Fuzzy baby is getting big

On October 21, 2026September 29, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photographyLeave a comment

Yes, I made many visits to the great horned owl’s nest in May since it’s so close to were I live. It was so great seeing the little baby grow up. One morning I got there a little later and he was fully awake and making so many funny faces. He was very curious looking around at the birds going by and people walking their dogs nearby.

Mom was just a little higher in the tree and she was showing off her big talons while scratching an itch.

Big baby’s talons were getting big.

Mom was watching all of the joggers and dog walkers go by as she kept an eye on baby below.

Dad was high up in a tree nearby.

Taken with my phone and zooming in from across the grass, you could barely see the baby (yellow arrow). The tree curves over the parking lot and the rangers had that part roped off.

This is the above shot extremely cropped up.

Mom was on the top left looking down on baby and baby is barely visible on the bottom right, behind the moss.

Turning around, the view of the waterfront while the sun was coming up.

Neighborhood critters stopping by the eagle nest

On October 19, 2026October 19, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals1 Comment

I realized I had not finished posting the final chapters of the story of this year’s eagle nest in my neighborhood. These were all taken several mornings back in March while I was at the nest early in the mornings. One morning it was foggy and when I first got to the nest I could see a doe down along the utility field.

Half an hour later as the fog was lifting several more deer showed up. They spent some time playing before heading back into the tall reeds. I’m pretty sure they saw me so I’m not sure if they were showing off for me or they do this every morning.

The baby eagles were almost fully grown and they were being vocal this morning.

Mom was higher up in the tower and was screaming at something.

The new boyfriend had landed on the nest with some food and one of the babies grabbed his leg with his beak and was pulling on him. Max, the father had died a few weeks before (hit by a car) and Mom had found a new boyfriend, Mickey. The babies were still not letting him get on the nest yet. Of course they think he is an intruder even though Mom doesn’t care.

A few days later the babies were working on their wings and the oldest was getting some air. The younger one wasn’t getting as high but had climbed a little farther up the tower. It always makes me nervous at this stage because if they get too much air and fall off the nest they don’t have the wing strength yet to get back up. Several years ago this happened and the residents living here called Louise, the eagle rescuer to come get the baby and take it to a rehabber. Since this an electric tower they can’t put the baby back up on the nest since they would have to cut off the electricity to a big part of the area for a while to get it back up.

I turned around and saw this lady staring at me.

One morning a flock of glossy ibis flew by.

The deer couple came walking by. I had seen them a week earlier.

Watching the sun go down behind me one afternoon.

Stay tuned to see if the babies start flying.

Life on the dock.

On October 17, 2026September 29, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I was back out on the dock at Chesnut Park in mid-May looking for the baby purple gallinules. At first I just saw the adults above. Both parents were running around the big spadderdock leaves looking for food.

I finally got a quick glance of the little black fuzzballs but they were far away and kept hiding under the big leaves.

A juvenile little blue heron was also creeping around in the muck looking for food.

A male wood duck flies in.

There are lots of turtle hanging around under the dock.

Becoming friends.

Blooming along the boardwalk.

Around the yard in early May

On October 14, 2026September 24, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

The shell ginger plants in the front yard were blooming in early May. I saw the hummingbirds feeding on them several times but was not able to get a picture from the window and if I went outside they would fly away.

House finches have become regular daily visitors to the backyard.

A young cardinal looking for bugs.

We still had a lot of northern parulas visiting the yard but they disappeared for the summer. I took the one in the window with my phone but when I went out to get a shot with my camera he took off.

Stubby, the tufted titmouse that is missing a foot, has become a regular visitor to the backyard. He looks for bugs on the ground, eats from both the seed feeder and the mealworm feeder and gets a drink from the bath. It’s hard to get a shot of him because he doesn’t sit still long. He grabs a worm and he’s gone. I can now spot him by the way he flutters his wings when he’s hanging on with one foot.

A pileated woodpecker high up in our oak tree. I was outside with my camera when I spotted him. He also doesn’t hang around very long.

The female ruby throated hummingbird sitting high up in the oak tree. She flies up to a few different spots after getting a sip at the feeder.

This guy was in the front yard with a snack.

Little critters included an underwing moth (I took with my phone through the window), an orchard orbweaver spider (We have a lot of these in the yard. They are harmless and eat bugs including mosquitos.) and a striped horse fly that I took outside and through the window (only the females bite and they are painful).

One morning a turtle was digging a nest in our backyard, right under our window. I took this through the window because I didn’t want to spook her. She dug a hole but then left without laying any eggs. She eventually made her way back to the pond on the other side of the fairway.

Summer skies from the backyard.

Beauties and a beast

On October 12, 2026October 4, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

Swallowtail butterflies were the most common on the morning I was at Sweetfields Farm in Brooksville. The farm has a huge zinnia field and before picking some of them to take home I spent some time taking pictures of the butterflies.

A painted lady butterfly.

A fiery skipper.

Cloudless sulphur butterflies were also common but they rarely stay still for a few seconds.

A zebra swallowtail butterfly.

Gulf fritillary butterflies are common here but they look so pretty on pink.

A bella moth or also known as a rattlebox moth. I rarely see these.

A quick video of the butterflies flitting around in a smaller zinnia field near the sunflower maze. They were hard to catch since they were all constantly moving.

Lots of tiny critters as well.

Swallow tail kites are common around farm fields and cow pastures. There were several that were flying over the sunflower festival. Don’t look any further down if you don’t want to see nature doing it’s thing.

I was standing on the edge of the farm watching the kites fly high over the trees that bordered the farm. I noticed one kite had something in his talons that he was eating. Swallow tails eat while they are flying. I was bummed that I was having to take these into the sun since I couldn’t get any farther over due to the fence line.

When I got home and super cropped this up I could see his snack was a baby bird. Possibly a blue jay or mockingbird. He might have snatched it out of a nest. I usually see them eating dragonflies or lizards so it was a little disheartening to see what he had but it’s a circle of life. I did see this once before when Brett was with me and he calls them the “mean” birds now.

A fuzzy captivator

On October 10, 2026September 19, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

In mid-May I was still visiting the baby great horned owl at the nearby park. He (or she) was getting big but still had all that fuzz.

It was warm this morning and he was panting. It’s captivating watching him just sitting and looking around.

He was doing his morning stretches.

His swivel head was activated.

He turned around and faced the other direction. Everyone scooted over to see him and he was watching us move.

Both parents were nearby. Mom was on a branch just over baby and was looking down on him. Dad was high up in a tree hanging over the parking lot.

Fun farm animals

On October 7, 2026October 2, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants, Tampa bay sights9 Comments

The face of a happy cow being hand fed sunflowers at Sweetfields Farm in Brooksville while I was there for the sunflower festival.

Some of the other farm animals. You could pet the cows and feed the goats.

The gopher tortoise had a big home near the sunflower maze.

It’s always fun seeing baby chicks.

The view of part of the sunflower maze from the treehouse. Yes, I climbed up there with my camera since it wasn’t very high up and there were stairs.

Shots of a portion of the zinnia field. I brought home one of each color.

Shots of the barn.

Sunflowers in the parking lot area.

Remembering Italy

On October 5, 2026October 6, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn VacationLeave a comment

Flying into Italy last year. We had such a great time on our two week visit to Italy this time last year. We were supposed to go to Maine this year but I had a knee injury (torn meniscus) in late May and had surgery in late June so we pushed our plans to next year. The surgery went well but physical therapy and getting back to long walks is taking months. Brett and I were looking back at the 500+ pictures I took and I realized there were so many I didn’t post. Below are some of the different shots other than the iconic sights.

I took these from the train going from the Rome airport into Rome. The landscape here was beautiful.

Shots from the bus trips to different cities in Tuscany.

We passed the “House of Gucci” headquarters twice on the way to Florence.

More views from the bus as we drove through La Spezia on our way to Cinque Terra.

Train shots on our way back from our day trip in Naples to Rome.

Bright colors in the windows along the streets in Florence. So many things to look at as we passed by.

A lampredotto stand in Florence. They serve sandwiches with cow’s stomach. Stanley Tucci talks about this in his Italy tv series. Luckily we didn’t have the time to try it. 😜

Their version of pizza slices to go. We saw this everywhere.

A fabric shop and a wine shop in Chianti. My Dad loved chianti and those odd shaped wine bottles reminded me of him.

A spice shop in Florence that you could smell from the sidewalk.

Lots of critters at the marina

On October 3, 2026September 16, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

It was just me and my shadow out at the Dunedin marina early one morning in May.

A pelican was drying off on the post while a great blue heron looks on.

Another great blue heron was enjoying the quiet on the damaged dock.

A frigatebird was cruising high above.

I came to check on the osprey babies. They were not babies anymore. They were fully grown but still sitting on the nest.

One of the babies was flapping hard, working on his wing muscles.

Dad flew in and landed on a post nearby and started feasting on the big fish. He ate a good bit of it before taking it to the nest for the babies to finish with Mom.

The nearby purple martins were busy bringing in dragonflies to the babies.

Some were bringing in moths.

A female purple martin keeps an eye for her mate.

A few days later I took a walk down the neighborhood side street next to the marina. I heard what sounded like a baby woodpecker screaming right as the Dad came flying in with food. There were two babies in the tree and they were almost ready to leave the nest. I was bummed I only had my phone with me.

I stood there half hiding behind a bush for a while as both parents flew in with food. Those babies have a very distinct cry.

An anhinga was far back in a mangrove bush trying to tenderize his breakfast before swallowing it whole.

A house finch was singing for his mate on a sailboat mast.

Butterflies, birds and blooms

On September 30, 2026October 8, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I hadn’t been to Chinsegut Wildlife Area in Brooksville in over a year. I was hoping to see some migrating birds but since this year has been mostly a bust that didn’t happen. It was cloudy when I first got there but the clouds moved on quickly.

I saw lots of butterflies on the trail including a common buckeye, many zebra swallowtails and a skipper.

The local sandhill crane couple came by for a snack. They usually have almost grown babies with them but a ranger told me they only had one this year that got hit by a car.