Stops along the beach.

Posted on March 19, 2022 by dinajohnston

I was meeting a friend for lunch on the beach in January and threw my camera in the car to make a few stops on the way home. Since I was close by, my first stop was at the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary. It’s now run by a group of volunteers and they rescue and rehabilitate injured birds.

The sanctuary is shaded by overgrown mangrove trees and wild birds nest high up in them this time of year. Great egrets were working on fixing up their nests.

I could just barely make out baby great blue herons through all of the sticks and leaves. This nest had 2 babies and they were already growing up.

One of the first baby night herons of the season. They usually nest a little later but these guys were already almost as big as their parents.

A pretty pelican face.

This sandhill crane is one of the residents. You can see he’s missing his bottom beak. He’s well fed here.

Much farther north on the water, I stopped back by Weaver Park again. I always see parakeets here. They aren’t hard to miss, screaming so loud all of the time. Looks like they’ll be nesting soon.

The pier was pretty quiet. Mostly terns and gulls. I was hoping to catch the opsrey diving for fish but there wasn’t any here this afternoon.

Two parks in the morning.

Posted on April 9, 2020 by dinajohnston

Birds on a wire. Crazy black hooded parakeets staring down at me.

Although we have butterflies all year round here in central Florida, they are rare to find in the winter. Now more are showing up since it was warming up in late February.

Skimming the surface, looking for snacks on the water.

I rarely see Cooper’s hawks. This one was hiding off the trail.

Always fun to see the turtles. People feed them here so they are not shy.

A northern parula signing his heart out.

Limpkin with a snack.

Off the boardwalk, taken with my phone.

After leaving Largo Nature Preserve in late February I stopped by Kapok Park on the way home. It was quiet and not many birds around. I had not been here in a long time. The small lake here is lined with cypress trees which turn orange in the fall. I always forget to come here to get pictures of them. By now all of the cypress trees are fully green again but I won’t be seeing them for a while.

Eating trees

Posted on March 10, 2020 by dinajohnston

I was leaving Fort Desoto on a recent Saturday morning and I as I was driving out of the parking lot a flock of black hooded parakeets flew into the tree right in front of me. Of course I pulled over and got out and watched these guys eating leaves and bark. They blended into the tree pretty well and if it wasn’t for their loud screaming most people would not have noticed them in the trees if they hadn’t seen them fly in. They were on top of the tree and underneath it, moving around and jumping from branch to branch. I stayed for a few minutes before heading home.

Sharp teeth and flashes of green

Posted on February 25, 2020 by dinajohnston

I was at Crescent Lake Park recently and saw this guy moving fast. Darting around and popping his head up out of the water at a different place every time. It was dark and cloudy and I could not get a decent picture of him that wasn’t blurry. He only stayed for a few minutes before disappearing under the vegetation and then he was gone for good. He was chomping on something, I’m thinking a turtle. Everyone thinks they are so cute but look at those teeth. Another reason not to let your small dog get near the water in a lake in central Florida (the other is those pesky alligators).

After walking around Crescent Lake Park I stopped by the Safety Harbor fishing pier on the way home. The above parrots landed right in front of me before I stepped on the pier. They only stopped for a minute before screaming down the street.

It was cold this morning in January but people were out sailing.

Random things at Fort Desoto

Posted on October 24, 2019 by dinajohnston

Only at Fort Desoto can you find a parrot tree. They grow all over the park.

“No, I’m not going to steal your fish. “

“Or your tiny fish scrap from you, Ruddy.”

Fighting over a spot.

Out in the bay.

Watching some wild parrots.

Posted on October 13, 2018 by dinajohnston

As I was walking around the Largo Botanical Gardens thinking it was a slow quiet morning with not much to take pictures of, a flock of black hooded parakeets flew into the trees right over my head. They ignored me as I watched them preening and flirting. After a few minutes, they took off. That was the highlight of the morning.

Not much else at the gardens. I caught an anhinga sticking his head out of the water and the usual titmouse up in the tree.

Still lots of baby moorhens in July.

Those crazy green clowns at Fort Desoto

Posted on May 13, 2017 by dinajohnston

I recently spent some time watching the wild Nanday parakeets at Fort Desoto. Not on purpose of course, I was looking for little song birds that were migrating through. You can’t miss these guys. They fly in screaming. They landed in some trees right where I was standing and hung out there for a while. They were bouncing from branch to branch, hanging upside down and poking their head in holes all while screaming. After about 10 minutes they took off and all was quiet again.

Out on the beach at Fort Desoto

Posted on May 25, 2015 by dinajohnston

There are several osprey nests along the beach at Fort Desoto. Osprey were flying all around me. Adding sticks to the nest and eating breakfast. It looks like to me that the osprey in the last picture is wishing he had some tartar sauce.

This great egret was skipping the sushi and going for a little lizard tartare.

Several ruby throated hummingbirds were eating breakfast from an agave plant.

Noisy black hooded parakeets were screaming across the park.

The usual stuff at Fort Desoto Park in early May. Except the hummingbirds, those are a special thing to see only during migration.

Almost the end of spring migration – Skywatch Friday

Posted on June 5, 2014 by dinajohnston

A rose breasted grosbeak chowing on mulberries.

My first Tennessee warbler.

Bay breasted warbler. This one is fairly rare around here, even during migration.

I can’t remember what this is. Probably just a yellow rumped warbler.

American redstart.

I can’t remember what this is either. I think a red eyed vireo.

Black throated blue warbler.

Prothonotary warbler

Scarlet tanager with a snack in his beak.

I think this is a blue grosbeak. He had some brown on his feathers.

Cardinal with a half eaten grasshopper.

A nanday (black hooded) parakeet showed up in the middle of the little migrating birds. He was looking around like “What are all of these people doing in the woods?” He didn’t stay long.

It was early May and spring migration was still going on. The little birds were passing through on their way up north for the summer. Another Saturday morning with the trails packed with people. I saw my first Tennessee warbler this morning. I know I should have been more excited but really, they are all starting to look alike. Now that it’s June, not a soul is on the trails except mosquitos but the beaches are packed with tourists.

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