Wild zoo babies

On July 19, 2017July 19, 2017 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

An almost grown great egret scratching. This one must be one of the first ones born at the zoo this spring. He still had just a little bit of baby fuzz on his head.

Very young little blue herons were waiting to be fed.

Baby little blue herons that were a little older but not yet flying. They were in lots of different stages of growing up.

Screaming “Feed Me” in Mom’s ear.

Two baby great egrets still on the nest waiting for a parent to fly in with food.

My favorite part of Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa is the bird rookery at the alligator exhibit. It’s much smaller than the one at Gatorland but it’s close to home. The wild birds come in and nest right in front of the exhibit. While all of the kids are oohing and aahing over the alligators I am busy trying to get shots of the baby birds.

Linking to Wednesday Around The World.

A few birds at Chesnut Park

On August 15, 2016August 16, 2016 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography15 Comments

The usual titmouse were all over the park.

Cardinal families were all over the park. Lots of very young ones born this spring. The young ones look scruffy with their adult feathers coming in.

There were also Carolina wrens everywhere.

The best find was the great crested flycatcher families. I saw two different ones at opposite ends of the park. Both had juveniles that didn’t quite have their adult feathers in. I don’t see these often. They stayed high up in the trees and don’t get close to look for a handout like the resident birds do.

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Yummy fish for breakfast

On July 20, 2016June 28, 2016 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

Young great egrets are being fed by mom. The parents swallow the fish and then regurgitate the fish back up into the baby’s beak. Doesn’t that sound yummy?

A young cormorant was begging mom to feed him.

The youngest babies at the park that day. They are 1 or 2 day old snowy egrets. The parents were going to be busy feeding 3 babies. You can just barely see the fish eyes coming out of the mom’s beak. Looks like she had a beak full of minnows.

All morning long the babies yell to be fed. The tiny ones like in the last pictures aren’t so bad since they are so small and don’t quite know what’s going on yet. The bigger babies such as the top great egret pictures are obnoxious. They are really loud and flap their wings until they are fed. When the parent flies over to the nest they attack them. The parents keep feeding them though. All of the above were from my trip to Gatorland in May.

They grow up so fast.

On July 11, 2016July 12, 2016 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

Scruffy looking baby egrets. I think these were snowy egrets.

Baby blue herons sticking close together.

Baby anhingas already grown up.

Tiny baby wood stork on the nest.

Baby great egrets in various stages of growing up.

I was watching this almost grown baby great egret exercising his wings. I don’t think he had fledged yet. He kept practicing flapping but never made it off the bush. He was probably gone in another day or so.

It’s fun watching the baby birds grow up in the bushes along the lake at Gatorland. The trip in late May provided babies from all stages of growing up.

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Breakfast with Mom

On May 10, 2015May 4, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography9 Comments

These moms go without a thanks or please. Just constant screaming of “Feed Me”. When you first walk on the boardwalk at Gatorland, you can hear the baby birds loudly clacking and it echoes across the lake. Mom’s are busy feeding the babies. I think in the middle pictures, the snack is a frog. The last several pictures, the snack is a lizard. I’m sure it’s a delicacy for them. For us, it would be like eating chocolate cake, except without a tail.

Babies after work.

On June 30, 2014July 1, 2014 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography15 Comments

I stopped by the lake close by work for a quick walk before the rain came down. Half way around the lake I saw this black necked stilt.

He stopped for a rest.

A few feet over in the mud, there was another stilt with 3 babies.

They must have only been a few days old.

I sat on the grass behind a tree and watched them for a few minutes. The parent started to doze off and the kids were running around exploring.

The lake was pretty dry and the babies were far out. These are all extremely cropped with my 300mm lens.

Look at those muddy feet!

The other parent flew in for a few minutes then took off again.

Then he was back again after flying half way around the lake.

Why does this parent have 6 legs? Two of the babies were hiding underneath.

One of the babies ventured back out and started walking around again.

Then the other baby came out but stayed close to the parent.

I sat behind the tree for about half an hour and then the sun was going down behind the buildings. The joggers and dog walkers probably thought I was crazy. They didn’t realize I could see these tiny babies across the lake. I hope all 3 of them make it. There are alligators in this lake and hawks flying overhead. My plan is to check back in a few weeks.

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Baby tricolored herons at the zoo

On June 24, 2013April 30, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography15 Comments

Baby tricolored heron looking at me.

Was he giving me the peace sign? No, just scratching an itch.

At first they were quiet. Then the screaming started. They must have known mom was close by.

Mom shows up at the nest and chaos starts.

Screaming goes on.

Then begging.

I stopped by the zoo in mid-May to see if there were any more spoonbills hanging around. No spoonbills but there were a few nests with baby tricolored herons and blue herons. All were in the bushes and palm trees over the alligator exhibit.

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And then there were 3

On May 1, 2013April 23, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

“Stop tickling me.” “Don’t move, I’m picking the bugs off you.”

“Hey, big sis, what is that lady doing?”

“Don’t look, I gotta pee.”

“What is that big silver thing flying up there? That is one big bird.”

“I need a stretch and a yawn.”

” I need to climb over this branch.”

“Who put this branch here?”

“Almost!”

“Bye, bye, lady.”

It was a sad sight when I got the spoonbill nest at the Lowry Park Zoo. There were only 3 babies and last weekend there were 4. I knew it was going to be tough with 4 babies growing up on that small nest. One step too far and it’s into the gator exhibit for a little baby bird. At least the remaining three seemed to be doing well. They are growing up so fast. A week after I took these I had a friend who stopped by and the three were still there. It’s still going to be risky as they start flapping their wings and branching out. They still have a long way to go. The babies are so cute though. I’m going to try to get back there at least once more before they fly the coup.

More sandhill baby crane pictures

On April 24, 2013April 3, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography12 Comments

More shots of the sandhill crane babies from my early March trip to Circle B Bar Reserve. Sitting on the trail for almost an hour, watching them walking around looking for food, I took way too many pictures. After a while one of the babies plopped down and was trying to nap. It was a quick 3 minute nap since the parents kept moving and the baby hopped back up and kept up with the family.

Pink baby cotton candy balls

On April 2, 2013April 2, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography21 Comments

“Brother, you are wrong. This is not food.”

“Everybody wake up. Time for our morning stretch.”

“Look at my face! Isn’t it the cutest?!!”

“Too many mouths to feed. I gotta shake it off.”

“What are doing Junior? Showing off again?”

“Mom, when are we gonna eat?”

“I’m the oldest.” “Stop shaking the nest.” says the ones sleeping.

“How is this going to work?”

Four baby spoonbills at the alligator exhibit at Lowry Park zoo! Two years ago there were three babies in the same spot, although they are a couple of trees back this year. None last year so I guess they are making up for lost time. I had posted about seeing the mating here back in early February. I finally got a chance to get back to the zoo to check on the nest and there were four babies! At this point they were getting big fast. All four looked pretty healthy. These parents are busy. I was only able to spend a little over an hour there and the other parent did not come back with food while I was there. I’m going to try to get back in the next two weeks to see how big they get and if all four make it. There’s not much room on that nest and big alligators are waiting below.

The babies stayed busy stretching and preening but they weren’t all awake at the same time. One would stand up and stretch and lay back down. Then a few minutes later another would stand up. I don’t think this parent is getting much rest. It looks just like a big pile of pink cotton candy up there.

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