Fun things in Safety Harbor

Posted on April 29, 2024 by dinajohnston

It was a beautiful cool morning in February when I headed out to Folly Farm in Safety Harbor. I didn’t think there would be a lot of birds there but I can usually count on seeing little flying critters.

There was a red shoulder hawk sitting right out in the open in the middle of the butterfly garden. He was all fluffed up and looked a little chilly. A few minutes later I saw him fly over to a palm tree next to the nature center.

I could see a nest and another hawk sitting in the nest.

The other hawk kept flying back and forth with sticks, bringing them to the nest. He found a big one on the roof of the nature center and it took him a while to figure out how to fly it over to the nest. He first tried to pick it up with his beak but he couldn’t balance it so eventually he realized he could take it over in his talons.

After a bunch of trips with nesting material he took a nap in the top of the palm tree.

On my way home I stopped at the fishing pier in Safety Harbor for a walk.

There was a lone ring billed gull down in the muck under the pier.

The fountain in front of the marina.

The pink trumpet tree on Main Street was in full bloom.

A stop at Swan Lake on the way home

Posted on April 27, 2024 by dinajohnston

While my sisters were visiting in late February we drove over to Disney Spring early for some shopping (mostly looking though and getting a good walk in) and lunch. We decided to break up our 2 hour drive home by stopping at Lake Morton (aka Swan Lake) in Lakeland and get out to look around. There were only 2 baby swans from a black swan couple but there were a lot of nests.

Redheads and ring neck ducks are easy to find in the winter. There were several that were swimming close to the edge of the lake.

A young ring billed gull sits on top of one of the swan food feeders that sit on the edge of the lake. He looked pretty with his matching pink feet and beak.

The usual skittish wood ducks were coming close to the edge of the lake as well. One walked right up on the grass in front of me.

Balance act.

The small pod of white pelicans were still there, napping and preening on the brick wall.

The pink trumpet tree was in full bloom.

A 2nd look at the western flycatcher.

Posted on April 25, 2024 by dinajohnston

I went back to Sand Key Park (in Clearwater) in early February to see if I could spot the rare western flycatcher that has been hanging around there for several months. I had heard it was still there but finding it wouldn’t be easy. I didn’t get there super early. It was after 8 and just a few minutes after I arrived I saw it in the bushes. On my last trip I briefly saw the back of it and then searched for it for an hour without seeing it again so I was happy to see it so quick this trip.

There were usual birds there as well. A lot of catbirds and blue gray gnatchatchers.

After finding the flycatcher so quickly I decided to leave and stopped on the causeway to get a short walk in over the bridge. Halfway up I stopped and took the above. Sand Key is on the left of the bridge in the distance and Clearwater Beach is on the right.

Since I was in Clearwater I stopped at Lake Bellview. I heard there was a canvasback duck there. It would not have been a lifer but I haven’t seen one in years. All I could find was redheads and ring neck ducks.

I did find a gadwall (the gray one in the middle) floating around with some ring neck ducks. I haven’t seen one of the those in years.

A 3 stop morning

Posted on April 20, 2024 by dinajohnston

I was on my way to Crescent Lake Park but stopped at nearby North Shore Park first to get a glimpse of the sun coming up over the bay. It was a beautiful morning in late January but also chilly and there wasn’t any birds on the beach.

I saw the white pelicans right when I got to Crescent Lake Park. Only about half of them were still there and I was thinking they would be gone before I made it back down here again. Luckily a few of them were right at the edge and I was able to see them close up.

I stopped at the Safety Harbor fishing pier on the way home. It was cloudy when I first got there and I saw the above common loon far out in the bay. A little later when the sun came back out I was hoping to get a better shot of him but I couldn’t find him again.

Brown pelicans were diving for fish and the laughing gulls were right on them when they came up with a mouthful of fish hoping to steal some of the fish.

Later when I was editing the pictures I realized one of the pelicans had a big scrape on his head. I went back out there the next morning but didn’t see him. He might have hit it on the pier if he was diving too close. I heard that happens to them at the Sunshine Skyway fishing pier.

Zooming in on Tampa across the bay.

I saw these horned grebes from far away and waited forever for them to get closer. They seemed to be heading towards the pier as they went under to get the fish. The few times I had seen them before this winter at the pier they were like little pin dots far out in the middle of the bay so I was glad they were getting closer. I haven’t seen them again since this visit.

Babies and sunset

Posted on April 18, 2024 by dinajohnston

Almost 2 weeks after my first trip down to Fort Desoto to see the baby great horned owls I was back at the park. It wasn’t as cold and windy this trip. The babies should be much bigger and I thought I would be able to see them quickly but I didn’t at first.

Mom leaned over and out popped one of the babies from under her wing. The babies at this age are pretty funny looking, almost like an alien.

Baby was looking up at Mom as she was preening.

I walked around to the side to see the baby better but I was shooting straight into the sun. And, I was standing in the woods and getting eaten alive by no-seeums (they are worse than mosquitos. They don’t seem to be bothered by bug spray).

A little farther over and I could see the younger baby. It was late in the day and after waiting around forever to see if they would be fed I gave up and decided to go over to the beach for the sunset.

I drove over to the gulf pier area just as the sun was going down below the trees.

I had not been here in a long time for the entire sunset and it was beautiful out.

I did not get back down to the park before the babies grew up and fledged. I heard there were huge crowds at the nest so I skipped it this year. It was nice to here the babies did well though and left.

Someone was having fun in the blasting wind.

Posted on April 15, 2024 by dinajohnston

It was really cold in early February. I was headed to Fred Howard Park for a cold walk and didn’t think I would see many birds but I threw my camera in the back anyway. I saw a “gulp” of cormorants out on the rocks along the causeway and after my walk I stopped on the way out to shoot them all resting. The beautiful ring billed gull was a bonus.

Cormorants were flying back and forth and another ring billed gull flew in.

My walk started out on the tiny beach at the park. I walked the little parking lot loop and then started out for the long causeway.

I was on my way back to the beach end when I saw a lone kiteboarder in the water. It was really windy so he had better know what he was doing. I could barely stand up as I walked into the wind back to my car.

He was getting some air.

A short video of him flying through the air right by me (maybe he was showing off?). He makes it look so easy. I took this and the above with my phone.

I made a quick stop at nearby Sunset Beach. I think this is the smallest beach in the Tampa Bay area. This is the entire beach. It was too windy to look for birds so I headed home.

My first eagle passenger

Posted on April 13, 2024 by dinajohnston

An early morning transport had me driving an injured red shoulder hawk and a black vulture from the Raptor Center in Brandon to Penny, the rehabber, in south St. Pete. I didn’t get a picture of the vulture. He was in a box and was jumping around a lot so didn’t want to open the box. I think he was being released soon.

A few days later I got an emergency call to see if I could pick up an injured eagle that was being rescued. It was only 15 minutes from my house so I jumped in the car and met George from Birds In Helping Hands who had just grabbed the eagle. The eagle had been on the ground in someone’s backyard and they called it in.

George put the eagle in a crate and put it in the back of my car. My first eagle passenger put up a little fight at first so I thought he might be okay. The entire drive to the Raptor Center I was hoping it wasn’t rat poison which would have been bad. When I got to the Center and Nancy went to take him out of my car we realized he did not survive the trip. I was crushed, fighting back tears. His crop was torn wide open so he hadn’t eaten in a long time. Nancy thinks he must have eaten a fish with a big fishing hook in it and it tore through.

The rescues and transports continue. A huge white pelican was rescued in someone’s yard by Carol (on the right) and brought to the nearby Raptor Center. I met her there and then transported it to the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary. Two hawks (in the boxes) made the trip as well and went to Penny on the way home.

There’s a constant stream of screech owls getting rescued. This was found on the ground not too far from my home and I got it from Barbara, the rescuer, and drove it out to the center.

February 1st brought another trip to a rehabber with a red shoulder hawk and a crow. Most of the birds are quiet in the car but that crow was cawwing all the way there.

Baby squirrel season had already started here. There were 3 in the box. The one mostly covered under the towel had no fur yet. There were 2 tiny bats that were found on the ground as well. Bats can carry rabies but it’s very rare for a person to get a rabies from a bat. I didn’t open the box. Penny opened it when I got to her home. She’s been vaccinated for rabies and rehabilitates bats.

A few days later I transported a great horned owl with a bang on his head and an injured beak and a turkey vulture that was sick.

Two days later another box of baby squirrels went to Penny. This box also had a tiny baby bunny in it (on the orange).

A wood stork with a broken wing also made the trip. He was heading to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park to live once he healed.

In the middle of February a sick sanderling was found in central Florida. Someone brought him into the Raptor Center and I drove him from there to the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary out on the beach. They are experts with rehabbing shorebirds so he was in good hands.

The sick/injured wildlife never ends here so I have more to share but I’ll save that for another post.

The usual suspects on a cold morning.

Posted on April 11, 2024 by dinajohnston

Mr. Grumpy (great blue heron) greeted me when I got to the Largo Nature Preserve in early January. It was chilly so that might have been why he was fluffed up.

Blue-gray gnatcatchers were everywhere.

A limpkin was across the pond and had a snack.

The pied grebes were still being cute. I don’t often see 2 together.

It looked like they were having a spat over something.

A little later I saw one of them with a big crawfish.

The pretty grackle was yelling at me for being on his boardwalk.

I found an alligator in a corner of the pond. The first shot up close is with my camera and the 2nd one is with my phone so I wasn’t too close. Plus, I was on the boardwalk.

The sun was trying to come out as I walked around the boardwalk. It was a little chilly this morning and I was thinking I might not find too much but you never know.

Having a ducky morning

Posted on April 6, 2024 by dinajohnston

In mid-January I stopped at Largo Nature Preserve to see if any new winter ducks were there. The preserve is a great little park just off a crazy busy main road. It’s quiet once you get on the trail and every once in a while I find something different here. There were a lot of pied grebes along the ditches. They are common here in the winter.

You can always find mallards here.

The find this morning was the northern shovelers that were bathing and feeding close to the trail. They are usually skittish and paddle away when they see someone coming but they just ignored the traffic on the trail this morning. There were males in both bright colored breeding feathers and in the drab brown non-breeding feathers.

There was also some females sticking together farther down the trail.

A cold Tarpon Springs walk

Posted on April 4, 2024 by dinajohnston

You know it’s winter here when you see the water plant in Tarpon Springs full of ducks. There are mostly redheads but also a few scaup and ring necked ducks mixed in.

The few times I stopped by in the morning they were all sleeping but I caught a few bathing and shaking off one morning.

I saw one female bufflehead in the mix.

Heading farther north to Craig Park I saw 2 eagles sitting on a tower. I pulled over and took the above. When I was heading home later they were still sitting there. I’m assuming they don’t have a nest since both are spending the morning on the tower.

When it’s cold the bayou in Craig Park fills up with manatees staying warm.

All was quiet and calm the morning I was there in early January. The boats were still in the water from the Epiphany celebration a few days earlier where the high school boys dive in and try to be the one to retrieve a cross thrown in the bayou. The celebration (in remembrance of the baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordon river) is over 100 years old. I attended it back in 2022 and you can read about it in my post here.

Dina's Wildlife Adventures

Category Archives: bird photography