Foggy season was starting

On February 10, 2025March 7, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights4 Comments

I woke up early one morning on Thanksgiving weekend and it was super foggy outside. I got ready and headed out for a walk hoping to get some fog shots. It was a slow drive through the fog but when I got to the Dunedin marina there was hardly any fog.

The sun had broken through and I could just see a little fog across the water over towards Clearwater beach.

I was driving home after my walk and 10 minutes later I hit the fog again so I stopped at the Oldsmar pier. I could barely see the end of the pier.

The fog on land was starting to lift but it still looked creepy with the crows flying towards me.

White ibis were busy feeding in the grass along the water.

The sun was starting to peak through and the tide was far out. I love foggy mornings in the winter. It makes it feel like winter here. I like going for walks in the fog but driving around on a busy street in heavy fog is not fun.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

Rescue transports in late May

On August 10, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

In mid-May a call went out to transport some young critters from the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay to a rehabber in south St. Pete. I made the trip to pick up the above juvenile crows and a box of baby possums. The crows made that caw sound almost the entire trip. The Raptor Center takes in all kinds of injured or lost baby critters but since they specialize in raptors they send other critters to rehabbers that are experts in other animals.

The baby possums were put in a pouch and snuggled up together for the ride. They are so cute at that age!

The next day a sick juvenile night heron was rescued and brought to the Raptor Center so I took it to the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary that morning. The sanctuary volunteers are experts in rehabbing big water birds.

While I was there I got to go into the bird hospital and meet Meatball. Meatball (the paler one on the right) is a roseate spoonbill and is one of the newest permanent residents. Meatball came into the clinic in April of 2023 and had a fractured wing that had healed incorrectly and he is unable to fly. Meatball was busy meeting another spoonbill that had come in sick but was getting better so he was ignoring me.

As I was standing back watching the two spoonbills and taking pictures a masked bobby walked by. What? It was amazing to see this bird up close. I’ve only seen them out in the wild once and that was in the Keys from a boat. He had been brought to the clinic sick and was doing much better and was about to be released.

The outside of the hospital was getting a cool paint job.

A few days later I got a text asking if I could pick up a puppy coyote and bring it to the Raptor Center. I was on my to the grocery story but thought groceries can wait for a puppy, even a coyote one. It was brought to Moccasin Lake Nature Park early in the morning by a ranger. The rehabber there, Barbara, runs the Moccasin Lake Raptor Sanctuary out of the park and she met me there to give it a feeding and get it into a crate so I could drive it to the Raptor Center.

While she was feeding the coyote I was looking around the hospital and noticed the osprey with a wrapped wing. He had just been to a vet to get his injured wing set. Then I noticed a hawk I had never seen. A lost ferruginous hawk was in the cage. He belongs on the western part of the country. They think it is a falconer’s pet that got out because it was trained. They were working on locating the owner.

The young coyote was loaded into my car. He had some injuries on his chest and they couldn’t find a parent anywhere so he was brought in. Once he got to the Raptor Center he would be tested for ringworm and then placed with a rehabber that had other orphan coyotes to grow up with and eventually be released. Those ears and eyes just stole my heart!

A few days after the coyote trip I was back on the road taking a carload of young critters to Penny in St. Pete. At first we couldn’t tell what this tiny baby bird was but when it started calling for food Penny realized it was a brown thrasher.

A young crow, a baby possom and some baby doves (I didn’t get a picture of them) also made the trip.

The next week I got a call to meet a rescuer in north St. Pete. She had just rescued two baby Cooper’s hawks that were found on the ground with no parents around. The nest was destroyed so the babies couldn’t be renested.

When I got to the Raptor Center Nancy pulled them out and was checking to see how healthy they were. They were starving but should be okay after a few feedings.

More baby critter rescues

On September 2, 2023August 20, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

At the end of June I made a transport for Raptor Center of Tampa Bay. Injured or lost baby birds were still coming in and needed to get to a rehabber in St. Pete. This one was a small load. A baby mockingbird, a sick kestrel and 2 loud baby crows made the trip. Those crows were cawing the entire ride to St. Pete.

The 4th of July was going to be a stay at home and relax kind of day but the call came out for a much needed transport. I left Brett watching sports on the couch and headed to Brandon. Those baby opossums were so cute! She was holding the smallest “runt” of the litter, checking to make sure it was warm enough to make the trip.

Nancy from Raptor Center posted this on the Facebook page with the stories of what happened to these babies.

A week later I was at Moccasin Lake Nature Park waiting to take a baby kestrel to Apopka. The Avian Reconditioning Center in Apopka is a great place for lost baby raptors to grow up and get released. They had just received another young one so the one I was taking would get a “sibling” to grow up with. While I was waiting on the kestrel I walked around for a few minutes and checked out some of the permanently injured birds that live there. The eagle was found with a bad wing injury and is not able to be fully flighted. I was surprised to see the swallow tail kite there sitting on the perch at the front of the cage. There were 2 in the exhibit as well as a Mississippi kite (which is a rare bird around here).

The baby kestrel was ready to go and I stepped in the kitchen for a minute and got to see the meals going out to all of the injured birds. Doesn’t that look yummy (don’t look closely at the bowls if you are squeamish)? I looked away from the cart and noticed an adult kestrel sitting on the desk. I’m assuming he got his breakfast first.

This tiny baby kestrel was making the 2 hour trip to Apopka. This was my first trip to the Avian Reconditioning Center. It’s a huge place with big barn size flight cages on the property. I wish I had taken some pictures but it was so hot and they were busy so I dropped of the little one and left.

A new hobby

On July 20, 2023July 30, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Brett and I were sitting at home late on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, not doing much since it was so hot and my foot was bothering me, when I started surfing through Facebook and saw a post from a rescue group needing a transport for a sick bird. I have been following Raptor Center of Tampa Bay on Facebook for a while but I really wasn’t paying attention until I saw the transport request. They needed a pick up of a sick red shoulder hawk at a 24 hour emergency veterinarian and brought to Nancy, the rehabber out in Brandon. I thought “I could do that”, sent them a note that I was coming and jumped in the car. Someone had found the hawk sitting on the side of a busy road and stopped to pick him up and took him to the vet. When I got to the rehabber she pulled him out of the box and said he was a juvenile and was very undernourished. He didn’t even fight her. She was going to try and nurse him back to health.

A few days later the Raptor Center needed another transport. This time from Nancy’s home in Brandon where the Raptor Center is located to another rehabber in south St. Pete. Since there isn’t one big rehab center in the Tampa area for raptors they get placed in smaller rehabs around the area. Penny in St. Pete had room to rehab these critters so off I went to pick them up. The original hawk I had transported earlier was the first one loaded in my car. He looked comfortable and ready for the 45 minute ride.

The bat was found by someone who kept it for a week, feeding it powered milk and ground mealworms. One thing I learned is you should never feed any animal cow’s milk (except cows). Even cats really shouldn’t have milk.

Four baby screech owls made the trip. I think all of them had fallen out of the nest or the nests couldn’t be relocated. Look at those eyes!

Two juvenile crows came along as well. These guys were scratching the box so I didn’t even peek in. Nancy took this picture.

The rehabber in St. Pete lives near the Bay Pines National Cemetery where my parents are buried so I stopped in before heading home.

They decorate with flags for Memorial Day weekend and they were still there a few days later.

The flags go on forever.

Things in my yard and neighborhood

On August 29, 2016August 30, 2016 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I went for an after dinner walk and found this duck family in the pond near my house. I’ve been seeing this pretty creme mallard for a while now. I saw the family recently and the babies were getting big. Sadly, there were only 4 left.

Frog on our downspout after a storm.

Saw this lizard next to our dock. This is the first one I’ve seen with a rust head. Can they really blend in that well?

Here’s the same creme mallard back in May. She was floating around behind our dock.

Curious blue jay.

Hibiscus poking through the fence.

I took this through the kitchen window.

Taken through the bedroom window, the juvenile night heron was creeping around our neighbor’s dock.

Our neighbor a few houses down has an almost dead palm tree in their backyard. I came home from work and saw the tree full of crows eating the berries (or are these nuts?). Taken directly into the sun.