Tag: baby hawk

Butterflies and a baby hawk

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants6 Comments

I’m still working on my butterfly shots. The perfect place to do that is Folly Farm in Safety Harbor. There is a great butterfly garden there.

While shooting butterflies I noticed a plant that had a lot of the grasshoppers on them. It was mid-May and these guys are just starting to show up. These Eastern Lubbers will get even bigger and turn orange when they are fully grown. They can eat through plants very quickly.

The red shoulder hawk was sitting on the first tree in front of the butterfly garden.

A few trees over was the baby. The nest was in an open palm tree but the nest was pretty high up. I waited a while hoping one of the parents would come and feed it but that must have happened much earlier that morning.

Before going to Folly Farm I stopped at the mangrove boardwalk near the fishing pier for a quick walk.

It was pretty quiet. Only the usual birds were there including red-winged blackbirds and a yellow crowned night heron.

The sea ox-eye was in full bloom along the boardwalk. Also called sea marigolds, it lives in salt marsh areas. The only other place I remember seeing it is at Fort Desoto.

SkyWatch Fridaylinkup party

A baby hawk

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photographyLeave a comment

I found this immature red-shouldered hawk on top of a picnic shelter at Chesnut Park. The park is heavily populated with hawks, both red-shouldered and Cooper’s. He was really focused on something.

Close by, I heard something peeping high up in  tree and saw this fuzzball sticking his head up. A baby hawk. A tiny one.

The parent was one tree over, keeping an eye on the baby. I sat on ground for a while hoping the other parent would show up with something yummy to feed the baby but after a half hour I was hungry so I left to go home for lunch. I’m sure by now the park is full of young hawks flying around.

High up in the trees

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

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A barred owl right over the trail. He looks so curious. He’s thinking “What is that constant clicking noise down there?”

 

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A few branches over was a baby.

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A few steps down the trail, a red shoulder hawk was up in the trees.

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An almost grown baby hawk was a few branches away.

There are lots of babies growing up at Circle B Bar Reserve. Several barred owl and hawk families were along the trail in early May. Everybody was growing up fast.