Baby black necked stilts in the ditch.

Posted on July 30, 2014 by dinajohnston

Black necked stilt couple in the muck.

What are they looking at?

A baby black neck stilt.

Baby was wandering around in the puddles.

“Mom???”

A little bit older baby. Almost as big as the parent but his legs aren’t pink yet.

He was walking around looking for food.

Reflection in the water.

The water was really low in the ditch by work. This was early July before the rainy season had started. I had seen a black neck stilt family on my way to lunch one day and brought my camera to work the next day. After work I stopped at the ditch and realized there were several black neck stilt families. I think this was a record number of stilts in this ditch. All of these were taken from the car window and cropped. If I opened the door they would freak out and the parents would fly away. They are very skittish birds so I just sat in the car, took a few pictures and left.

A walk after work in early July.

Posted on July 28, 2014 by dinajohnston

Green heron on the shoreline of the lake.

I’m assuming this cardinal can see himself in the window? He kept banging on it. Maybe he could see food inside.

Tricolored heron posing for me.

A very young grackle.

A red winged blackbird.

The black neck stilt couple were still there.

So were the babies. All three were there and just a little bit bigger than the few weeks before I saw them. They were pretty far out in the reeds.

Baby duck taking a bath.

Drying off with his siblings close by.

I saw 4 baby ducks all together without any parent around. They stayed pretty close to each other. They climbed up on the bank and settled in for the night. Hopefully, a parent found them later.

Cattails in the water.

An after work walk around the lake near the office.

Check out more pictures at Our World Tuesday Our World Tuesday Graphic

Also, check out more birds at Paying Ready Attention for

Fun morning at Fort Desoto – Skywatch Friday

Posted on July 24, 2014 by dinajohnston

An oystercatcher couple were feeding along the shoreline right when I walked out on the beach.

Upclose. He was digging pretty deep.

A dowitcher also digging for food.

It was dig deep day at the beach. Even the ibis were doing it.

A snowy egret cruising for tiny fish.

Turtle nests were everywhere at the park. I’ve never seen so many nests there before. The rangers keep them roped off and has even relocated a nest if the turtle lays the eggs right in the middle of a main tourist area. Taken with my Iphone. Update – on 7/20, the park reported having 86 turtle nests there. This is a record!

A busy day for some photographers. I think they were shooting a great blue heron. When you fly down from across the country, you’re out there concentrating and getting the most for your day. Kind of like what I did when I was in Arizona for vacation. Every day was packed. It’s nice to know I can stop by here for a leisure stroll and get pictures if I happen to see something fun. The guy in the bright blue shirt is the famous photographer, Moose Peterson. I have his book Captured and love it. I stayed away from his group since I knew they were busy but I have chatted with him before in the parking lot a few years ago.

Before I left the park, I stopped by the fishing pier to see if anything interesting was going on. There’s always snowy egrets chasing after dropped bait fish.

A great blue heron staring down at me from the shelter.

Someone had asked me how I had gotten the close up pictures of the bird’s face looking down at me. I took the above with my Iphone. There are several rain shelters on the pier and the birds hang out on the roof. You can walk right up to the edge of the roof and they stare down at you. They want to know if you’re going to throw them some food or fish.

Crazy cormorant on the light post was giving me a big yawn.

Overhead, a frigatebird flies by.

“Sailing takes me away…”

Off into the wild blue yonder! The view from the end of the pier.

Another perfect hot sunny morning at Fort Desoto park.

Check out more sky pictures at Skywatch Friday

Last trip to Gatorland for 2014

Posted on July 14, 2014 by dinajohnston

Yummy snack!

This great egret was gulping down the crawfish.

This picture was taken on the 3rd floor of the observation tower. There’s a tall tree right up against the tower. The cormorants and anhingas nest in the upper branches and the snowy egrets nest in the bottom branches. I didn’t see any eggs or babies yet with this couple although the one on the left sleeping could be a juvenile. It’s kind of cool being high up in the trees hanging out with the birds.

A male and female anhinga were either fighting or flirting. Not sure which.

This great egret found a shell in the mud. I’ve only seen these shells on the beach so it’s weird that it was in this lake. I didn’t see him swallow it.

Taking off.

A cattle egret couple were just starting to nest. The one on the left looks grumpy.

They did have a go at it so there should be late eggs coming soon.

Afterwards, they ignored each other.

A male anhinga up in the tree next to the tower.

A very young anhinga that was born months earlier. It hasn’t got any color yet.

These were all taken in late May during my 2nd trip to Gatorland in Orlando. The bird rookery was still full of babies and eggs with a few couples getting a very late start. It was a nice quiet morning with just a few photographers there. Most of the winter crowd had gone. That’s because it was starting to get hot. I got there when the back gate opened at 7:30 am with my early access pass and was gone by 11am. By then all of the birds were napping. That was my last trip until next spring but I did take a ton of pictures.

Check out more pictures at Our World Tuesday Our World Tuesday Graphic

Also, check out more birds at Paying Ready Attention for

Babies on the beach.

Posted on July 7, 2014 by dinajohnston

A parent still waiting for the eggs to hatch.

Parents were staying close to the babies. Most were only a day or two old.

“What are you looking at lady?”

Sibling sticking together. The one on the left looks a few hours to a day older than the other.

Two parents, two tiny babies.

The older sibling is on alert.

“Mom, this doesn’t taste like fish.”

“I’m coming!”

“There’s no room under there for me.”

“One day I’ll be flying.”

“I’m the loudest.”

“Nap time.”

Another summer, another trip to see the baby black skimmers. Black skimmers nest right on the beach. There are several areas near me that have skimmers nesting but one area has a big flock of them that is very visible. The nesting area is roped off so people on the beach don’t walk through the area and step on the babies or eggs. It would be easy to do if you weren’t paying attention since they blend right in to the sand. The parents raise their babies right on the beach for all to watch. This was my 6th year to visit them and every time I feel like I could watch them for hours. This trip I went after work and was only there about an hour and a half. It went by so quick. I took a ton of pictures. There were so many babies this year all born around the same time. I was there for dinner time and took pictures of the parents feeding the babies fish. I’ll post those later.

Check out more pictures at Our World Tuesday Our World Tuesday Graphic

Also, check out more bird pictures at Paying Ready Attention for

The crazy baby birds at Gatorland.

Posted on July 2, 2014 by dinajohnston

Baby tricolored heron babies hiding in the bushes. These are the fun babies to watch.

Look at those faces! They were screaming for Mom to feed them.

What was this one thinking? He’s thinking “Man, I need some hair gel.”

These two looked bored. Look at those long yellow feet.

The front one is thinking “Save me, please!”

Proud parent trying to sleep. These guys were actually pretty quiet.

Two to three-day old great egrets. I don’t know what Mom was feeding them.

“Come on Mom, we’re hungry”.

This one is about ready to go, or at least he thinks he is. He’s thinking “That’s it. If Dad doesn’t bring home McDonald’s for lunch, I’m outta here.”

On my last visit to Gatorland for the season in late May, the baby tricolored herons were just getting big enough to be funny. They all have that crazy, feathers sticking up everywhere look. They are very animated and even when they are quiet, they have a personality. There were also a few late baby great egrets as well. The season starts to wind down in mid-June. All of the babies start to leave the nests. Then the parents take off until next spring.

Dina's Wildlife Adventures

Monthly Archives: July 2014

Baby black necked stilts in the ditch.

A walk after work in early July.

Fun morning at Fort Desoto – Skywatch Friday

Last trip to Gatorland for 2014

Babies on the beach.

The crazy baby birds at Gatorland.