Month: June 2013

The dolphin show at Fort Desoto

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography10 Comments

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The dolphins were active, coming close to the pier. They were stealing the fish from the fishing lines. People were not happy that the dolphins were stealing the fish off their lines. You’d see a guy realizing he had something on his line. He’d start to reel it in and then you’d see the dolphin coming up behind it. When the guy reeled in his line the fish and bait fish were gone. I wonder if the dolphins swallow the hooks. Does it bother them? They eat whole fish with bones and all so I guess it’s okay as long as they don’t get it stuck in their mouth. People on the pier get mad at the dolphins but hey, they are the ones stealing the dolphin’s food.

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Dolphin on the bottom right flipping his tail as the boat goes by. The gulls were going after any trailing bait fish that was left behind when they pulled up their nets onto the boat.

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Everybody wants to hitch a ride in a boat, including snowy egrets. They were probably hoping the guys would turn their back on the bait fish they just pulled up in their boat.

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‘Hey, get your own boat!” says the snowy egret on the motor.

Another beautiful Saturday morning at Fort Desoto.

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Baby tricolored herons at the zoo

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography15 Comments

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Baby tricolored heron looking at me.

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Was he giving me the peace sign? No, just scratching an itch.

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At first they were quiet. Then the screaming started. They must have known mom was close by.

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Mom shows up at the nest and chaos starts.

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Screaming goes on.

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Then begging.

I stopped by the zoo in mid-May to see if there were any more spoonbills hanging around. No spoonbills but there were a few nests with baby tricolored herons and blue herons. All were in the bushes and palm trees over the alligator exhibit.

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Two firsts as spring migration winds down

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography17 Comments

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Some type of yellow bird high up in the trees.

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My first black throated blue warbler.

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There were several of them at the park.

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I think this is a female cape may.

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A female orchard oriole.

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My first blackpoll warbler with a berry in his mouth.

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Another blackpoll getting ready to eat.

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My second sighting of a cape may warbler.

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Another female something?

Spring migration was winding down but I had heard there were still a few more birds at Fort Desoto so I headed down there after work one night in late April. I had about an hour and a half before dark so I stayed in one place to see what I could find there. I was at the mulberry bushes with several other people. Everyone was looking for the black whiskered vireo that had been sighted there for several days. No luck that night on the vireo but I did get some other first sightings in. There were several pale yellow birds there and everyone had different opinions about what female they were. After studying the hundreds of pages of these female warblers in my Stokes Birding Guide, I gave up. Any id’s would be appreciated.

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