Tag Archives: barred owl

Ending the year and starting another with injured birds

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Look at that beautiful face! This poor barred owl had been shot but was making a quick recovery. In late October I picked him up at the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay in Brandon and drove him down to a rehabber in St. Pete. Soon he will be ready to fly free.

A vulture also made the trip. Penny was pulling him out of the back of my car and checking him over. He was found sick and should be released soon.

So many vultures were either sick or getting hit by cars. They feed in the roads eating roadkill so they are sometimes risking their lives for a meal. No one slows down anymore. I made several trips to pick up injured turkey vultures to take to rehabbers in early November.

The above river cooter had been hit by a car Thanksgiving week. A good samaritan picked her up and brought her to the Raptor Center. Overnight she laid an egg. The next morning I drove the cooter and her egg to the Swamp Girl Adventures near Orlando.

This poor red shoulder hawk had an injured eye. Someone found him in their yard and brought him into an emergency vet who called the Raptor Center. I picked him up right away and drove him to Penny in south St. Pete.

The week of Christmas this common loon was found on the ground in the middle of Florida, no where near water. Loons winter here in Florida but in water. I see them often in the gulf or bay on my walks. Loons don’t have the ability to take off from land so if they are on land they are stranded for some reason. He might have gotten blown off course by a bad storm that had recently hit Florida.  I drove him from the Raptor Center to Seaside Seabird Sanctuary on Indian Shore beach. They are loon experts and will hopefully have him swimming in the gulf in no time.

I had some time before heading home so I did a quick walk around the seabird sanctuary and followed the above pelican out to the beach. The sanctuary gets a lot of wild birds hanging around looking for a free handout. It was a beautiful but cold windy morning so I got a very rare shot of an empty stretch of beach.

I made a quick trip back to Penny, the rehabber, on Christmas eve with another injured vulture.

The day after New Year I drove a great horned owl that was about to be released down to Penny’s as well as a tiny bat that was found on the ground in someone’s yard. He was named Pop Tart because he was brought in to the Raptor Center in a Pop Tart box. Bats can’t take off from the ground. They need to drop down a few feet to get lift before taking off so if a bat is on the ground it’s probably sick. They eat their weight in mosquitos every night so they are very beneficial to have around. Many people put up bat boxes in their neighborhoods to keep the insect population down. We have a box nearby and I love going out to get the mail right before dark and seeing they flying around.

A hot morning walk with the usual critters

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All of the usual big birds were at Chesnut Park for my morning walk in late June (anhinga, yellow crowned night heron, limpkin).

The wood duck babies were almost fully grown.

Birds were flying overhead (royal tern, osprey).

 

Things were blooming in the swamp.

Deer and bunnies were easy to spot.

I don’t often see barred owls here but this one was very visible, taking a nap along the boardwalk.

 

A cardinal was eating the seed that someone had left on the boardwalk.

A short walk at the “turtle park”

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I decided to visit the small McGough Park to see if there were any migrating birds in the trees behind the turtle pond. Of course I had no luck on the birds but the pond is always full of turtles. Many were already coming out on the bank to soak up the sun early this morning.

It’s easy to see how the park got it’s nickname “The turtle park”.

There are also gopher tortoise hidden along the trail and if you look on the ground through the trees you might find one wandering around.

A green heron posing for me.

I was sitting on a bench under a tree and this Carolina wren came down next to me and started singing. I didn’t even have to crop this shot.

The park is also home to some permanently injured birds. They are well cared for here and I was able to see this screech owl (missing an eye) on his daily walk with his care taker.

This barred owl is Eugene and was also out for a walk with his care taker. He’s missing an eye as well.

Eagles, owls and deer, Oh my.

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My first eagle sighting of the season. He was hanging out near the restrooms at Chesnut Park. He didn’t stay long, taking off towards the lake. It was mid-August. I didn’t realize they come back that early.

I had heard there was an owl sitting at the end of the boardwalk so I quickly walked down to the end thinking he would probably be gone by then or I wouldn’t be able to find him. There he was, sitting almost eye level. He sat there for a while as I snapped a ton of pictures. He was checking out critters on the ground and I was hoping he would swoop down and catch something but that didn’t happen.

I was walking on the back boardwalk and came across a Mom and her baby. As the Mom was feeding the baby was walking around and walked over to it’s sibling.

I had found the twins. It was interesting to see them both licking each other.

After walking around for a while I came back to the back boardwalk and one of the babies was still sitting there with the sun coming through the swamp. The other twin and Mom were feeding behind some trees.

All kinds of critters.

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Tussock moth caterpillars are fairly common in late March but I’ve never seen this many at one place. I usually only see one or two. At the Florida Botanical Gardens the boardwalk was full of them. I tried to keep my distance as I was taking pictures of them. While they are pretty and cool looking, they can leave a nasty rash if you brush up against them. I kept checking to make sure one hadn’t fallen on my backpack.

They turn into these coccoons before turning into a moth. The leaves on the palm trees around the boardwalk were full of these as well.

White peacock butterflies are very common but I think they are pretty.

After leaving the botanical gardens I headed to nearby McGough Nature Park to look for migrating birds. I first stopped at the turtle pond and saw two turtles climbing a tree. They got about half way up before heading back down.

I also watched this raccoon climb up a tree and then head back down.

The bottle brush trees near the entrance were in full bloom. I stopped to snap this butterfly and then heard the faint sound of hummingbirds whizzing by.

There were 4 hummingbirds feeding on the two trees. They were only feeding on the back side that hangs over the lake so it was a challenge to get them feeding. They would rest high up on the front and then go back to feed.

After standing there for an hour I only got the above two shots of them feeding. It was very frustrating to watch them fly to the back of the trees and disappear.

They have several resident injured birds that live on the property, all taken care of by volunteers. This barred owl was watching his person talking to him. He seemed to understand every word she was saying. They were sitting outside in front of the turtle pond.

It was still a little early for migrating birds so I didn’t find any of them.

Circle B Bar Reserve

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I caught the barred owl just waking up from his morning nap at Circle B Bar Reserve in early March.

An osprey hovering close to the trail.

My favorite tree twins in the middle of the lake. Here it still was missing it’s leaves. Bald cypress trees lose their leaves in the winter here in central Florida.

The sun was already high up in the air by the time I walked down Marsh Rabbit Run.

A quiet early walk at Circle B Bar Reserve.

Hot morning walk in August

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I could barely make out this barred owl high above me in a tree. A few seconds later he flew off farther into the woods, chasing after Mom.

Later I was walking the back boardwalk and heard a weird howl. I was looking high up in the trees thinking it was an injured squirrel but couldn’t find anything. Then I looked straight out into the swamp and the juvenile owl was sitting right in front of me. He’s still got baby fuzz around his head. I couldn’t find Mom but I’m sure she was somewhere close by.

Nearby was a squirrel with a snack.

Not many birds around in early August.

I had heard there were twin fawns at the park. After looking all morning I saw them for a second deep in woods.

A doe resting near the boardwalk.

Pink and green on the trees after the rain.

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

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This was our first trip to this park, just outside of Naples,Florida. It has trails and boardwalks that goes through a swamp in central Florida. I was hoping there would be more birds here since it was the end of April and spring migration was still going on but the boardwalk was pretty quiet.

One cool thing about the park was all of the old trees which kept the boardwalk shaded.

It wouldn’t be a swamp with alligators but it was fun seeing the otter near the boardwalk.

Views from the boardwalk taken with my phone.

After the park, Brett and I left Naples behind and headed home to Tampa. I wanted to take some pictures of the Sunshine Skyway bridge as we drove over but the love bugs were so bad that our windshield was covered in them. The funny thing is that our car wasn’t nearly as bad as other cars and vans that had come from much farther south. Of course, Brett washed the car as soon as we got home.

 

Twins

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Mom was napping close to the trail.

The barred owl twins were close by, very curious about everything.  They were checking out every bird, butterfly or bee that came by. They were only a short time away from fledging, days or maybe a week.

A ruby throated hummingbird was sitting on a nest near the nature center. It looked like a bug sitting on top of a golf ball with the naked eye.

The squirrels were being their usual cute selves.

A walk through Lettuce Lake Park in late March.

They get no respect

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There was a small fish kill on the lake due to the freeze we had for several nights in January. Even thought it got just below freezing here, the fish aren’t use to the cold and there was a small amount of fish floating near the trail per the last picture. The clean up crew (vultures) at Circle B Bar Reserve moved in quickly and were dragging the dead fish up on the trail and feasting away the weekend I was there. They didn’t even bother to move as we walked down the trail.  Just kept eating.

The trees were full of fat and happy vultures.

Several alligators were up on the trail. The vultures didn’t move away when the alligators came up.

This was Momma pig right before she had her babies when she was hanging around the nature center. She walked by so close I could only get her face in. She has since had a litter. More on that to come.

The barred owls were still hiding under the palm tree in mid January. They have since moved to the nest in the hole in the tree.

Vultures are usually plentiful at Circle B Bar Reserve but in mid January the place was covered in them.  They were in the trees all along Marsh Rabbit Run Trail and along the trail feasting on the dead fish. The smell was a little ripe in some places but they were busy cleaning up the place. I went back several weeks later and there was no sign of any dead fish.