a video of him flapping his wings pretty hard. By now he’s probably flying off. I’m not sure how long they hang around the nest continuing to be fed. It was great seeing this big baby grow up after no baby last year. Right across the trail from this nest is a barred owl nest so I’ll be heading back to this same spot a whole lot more.