In the yard in early January

On April 12, 2025May 11, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

Even though it’s winter we still have butterflies coming to the hanging baskets in the backyard. We didn’t get any really cold days until later in the month.

I had seen a few wintering robins at the end of December and they came back a week later. One morning I saw one in my neighbor’s maple tree.

Later that afternoon I had 2 on the bird bath in the backyard.

The next day more showed up.

They were not shy and didn’t leave the trees when I went outside to shoot the 2 above.

Later a few more friends showed up.

A blue jay had a berry on the bath. Later I saw him with a clump on the ground. I’m not sure what was in that clump of dirt. Maybe a bug?

Getting a drink.

A common grackle looking at the bird bath.

I snuck outside to get the above when I saw the pileated woodpecker fly into the oak tree out back. She was too high up to get a good shot from the window and they usually don’t fly off right away when I’m in the back.

Things blooming in the front yard.

Red skies in the backyard.

Winter ducks and a new bird

On March 22, 2025April 10, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

It was the week of Christmas and I was out for a walk at Roosevelt Wetlands. I wasn’t expecting to see too much. Fall migration was mostly over and the winter ducks may not have arrived yet but you never know. I first saw a coot. They look like common moorhens but they have a white beak instead of a red one. They are only visiting for the winter.

I found a lone female northern shoveler hanging out with some blue-winged teals.

The ring-neck ducks are common here in the winter and are a tight group.

Monarchs can be found here all year round.

A surprise painted bunting was hanging out by the back fence. This was the first time I have seen one at this park. He was shy and stayed hidden in the bushes most of the time I was there.

A yellow-rumped warbler was getting a snack.

Walking to the other end of the wetlands, just me and my shadow.

As I walked back towards my car the infamous male northern harrier flies right over me head. I was beginning to think I wouldn’t see him on this visit.

All of a sudden another bird flies toward him. At first I thought it was a kestrel that had been flying by earlier.

When they passed each other I realized the other bird was a sharp-shinned hawk. They are not very common here and this was my first time seeing one. I wished I had paid more attention and gotten some better shots of him.

It was beautiful morning out.

Looks like spring in the fall

On March 3, 2025April 10, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants3 Comments

While most people up north may still have snow, this is what central Florida looks like now. These are from my trip to the Florida Botanical Gardens at the end of November. It was warm then and even though we had a few cold weeks it still looks like spring here now.

There were still a lot of blooms before winter here.

I love seeing the light up flamingos that are part of the holiday lights.

The bald cypress trees were just starting to shed their leaves.

I interrupted this blue jay trying to snack on the berries.

Parts of the gardens were still closed due to tree damage from the hurricanes.

My favorite trees here are the silk floss trees that bloom in the fall. There are two large ones here and this one in the parking lot is the smaller of the two as you can see by the shadow on the ground.

While it was past the blooming peak there were still a lot of the blooms on the tree.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

Flying critters in November

On February 8, 2025February 1, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

I had just gotten out of my car for a walk when I heard the monk parakeets screaming towards me. I grabbed my camera out of the back and started shooting as they landed in the trees in front of me. Unfortunately it was right into the sun. Monk parakeets are smaller than the nanday parakeets and they don’t have the black heads. Both types are not native to Florida and there are tons of them here.

They were bouncing and moving around across the trees and I was able to catch a few shots with the sun behind me while they were feeding.

After a few minutes they all took off across the water.

After my walk along the waterfront at the Safety Harbor fishing pier I stopped at Folly Farms to see what was flying around. Even though it was mid-November it was still pretty warm and there were lots of little critters buzzing around.

More baby stilts

On October 12, 2024October 7, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

At the end of June I was back at Roosevelt Wetlands looking for more baby black necked stilts. I found the 3 babies that I had seen 3 weeks earlier. All 3 were there but I couldn’t get them all together in one shot. They were much older but still had the dark gray feathers and paler pink legs.

It looks like they were just starting to figure out the flying thing.

A few usual things were there as well including a skimmer, a moorhen skipping across the water and a single black bellied whistling duck.

I did find another set of triplets farther down the trail. They were maybe 2 weeks old and still had a lot of fuzz.

Another stilt was on a nest. This was a little late but maybe they were trying again. This might have been the couple who had their original nest flooded out.

A kildeer deep in the reeds.

There were tons of white peacock butterflies along the trail.

Blooming in Atlanta

On September 5, 2024November 14, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Atlanta9 Comments

While Brett and I were in Atlanta in June we spent a morning at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. It’s funny that in the 17 years I lived here I never visited the gardens and now it’s my favorite place to stop when we are there to see friends.

I was expecting to see a ton of butterflies but only saw a few.

I love hydrangeas. Tulips and hydrangeas are the two flowers I miss the most from Atlanta. Neither do well in central Florida. I saw the above oriental lace hydrangea and don’t remember seeing this type before.

The lotus was in full bloom.

They had fields of pitcher plants. I wish I could get them to grow in my yard but the one I have in a hanging basket is not doing well.

There was a display of Alice’s Wonderland Larger Than Life topiaries around the gardens.

All of the characters from the book were there. Above are just a few.

The view from the vegetable garden. You can’t take a picture of the Atlanta skyline without a few construction cranes in them.

The earth goddess is my favorite spot in the gardens. I think this is the first time I’ve seen her hair blooming in so many colors. We spent most of the morning here and I took a ton of pictures so more to come.

No babies yet.

On September 2, 2024November 14, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

It was the end of May and I was out at the Roosevelt Wetlands looking for black necked stilts. I found a few of them here. They are known to nest here in the summer and I was hoping to see some babies but it was a little early for that. There were several nests on the other side of of the lake but none up close to the trail even though there were a lot of stilts along the trail.

There were already older baby moorhens. The juveniles are all gray before they get their black adult feathers.

I thought the above was a boat tailed grackle couple flirting but since the females are all brown I think it was 2 males fighting over territory. Or, both showing off for a nearby female.

A juvenile little blue heron was shedding his white baby feathers for his adult blue feathers. They are really pretty when they have mixed colors like this.

I stopped by Folly Farm on my way home to check on the baby red shoulder hawk. The baby was fully grown and was still hanging around the tall palm tree that the nest was in. I was hoping he would fly off while I was there but after an hour I was ready to head home.

A squirrel was sitting a few branches over from the young hawk. Either he didn’t see the hawk sitting nearby or he was tempting fate.

Another butterfly shot.

A young brown thrasher was hopping around in the bushes.

Things blooming in the butterfly garden.

Fun things in Safety Harbor

On April 29, 2024May 12, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

It was a beautiful cool morning in February when I headed out to Folly Farm in Safety Harbor. I didn’t think there would be a lot of birds there but I can usually count on seeing little flying critters.

There was a red shoulder hawk sitting right out in the open in the middle of the butterfly garden. He was all fluffed up and looked a little chilly. A few minutes later I saw him fly over to a palm tree next to the nature center.

I could see a nest and another hawk sitting in the nest.

The other hawk kept flying back and forth with sticks, bringing them to the nest. He found a big one on the roof of the nature center and it took him a while to figure out how to fly it over to the nest. He first tried to pick it up with his beak but he couldn’t balance it so eventually he realized he could take it over in his talons.

After a bunch of trips with nesting material he took a nap in the top of the palm tree.

On my way home I stopped at the fishing pier in Safety Harbor for a walk.

There was a lone ring billed gull down in the muck under the pier.

The fountain in front of the marina.

The pink trumpet tree on Main Street was in full bloom.

Cranes and eagles on the bike trail

On February 19, 2024April 19, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

In early November I went out for a bike ride on the north part of the Pinellas Trail, along the cow pastures. It was still warm and the sun was coming up later in the morning.

I passed the usual sandhill crane couple (at least I thought it was). There’s always a couple in this part of the cow pasture but there’s another couple that hangs out farther down the trail so it could be either couple.

Pretty colors along the trail including the beauty berry in the bottom shot. It was all over parts of the trail. The only birds I’ve ever seen eating them are catbirds, mockingbirds, blue jays and cardinals. They should have been feasting on them this morning but I didn’t see a single bird on any of it.

A swamp sparrow was checking me out while I was taking pictures of the plants.

I rode up on the back of this utility tower that sits on the trail and saw the eagle couple sitting high up in the tower. I stopped and pulled out my camera and started taking pictures and it looked like they were having a conversation.

It looks like the male had been flirting but not very successfully. He put his foot on her but stopped. Maybe he was asking her why she had another headache?? I rode to the front of the tower.

I stood there for at least half an hour hoping they would actually mate. They nest in the towers farther down the cow pasture. You can really see the difference in the size when they are together with the smaller male on the left. Female eagles (and most raptors) are larger in size. Some think it’s due to carrying eggs as well as being able to defend the nest and babies. I finally gave up and rode farther down where I saw a juvenile eagle alone on a tower.

The juvenile eagle sat on the tower for a few minutes and then took off over the trees.

There are several gopher tortoise nests (or sandy holes in the ground) along the trail but I don’t often see them outside of them. This big one was cruising around in the cow pasture.

Shots with my phone along the trail. It was a quiet morning and the trail was almost empty so I felt like I had the whole place to myself.

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.