A road trip across the state.

On May 25, 2026May 11, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants, Vacation1 Comment

In mid-January Brett and I had a long weekend in Orlando. We were meeting up with some friends on Saturday night but came over early Friday afternoon and went to Disney Springs for a walk and had an early dinner there. We didn’t go to a theme park since we’ve done them so many times over the years. Disney Springs is free and a fun place to walk around and have dinner.

So many beautiful colors in January. This was before the big freeze in early February. We spent the morning at Leu Gardens. We have never been here before and it was a nice place to walk around and luckily a lot was still blooming.

This butterfly posed for me while I took this with my phone since I didn’t bring my camera on this trip.

The historic home at the gardens was built in 1888 and had 4 different owners. The last was Harry P Leu who gifted the house and gardens in 1960.

The statue shows a worker picking citrus. The 2nd owners grew citrus trees on the property after the land had been farmed for many years.

You can tour the house and it was cool to see the historic furniture. The bathrooms and kitchen had been somewhat updated and that yellow bathroom looked like it was stuck in the 60’s.

A cold winter morning at Chesnut Park

On May 23, 2026May 11, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals3 Comments

I briefly saw the 2 point buck when I got to Chesnut Park in early February.

There were lots of ladies in the back of the park.

I stood still waiting for these ladies to pass me. They were so close I took the above with my phone.

The only wintering birds I saw were yellow rumped warblers.

Titmouse are here all year long. They come close hoping for a handout.

It looked like winter when I looked up in the trees.

Ginger, the domesticated duck that was dumped at the lake a few months back, was still hanging around the dock and seemed to be doing well.

You can usually find purple gallinulles along the dock.

We only see coots in the winter. It’s funny to watch them eat the vegetation in the lake.

The sun was trying to peak out on this cold morning. The wind was blasting on the top of the observation tower and I could see ripples in the water.

A cold afternoon with some birds on the beach

On May 20, 2026May 7, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

While my sister was visiting in February we stopped by the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary. The sanctuary is a hospital, rescue, rehab and release facility that admits around 3500+ injured birds a year. About 46% are successfully rehabilitated. You can always see a lot of wild birds hanging around the sanctuary, hoping for a free snack.

Checking out the resident pelicans. The residents all have permanent injuries and have a home here.

Wild great egrets nest in the tall trees over the sanctuary. I could hear some babies clacking high up in the tree that I couldn’t see and some adults were still building nests.

Great blue herons also nest here and this nest had a baby (follow the yellow arrow). He was still pretty small and I could just barely make out the fuzz on his head.

This couple was still flirting.

Wild pelicans also nest high up in the trees. They might be former rehabilitated patients or babies that were born here and released.

The wild pelicans are pretty docile and will walk right up to you (hoping for a handout). I took the above with my phone.

The sanctuary is right on the beach and they have a 2 story deck with a great view. The only reason this beach was not busy was because it was cold the afternoon we were there (high of 45 degrees).

A wild black vulture was trying to hide from me on the top deck.

The sanctuary had massive damage from the hurricanes in late 2024. They are still rebuilding enclosures and trying to catch up. You can read about the damage and see pictures here.

Around the neighborhood in early January

On May 18, 2026May 11, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals1 Comment

Another foggy morning in the front yard in early January.

The winter birds were coming to the suet feeder every day including pine warblers and yellow throated warblers.

Annoying blue jays are always around but I don’t see them take a bath often.

At some point I realized that black bellied whistling ducks were hanging around the pond across the street. I would hear them whistling in the morning or near the end of the day. The pond is shaped like a big square and there are houses on two sides (woods on the far back side and the front side runs along the street in front of our house). I think they must have been sleeping here. Some mornings they would take off and come back right before dark. Some days they were here most of the day. I was able to sneak over and hide behind a tree and get some shots of them.

They would spend the morning flying back and forth across the pond and chasing each other around. They would get water and hang out with the ibis. I rarely saw them swimming in the water (aren’t ducks suppose to swim?). Later in the month I counted over 30+ here and I took tons of pictures of them so more on them later.

An anhinga swimming by me wondering why I was hiding behind the tree.

I always keep my eye out for the gators. I’ve seen 2 in this pond.

A snapping turtle came up on the grass while I was watching the ducks.

Flowers blooming around the yard before the cold spell hit.

I saw the neighborhood coyote couple again. They were in the same spot where I saw them last summer. This time I had my camera in the car as I was leaving the neighborhood. It was early on a Sunday and there were no cars behind me so I was able to get some good shots of them as they crossed the street in front of me again.

They are such a handsome couple although I would not want to be walking by myself at night and come across them.

Birds at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park

On May 16, 2026April 29, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

I saw lots of birds during my visit to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park in January. Kingfishers were still hanging around (they are only here in the winter). This one was posing nicely for me although this shot was heavily cropped.

A few migrating birds passing through included a redstart and a blue headed vireo.

I usually see pileated woodpeckers when I’m here.

Ibis in a dead snag.

A typical Florida scene, a great blue heron on a fallen tree.

Wild night herons hang out here.

A few of the permanent residents include roseate spoonbills and a rare white morph great blue heron.

Wood ducks nest along the river here and occasionally they hang out in the park.

The flamingos were sleeping.

Not a bird but a red fox eating some yummy vegetables for breakfast.

Manatee mosh pits

On May 13, 2026May 14, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals7 Comments

When my sister was visiting in early February one of the tourist things we did was spend a morning at the Manatee Viewing Center at the Tampa electric plant. The warm water that is generated by the plant is discharged into the canal here in the Tampa bay and in the winter the manatees gather here to stay warm. Above is the view when you first step out on the big viewing deck.

There’s another big deck farther down the canal where you can watch the manatees swim by as they come and go into the canal. All of those dots in the water are manatees. The grating on the right that juts out into the water is where the warm water comes out. There are several of these.

Zooming across I could see a small rainbow to the left of the palm tree from water being sprayed.

Manatee mosh pits. One had his snout turned up as he rolled over. There are hundreds of manatees here when the weather gets cold. The morning we went it was 38 degrees which is crazy cold for Tampa. The manatees seemed to huddle together to stay warm.

A few of the manatees as they passed close by the deck. The one in the bottom shot had barnacles along his neck.

A shark swims by.

Ibis flying by.

This tricolored heron was trying to catch bait fish.

Some of the artwork at the entrance. This is a fun free outing to do in the winter. Whenever my sisters are here in the winter we try to visit. This was the last morning my sister was here and luckily it was sunny (although cold) because the weather had not been great most of the week.

After spending the morning watching the manatees swim by we heading to Ybor City to have a yummy lunch at the Columbia Restaurant.

“As The Eagle World Turns”

On May 11, 2026May 11, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photographyLeave a comment

This is Margie and Max. They have a nest in my neighborhood on a utility tower. Margie has been nesting here around 10+ years. She lost her mate, Major, in early 2024 and Max showed up later that spring and flirted with her. They both came back that following fall and had 1 baby in early 2025. The above was taken in the fall of 2025 when they were working on rebuilding the nest. They had 2 babies that we think were born in late December.
(Louise from Project Eagle Watch gave the parents the names. Babies are not usually named but get a number.)

Looking down the utility field I can see one of the parents hanging out on a tower farther away.

This was Margie calling out to Max in mid-January. Max was hit by a car right by the nest and Louise, who rescues eagles, was able to get him but he did not survive. Margie spent several days calling out for her mate. Now she was going to have to leave the 2 babies alone and go out by herself to get the food several times a day.

This was the first time I was seeing the babies on the nest. They were finally big enough to see them peeking out. Mom seemed to be doing okay but she had to have been exhausted feeding them alone.

A week later the babies were getting big and starting to flap their wings hard, although they still just had pin feathers. Another male started hanging around nearby but Margie wouldn’t let him get near the nest yet. More to come on him.

I get to see a lot of other wildlife as I wait for the baby eagles to wake up. Kestrels also spend winters in this same area. The kestrel above was sitting on a bat box along the utility field. He flew down and caught a cricket to eat.

More kestrels on the wire and tree nearby.

A red shoulder hawk flew into the tree and started yelling. He didn’t stay long.

A cute little tufted titmouse with a sunflower seed from a nearby feeder.

It’s always fun when the parakeets fly in. This nanday parakeet was feeding on the seed ball.

Where wild Moms raise their kids

On May 9, 2026April 22, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals6 Comments

Moms raising their kids on the ground. A brown thrasher feeding her almost grown baby and starlings babies begging for that worm.

A tiny Mom, the ruby throated hummingbird, raising her baby in a tiny nest the size of a golf ball high up in a tree.

Moms raising babies up in trees include the pileated woodpecker and great horned owls.

These Moms raise their babies in rookeries, often high in trees or bushes over ponds with alligators to keep the babies safe from snakes and raccoons. These are roseate spoonbills, snowy egrets, great egrets and little blue herons.

Raising babies near water and often with many kids to keep up with include mute swans, limpkins, wood ducks and geese.

Skimmers and oystercatchers raise their babies on the beach.

This is one tough Mom. Since Pinellas county is so overpopulated most eagles nest in utility towers or cell towers. There are only a few out of 40+ couples that are in trees. This single parent Mom, in my neighborhood, lost her mate this winter when her babies were just starting to grow up. She raised these babies alone, getting food for them non-stop all day. She did get a boyfriend later on to keep her company. I’ll have more on this eagle soap opera later.

Big critters raising their babies in the woods.

Walking through a shower

On May 6, 2026May 6, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

We were getting a lot of fog in the mornings in early January. I made a trip to the nearby Oldsmar pier for a quick walk. I felt like I was walking in a cold shower as I walked out on the pier.

Land looked a little blurry from the end of the pier.

The very end of the pier was still fenced off since the hurricanes took out the tip of it. I have heard that the city recently repaired it and the end is open again so I’ll have to check it out soon. Looking out over the water I couldn’t see land across the inlet.

The sun tried to peak out but then it got foggier.

Birds all lined up in the fog as I stopped at a store on the way home.

Fun things under water

On May 4, 2026May 4, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals6 Comments

I had such a clear view of the fish that I felt like I was snorkeling without getting wet. Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park has an underwater viewing bowl. It was heavily damaged during the hurricanes in 2024 and was just recently renovated and reopened. The glass was so clean and unscratched and the water here in the springs is also clear as I watched them swim close to the windows.

At one point the fish were parting and a wild manatee came right up to the window.

Up on the dock that is over the river, I could see people kayaking with the manatees. There are roped off areas where the manatees can escape to if there are too many people around. There are also volunteers in kayaks that make sure that everyone is respectful of the manatees.

One with an injured tail goes floating by the dock. The tail was probably hit by boat motors.

A Mom with her young one was also near the dock. The water in the springs stays warmer than out in the open water in the gulf so manatees come here in the winter to stay warm. The Wildlife Park also rehabs injured manatees until they are well enough to be released.

Is he trying to hide under that tiny leaf on his head???

Most of the animals here are injured or displaced wildlife. This beautiful piebald deer was found as a baby without a Mom and was raised here. She was looking up at me as I stood on the raised deck over the huge deer area. I found some information on piebald deer that you can read here. Less than 2% of white tail deer have this and most with extreme white fur don’t survive long. Hopefully she can live out a long life here.