Take a walk with me

Posted on September 28, 2023 by dinajohnston

It’s been a hot summer with little rain. Most days looked like this. Sunny with no real chance of rain (at least the rain lowers heat). I went out early for a short walk on the causeway, hoping for a breeze.

The water was so clear you could see the little bait fish swimming in between the old concrete pillars.

The north side of the causeway has never been nice but now it’s really full of dead seaweed. I wonder if this is part of that big 5,000 miles of sargassum seaweed that was floating out in the Atlantic Ocean and heading for Florida.

Walking over the bridge I was almost eye level with the terns diving for fish.

The south side of the causeway was nice and clear.

A kiteboarder goes cruising by.

After my walk I headed over to the marina to see if there were any dolphins or manatees swimming by.

A pelican sits on the corner of the pier and for a short while no one was bothering him.

I could see a dolphin fin breaking the water (just below the red sign) but I couldn’t find him again after I snapped this. He must have turned around and headed out under water.

My favorite great egret was there on the floating dock, trying to catch bait fish through the hole.

There’s a live camera on top of the restaurant next to the pier (it has a minute or two delay). I pulled it up on my phone and screen shot the above of me standing there leaning on the pier (in the blue shirt on the right). I had the pier all to myself this morning, no fishermen or joggers stopping by.

Road trip across the state

Posted on September 25, 2023 by dinajohnston

In late July I headed out to the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay in Brandon to transport some critters to a rehabber in St. Pete. Penny lives down in south St. Pete and helps with the over flow of critters. She rehabs and has a team that releases them. In the back of my car I had 4 baby mockingbirds, a baby woodpecker, a box of baby opossums and juvenile osprey.

A week later the call went out for a transport that would be double stops from Brandon to areas near Orlando. One of the critters was a swallow tail kite. He had an injured wing and the best place for him to get better was at the Avian Reconditioning Center in Apopka, not quite 2 hours east of Brandon. They have huge flight barns that he could fly around in to build back up his muscles. I never thought I would have a swallow tail kite in my car!

A baby kestrel was also going to the Avian Center.

But first I had to stop in Mt Dora, almost 2 hours northeast of Brandon ( and then 20 minutes to Apopka from there). A baby racoon and a box of 10 squirrels (all different ages) were going to the Wright Rescue Ranch. There were so many baby squirrels getting separated from their Mom’s that the rescue ranch is taking them in to help them grow up before they are released. We had a heating gel pad in the box to keep them warm on the trip. Many of the babies didn’t have fur yet and get cold quickly. I love the way they all cuddle together.

Since the trip would be a little long, Nancy fed the littlest one before I left. He was so cute holding it with his little feet.

I stopped halfway to swap out the heated gel pad for a hot one and they all woke up. The bigger ones started climbing around so I had to be quick and swap out the pad.

I got to the Avian Reconditioning Center much earlier than my last trip so I took a few minutes and got out and walked around. You can see some of the big flight barns in the back.

The center houses a handful of permanently injured birds and the volunteers were out sitting with them. One of the volunteers was holding a red tailed hawk. It looked like they were having a serious conversation.

There were 2 owls sitting out. The barred owl in front was missing an eye. The great horned owl in back had a wing injury and they both are great surrogate parents to lost babies that come to the center.

I walked around the back of the tree and saw the eagle sitting farther away.

He couldn’t see out of one eye and tilted his head to look at me. I stayed pretty far back and these are all cropped up shots with my phone. It was finally time to make the 2 and half hour trip back home but it was nice to spend some time with these guys.

Sitting on the back deck

Posted on September 23, 2023 by dinajohnston

In late May I spent a Saturday morning sitting on the back deck behind the Chinsegut Conservation Center. I wasn’t expecting to see many different birds but was hoping a few might still be migrating through. House finches are common here during migration.

I got a quick glimpse of an Eastern towhee.

All the usual birds that I could have seen in my backyard were there. Bluebirds, chickadees and downy woodpeckers were plentiful.

Here’s something I don’t see anywhere near where I live but I always see them here, a red headed woodpecker.

I was packing up to leave and I saw these out of the corner of my eye. A pair of Northern bobwhites came cruising through the back deck area. They stopped by the tiny pond for a few seconds and then headed into the bushes.

They were really skittish and disappeared quickly.

The view heading out on the trails. I didn’t walk too far this particular morning since my foot was still bothering me. It was nice to come and sit out on the deck for a while and watch all of the wildlife come through.

I otter get out here more often.

Posted on September 18, 2023 by dinajohnston

I made another trip to the Roosevelt Wetlands in mid-May. The summer heat had set in but there was still a slight breeze early in the morning. I snapped a few small critters right when I got out on the trail in case I didn’t see much of anything else.

I think this is a type of partridge pea plant. There was a lot of this growing on trail.

There were a few black necked stilts in the pond and I meant to get back there later in the summer to look for baby ones but I never made it back during baby season.

The juvenile little blue heron was digging deep to get food. He was molting into his blue adult feathers and the pattern was really pretty.

What was that head popping up in the water? It was an otter. I hadn’t seen an otter out in the wild since January 2022. There were two of them and they were moving fast across the pond. I couldn’t keep up with them.

I lost sight of them and then a few minutes later I saw them crossing the trail and diving into the other side of the pond. They disappeared quickly again and I saw them pop up on the other side of the pond and head into the reeds.

I feel like I’m never in the right place at the right time but these two kildeer walked right in front of me on the trail and started getting frisky. Another reason to get back here in the summer to see kildeer babies and I missed this one as well.

Across the pond there were two moorhens fighting.

That juvenile osprey was still on the nest. She looked up from her snack and gave me the “don’t come near me and steal my fish” stare.

Even though it was already crazy hot it was a nice morning to be out on the trail. There was quite a bit of action for such a tiny reserve.

Flamingo frenzy

Posted on September 16, 2023 by dinajohnston

I’m jumping ahead to a recent phenomenon that has taken place in the Tampa Bay area. We were lucky again when Hurricane Idalia was heading for us. I found this quote when Hurricane Ian happened last year “It’s possible to be heartbroken and thankful at the same time.” It applies again when Idalia came roaring past us and directly hit some small towns in the big bend of Florida. So many of us sat and watched the tv wondering if our electricity would go out when it started to storm. We watched in horror as towns north of us got slammed. Although there was a lot of flooding in our area from the storm surge and homes along the beach areas got a lot of damage, in general most of the Tampa area was spared.

Besides the flooding, the storms brought a lost visitor to our area. American flamingos were being sighted all over the Tampa Bay area. Until the hurricane, the only place you could see wild flamingos were in the Everglades and the Keys (there was a lone flamingo living in the panhandle at St. Marks Refuge that was lost there during Hurricane Michael in 2018). Someone saw 16 flamingos at a park nearby but the park was closed and I was not able to get up there the day after the hurricane (to sneak in and see them along with other birders). The next day they were seen on Treasure Island beach. I went a day later and they were gone. Then some were seen at Fort Desoto Park. Seven were seen early Saturday morning but I did not make there until that afternoon.

I got to the park around 3:30 and walked out on the beach and saw one lone flamingo up at the northern end of the lagoon. I snapped the above before hiking along the beach just in case he flew off before I got there. He’s a tiny speck of pink to the left of the umbrellas.

He stayed in the same spot for 2 hours and fed.

There were tons of shorebirds and other water birds feeding but none got too close to the flamingo.

Zooming out I could barely see a guy across the lagoon also taking pictures. I wasn’t alone on the beach side. There were tons of people that had come to see them.

Standing out in ankle deep water you could see how far away we were from the shorebirds and the flamingo was just as far so the above are all cropped up.

Two days later there were 3 seen at the park so I got up in the dark and drove down to the park. When I got out to the beach there was still only one flamingo and he was even farther north.

I was debating whether to start the long walk up to the north end of the beach or just go home and the flamingo flew across the lagoon and over to the marsh behind the mangroves. He was so far away.

The big crowd started heading toward the marsh. I followed, still trying to decide if I should head home or at least go look for other birds. The flamingo was taking a nap right up against the mangroves. I didn’t make it over as far as the above people did. I turned around in the muck and left. People had driven all across the state to see them and they were just glad to catch a glimpse of him sleeping. I was glad I had seen the one a few days before.

A few days later the flamingos were gone from the park. But, some had been seen at different areas all over the state. We’re hoping they are safe and all end up back home at some point but it was great to see even one wild one nearby.

New birds in the muck

Posted on September 9, 2023 by dinajohnston

Roosevelt Wetlands is a small reserve right next to the waste plant. It has a great trail that runs across the lake and is usually quiet. Just don’t go when the wind is blowing towards the reserve. I got there pretty early and first saw 2 skimmers skimming along the lake.

It looks like this moorhen bit off part of a lily pad.

A kildeer flew close by.

Some wintering birds were still there in early May. A sora rail and a spotted sandpiper.

Cute duck family.

A lesser yellowlegs was creeping around in the muck.

Two new birds in one shot. A white rumped sandpiper on the left and a semipalmated sandpiper on the right. These aren’t super rare birds for this area but for some reason I kept missing them. They were also creeping around in the muck.

A least sandpiper was also with the new birds. I had not seen one of these since 2012.

Another shot of the white rumped sandpiper.

A little sandpiper party.

Another shot of the semipalmated sandpiper.

I finally saw the gull billed tern. He flew by really fast and this was the only shot I could get of him. He circled around the pond and then left. He isn’t an exciting bird but a new one for me.

The only new bird I didn’t see that was sighted there before was a stilt sandpiper. Maybe next time.

A lot of old birds and a new one

Posted on September 7, 2023 by dinajohnston

In early May I headed down to Fort Desoto Park for one last trip to look for migrating birds. I had heard there were some new birds there. The first bird I find is a hermit thrush, not a new bird for me since I had one in my backyard all winter.

I did find a new bird. This gray-cheeked thrush looked a little like the hermit thrush but was a little bigger. It looks like there were 2 of them at the park, one near the ranger’s house and one at the east beach turnaround.

The bay breasted warblers above are not new but I haven’t seen one since 2018. They were staying deep in the bushes and were hard to get.

I have only seen a golden wing warbler once before in 2016. This one was hanging out at the east beach turnaround and was pretty skittish. We (meaning me and about 20 other birders) were standing far away on the other side of the road waiting for him to show up.

There’s been a lot of scarlet tanagers (above is a female) and indigo buntings at the park this spring.

While we were waiting for the golden winged warbler to show up this female ruby throated hummingbird put on show for us. It was feeding on the dandelions and I was sitting on the ground so it was fairly easy to get a shot but we were still far away.

I walked quickly past this osprey sitting on the trail. I didn’t want to get pooped on.

It was a beautiful morning looking for birds. Spring migration was winding down but there was still a lot of birds there this morning.

Cranes and old houses

Posted on September 4, 2023 by dinajohnston

It was early May and I was heading up to the Chinsegut Conservation Center to see if there were any migrating birds. I wasn’t sure if I would see sandhill cranes there. I hadn’t seen any there since early 2022. I was sitting quietly on the bench behind the nature center, waiting for birds to come to the feeders and this family came cruising through the area. They slowly walked around looking for bugs to eat. It was fun watching the two young ones acting like toddlers.

They were not shy and walked really close to me. I pulled out my phone and snapped the above.

I left the nature center and was heading back home on a back road when I saw more sandhill cranes out in a cow pasture. I pulled over and snapped a few shots of them and realized they were eating bugs off the cow poop. Yum!

I had heard there was a haunted house in nearby Brooksville so I made a quick stop. The May-Stringer house is said to be the most haunted house in Florida. You can read all about the house here. The house was built in 1855 and went through many owners before it was sold to the Hernando Historical Association in 1980. It was beautiful on the outside and they were closed the day I was there so maybe I’ll get back here and take a tour.

There is an old grave on the backside of the house.

The Saxon Manor house is another old historic home that was built in 1877. It’s now a wedding/event venue. There’s a lot of great old houses in Brooksville. I’m going to try and get back up here in the winter and do a tour of the old houses.

More baby critter rescues

Posted on September 2, 2023 by dinajohnston

At the end of June I made a transport for Raptor Center of Tampa Bay. Injured or lost baby birds were still coming in and needed to get to a rehabber in St. Pete. This one was a small load. A baby mockingbird, a sick kestrel and 2 loud baby crows made the trip. Those crows were cawing the entire ride to St. Pete.

The 4th of July was going to be a stay at home and relax kind of day but the call came out for a much needed transport. I left Brett watching sports on the couch and headed to Brandon. Those baby opossums were so cute! She was holding the smallest “runt” of the litter, checking to make sure it was warm enough to make the trip.

Nancy from Raptor Center posted this on the Facebook page with the stories of what happened to these babies.

A week later I was at Moccasin Lake Nature Park waiting to take a baby kestrel to Apopka. The Avian Reconditioning Center in Apopka is a great place for lost baby raptors to grow up and get released. They had just received another young one so the one I was taking would get a “sibling” to grow up with. While I was waiting on the kestrel I walked around for a few minutes and checked out some of the permanently injured birds that live there. The eagle was found with a bad wing injury and is not able to be fully flighted. I was surprised to see the swallow tail kite there sitting on the perch at the front of the cage. There were 2 in the exhibit as well as a Mississippi kite (which is a rare bird around here).

The baby kestrel was ready to go and I stepped in the kitchen for a minute and got to see the meals going out to all of the injured birds. Doesn’t that look yummy (don’t look closely at the bowls if you are squeamish)? I looked away from the cart and noticed an adult kestrel sitting on the desk. I’m assuming he got his breakfast first.

This tiny baby kestrel was making the 2 hour trip to Apopka. This was my first trip to the Avian Reconditioning Center. It’s a huge place with big barn size flight cages on the property. I wish I had taken some pictures but it was so hot and they were busy so I dropped of the little one and left.

Lots of birds on the trail

Posted on August 31, 2023 by dinajohnston

I had not been out to Roosevelt Wetlands since last summer. I forget what a cool small reserve this is. I had heard there were some new birds there so I went for a short walk in early May. The raised trail down the middle of the pond is full of Indian blanket flowers and they were in full bloom.