Finally saw that duck

Posted on February 6, 2023 by dinajohnston

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.

Posted on January 14, 2023 by dinajohnston

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.

Alligator Alley trail is back open.

Posted on March 21, 2019 by dinajohnston

Birds up high.

A few down low.

Wild hogs hiding in the bushes. Not sure where the term “pigtails” comes from?

One of the main trails, Alligator Alley, was finally back open after closing in September of 2017. When Hurricane Irma came through, the trail was washed out and a lot of damage was done to that part of the park. The raised trail across the marsh was finally rebuilt and it was great to walk down it again in late January.

Out on the dock you could see the bald cypress trees going bald for the winter.

I can still see you

Posted on March 21, 2018 by dinajohnston

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”

Posted on January 1, 2018 by dinajohnston

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.

My favorite little birds.

Posted on February 27, 2017 by dinajohnston

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.

Common and uncommon birds at Chesnut Park

Posted on December 12, 2016 by dinajohnston

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).

A blue-gray day

Posted on November 12, 2016 by dinajohnston

The blue-gray gnatcatchers have invaded us for the winter. They are everywhere. They are easy to hear and spot. They have a very distinct high pitch and are constantly on the move so you can see them bouncing from branch to branch. I have a ton of pictures of these little birds and always say I’m not going to take any more but they are so cute. There were a few at Lettuce Lake Park recently that were very accommodating that came very close to the boardwalk and posed for a few seconds at a time. Any blue-gray day in a park is a good one.

Linking to Saturday’s Critters

Going home with “warbler neck”

Posted on November 2, 2016 by dinajohnston

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.