Punk babies

On July 17, 2018July 17, 2018 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

The babies started screaming as Mom crept closer to the hole.

Feeding was quick. The babies were screaming at her.

Mom squeezed her way in and was cleaning out the nest. She took off with something in her beak.

“Wait, come back. We’re still hungry.” There were 2 babies in the nest.

Twenty minutes later Dad comes to feed them (you can tell the males by the red stripe across the chin just under their beak. The females don’t have this stripe.).

These pileated woodpecker parents were busy with 2 little mouths to feed. The light was bad from the boardwalk so it was a challenge to get decent pictures. These were all taken with my 300mm lens and extremely cropped up. They are animated little birds, almost grown up.

Linking to Wednesday Around the World.

A baby hawk

On July 14, 2018June 21, 2018 By dinajohnstonIn bird photographyLeave a comment

I found this immature red-shouldered hawk on top of a picnic shelter at Chesnut Park. The park is heavily populated with hawks, both red-shouldered and Cooper’s. He was really focused on something.

Close by, I heard something peeping high up in tree and saw this fuzzball sticking his head up. A baby hawk. A tiny one.

The parent was one tree over, keeping an eye on the baby. I sat on ground for a while hoping the other parent would show up with something yummy to feed the baby but after a half hour I was hungry so I left to go home for lunch. I’m sure by now the park is full of young hawks flying around.

A beautiful red head

On June 5, 2018October 5, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

I heard this pileated woodpecker banging on the fallen log long before I saw him. He was right on the ground next to the parking lot at Chesnut Park. I sat down on the ground and watched him for a while. A few people passed by and he just glanced up and then kept on banging.That red stripe below the beak indicates that he’s a guy. He stayed busy for about 15 minutes. I finally got up and left him still going at it. He didn’t seem to be eating bugs under the bark. Later I stopped by there on my way out of the park and he was gone.

[Linking to Wednesday Around the World.

Nothin’ but gators.

On April 3, 2018April 3, 2018 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

Nothing at Chesnut Park but gators so I headed over to another park to see if the baby owl was awake.

The parent was easy to find. Just look for the big group of photographers pointing their cameras up at her. Since the baby was sleeping when I first got to the park, everyone was keeping an eye on her.

A little while later, a head pops up. The baby great horned owl was awake, barely.

She was staring up at Mom for a while but I don’t think Mom was ready to feed her so after a few minutes the baby went back to sleep.

Mom seemed to be a little sleepy still as well.

Linking to Wednesday Around The World.

Lots of the same at Chesnut Park

On February 12, 2018February 13, 2018 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

Lots of deer in early January.

Lots of squirrels but that bottom looks a little rough.

Lots of little birds but nothing new.

Red shoulder hawks hiding along the trails.

Eagles flying far away across the lake. Both an adult and a juvenile.

Found these two ducks at a quiet end of a pond. I’m thinking they are pets that got dumped here. Someone left food in a small plastic container. I just hope they know enough to stay away from the gators.

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

Chesnut Park on a Saturday morning.

On November 13, 2017November 14, 2017 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals2 Comments

Standing on the observation tower, an osprey saw me and said “Hey, there’s Dina. I’m going to swing by and give her a hug.” or maybe not. He just banked and kept cruising by.

A juvenile moorhen eating yucky pond grass.

Limpkins were everywhere. Up on the boardwalk and down in the swamp with a snail.

This guy must have gotten a piece of some bad tasting grass.

Trying to hide on a log. Not sure what this guy was but I was using a long lens.

Before Hurricane Irma took down a lot of the trees.

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

Spotted critters at the park

On September 9, 2017August 7, 2017 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals1 Comment

I stopped by Chesnut Park on the way home from work in early August to see if there were any baby deer. Since it had just stopped raining I was thinking there wouldn’t be a lot of people there so the deer may be out and visible. The babies usually hide on Saturday mornings with all of the joggers and dog walkers there so a rainy weekday seemed like a good chance to see them. After walking around for a while I was leaving and saw some spots in the woods.

I sat down on a wet log and they were walking around in the weeds. There were two babies and one parent was close by.

Not sure what the parent was doing. Was she sniffing to make sure this was her baby?

Mom then continued to feed herself. After a few minutes, they headed deeper in the woods and I headed home.

Fun flying faces

On August 10, 2017August 10, 2017 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

Red bellied woodpecker

Carolina chickadees

Yellow crowned night heron

My favorite little titmouses.

A young mockingbird

Northern parula

Osprey flyby

Juvenile little blue heron in a sea of green and purple.

Curious baby great horned owls from high up in a pine tree.

A few birds in June at Chesnut Park.

SkyWatch Friday

The punk bird

On August 5, 2017June 19, 2017 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I recently stopped by Chesnut Park for a quick walk after work. It was very quiet at the park. Not many people there. I found this pileated woodpecker hanging around one of the parking lots. He was bouncing around from tree to tree and stopped and posed for me a few times. I just sat on the ground and watched him for a while. Eventually another woodpecker came calling over head and he took off. I think these guys deserve the “Coolest bird” category with their punk mohawk.