Sunrise through the pink grass

On January 20, 2025February 5, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

At the beginning of November I went to the Roosevelt Wetlands to look for the northern harriers that had showed up for the winter. The last time I was at the wetlands was in early October and the muhly grass had not turned pink yet. Muhly is a Florida native plant and turns pink in the late fall. We had it growing across the back of our house in Tampa since we had full sun there but we don’t really have a good place to plant it at our townhome. It’s more shade than sun. I miss seeing the pink.

The sun was just peeking out as I walked out on the trail. The muhly grass looked pretty through the sunrise.

Farther down the trail I saw a usual winter visitor, a spotted sandpiper (his belly has spots when he’s breeding in the summer). We don’t usually see them here with their spots on.

Other usual birds included a blue gray gnatcatcher and a loggerhead shrike.

A red-winged blackbird was sitting still for me.

The goldenrod was still blooming.

The sun was up when I made my way back to my car.

Looking through the pink.

I didn’t see the harriers on this trip but I eventually made it back and found the male, more on him later.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

The usual suspects on a cold morning.

On April 11, 2024April 4, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Mr. Grumpy (great blue heron) greeted me when I got to the Largo Nature Preserve in early January. It was chilly so that might have been why he was fluffed up.

Blue-gray gnatcatchers were everywhere.

A limpkin was across the pond and had a snack.

The pied grebes were still being cute. I don’t often see 2 together.

It looked like they were having a spat over something.

A little later I saw one of them with a big crawfish.

The pretty grackle was yelling at me for being on his boardwalk.

I found an alligator in a corner of the pond. The first shot up close is with my camera and the 2nd one is with my phone so I wasn’t too close. Plus, I was on the boardwalk.

The sun was trying to come out as I walked around the boardwalk. It was a little chilly this morning and I was thinking I might not find too much but you never know.

A new bird on a full moon

On February 10, 2024February 1, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

At the end of October I heard there was a new bird in town. A Wilson’s warbler had been sighted at the Largo Nature Preserve. I had never heard of this bird being anywhere in the Tampa bay area. For several days there were tons of people posting sightings of it on Ebird so I finally made it to the preserve.

I took a quick trip around the boardwalk and noticed the moon’s reflection in the water so I took a shot before it went all the way down.

I went to the spot where the Wilson’s had been sighted and saw a few birds hopping around in the brush. I noticed the above with some yellow but I realized it was a Nashville warbler which was also a great migrating bird.

I didn’t wait long for the Wilson’s to hop into sight. A new bird for me. He’s almost all yellow with a black cap on his head. He was easy to spot mixed in with the titmouse and blue gray gnatcatchers. After those few minutes of fun seeing the new bird I went for a walk around the park.

A young purple gallinule was in the pond. This was the first time I have seen one here.

It seemed late for ducks to be mating but I guess since it was still so warm that mating season is almost all year round here in central Florida.

Seeing blue with a blue jay and a blue gray gnatcatcher.

Butterflies were still around.

A cutie on the trail.

A tiny bit of fall with the red leaves coming out.

Finally saw that duck

On February 6, 2023January 24, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

I headed over to the Dunedin causeway to look for the elusive black scoter. I had recently driven down to south St. Pete to look for him without any luck. Then a few days later I hear there is one right at the causeway nearby. The first thing I saw was this turkey vulture eating a fish that must have washed up on shore.

The dark clouds had started to move in so it was hard to tell what was floating around out there. The two above were a pair of cormorants.

Was this it? No, I realized as I cropped it up on my camera. Just a common loon but still a cool find.

There she was. The black scoter that I could finally add to my list. She was pretty far out and these are extremely cropped up but she counts! Not a pretty duck by any means. I would have probably thought it was a female lesser scaup if I wasn’t paying attention. She’s a fairly rare duck but there were two sightings in two weeks. Unless, she’s the same one that was down south that ended up here.

The rocky beach on the north side of the causeway was littered with these fish. This was at the end of December when red tide was creeping north up the beaches. Luckily it didn’t hang around too long and is gone.

I stopped at nearby Possum Branch Preserve for a quick walk since I hadn’t been since May. It’s too hot and void of birds in the summer and I missed fall migration due to my shoulder surgery. I was meeting Brett for lunch so I didn’t stay long but it was good to get out there and walk the trails.

I saw this ibis with his lunch as I was leaving.

A 3 park morning.

On January 14, 2023January 11, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

It was early December and I was ready for another morning out with my camera. My first stop was the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo. I ended up only taking a few pictures while I was there. I was busy looking for birds of which I found none.

I left the gardens and stopped at nearby McGough Park to see if there were any birds there. No birds but a lot of other critters. The bees have taken over this owl nest box.

A few of the turtles in the turtle pond.

Some of the permanently injured animals that live here (the nature center here houses animals that cannot be released back into the wild). Both owls had injured eyes.

On the way home I stopped at the Largo Nature Preserve and did find a few birds here. You can usually find limpkins along the boardwalk here and they are use to people walking by. This one was sitting on the railing and made no attempt to move as I walked by. This is not cropped.

Not surprised to find the usual birds here. A blue gray gnatcatcher, a black and white warbler and a yellow rumped warbler.

Another usual bird, a pine warbler, was pigging out on caterpillars. He ate several while I was snapping and I was lucky enough for him to show them to me.

I can still see you

On March 21, 2018March 21, 2018 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Lots of birds hiding in the fog at Circle B Bar Reserve in early February.

Linking to Wednesday Around The World

New Year’s Day “Name that bird”

On January 1, 2018January 2, 2018 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

Female belted kingfisher (Males do not have the brown stripe across the chest).

Female red bellied woodpecker (Males have full red on his head).

Male common yellowthroat (Female does not have the black mask).

Limpkin

Crazy green heron.

Blue-gray gnatcatcher.

Female ruby throated hummingbird (Males have a bright red stripe across the chin).

A very young white crowned sparrow (a fairly rare one here).

A young red shoulder hawk (very common around here).

All taken on a recent visit to Circle B Bar Reserve.

Our World Tuesday Graphic image-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

My favorite little birds.

On February 27, 2017February 28, 2017 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

My favorite little titmouse coming to check me out.

My next favorite blue-gray gnatcatchers. They would be my favorite but they are so annoying the way they don’t sit still for a second.

Other usual birds at the park: white eyed vireo, cardinal, eastern phoebe, female red winged blackbird and the always present red bellied woodpecker.

It’s hard to ignore the cute squirrels.

Stuff at Chesnut Park in early January.

Our World Tuesday Graphic image-in-ing

Common and uncommon birds at Chesnut Park

On December 12, 2016December 13, 2016 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

Above are some of the common birds you see in the winter here. An Eastern phoebe, a catbird, a black and white warbler and a blue-gray gnatcatcher.

Another common year round bird, the pileated woodpecker. Most of the time I usually hear them screaming from high up in the trees. This one came down a little closer.

A house wren is not that common.

Yellow throated warblers are common in the winter but they tend to hide up in the palm trees and under the palms.

I think these are all pine warblers.

Not a common bird for me to see, a black capped chickadee. There were several high up in the trees near the boardwalk.

A very strange but not uncommon bird flying over the lake.

Lots of little birds flying around Chesnut Park in early November (a few big ones too).

Our World Tuesday Graphic image-in-ing Life Thru the Lens Link Up | Lisa Kerner | Simple Living Photography

Going home with “warbler neck”

On November 2, 2016October 30, 2016 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Summer tanagers were posing for the crowd.

Black and white warbler with a bug.

Redstart hiding in the shadows.

Blue gray gnatcatchers eating bugs.

A rare yellow billed cuckoo was the star of the day. I had seen one once before at Circle B Bar Reserve but there were many birders there that had their first sighting of one. He was high up in the tree but everyone was able to get a good shot.

The one of many palm warblers that hang out here in the winter.

White eyed vireos will be common to spot this winter.

I was told the two above were Nashville warblers. Can anyone confirm?

A brief glimpse of a Tennessee warbler.

My first Philadelphia Vireo. He was hanging around the cuckoo.

“We got fall out!” was the term used on the bird forums. Fort Desoto Park was covered in birds that had stopped for a rest on their way south for the winter in early October. I got to the park around 8am and many people already looking up in the oak trees at the picnic area. I spent several hours taking tons of pictures and had “warbler neck” from staring straight up into the trees for so long. A nap after lunch got rid of that. It’s not often you get a day where you can stand under a tree and see so many different birds.