Tag Archives: duck

Rescue trips in the first half of August

Posted on by
5

The Raptor Center of Tampa Bay put out a request for a volunteer to pick up an injured turtle that someone had brought in to a vet. Thinking it may have been hit by a car. This is my first sad trip. I got to the vet office and they told me it had just passed away. It was probably in bad shape when it was brought it. As I was fighting back the tears they said “We do have an injured duck. Can you take that to a rehabber?” My response was “Of course”

So this cutie made the trip to the Raptor Center all alone. It looked a little scratched up but otherwise in good shape.

This little wide eyed cutie made the trip from the Raptor Center to a rehabber near St. Pete. Paula at Crikey Wildlife Rescue specializes in rehabbing and releasing raccoons and squirrels. She has had the rabies vaccine and can work with older raccoons, although rabies is fairly rare in our area (only 1 case this year and zero last year in Pinellas county).

I had a carload of red shoulder hawks in the back of my SUV on this trip. Two had been brought in on the same day and both had been shot. The third one had an injured wing.

Nancy from the Raptor Center was able to get them x-ray’d to confirm that the 2 had been shot. Above is one of the x-rays. You can see the tiny bullet near the end of his wing. Who does that? Maybe the hawks were stealing chickens from a farmer or backyard? I would hate to think they were just randomly shot but it could happen.

All three were headed to a vet in Nokomis (south of Sarasota), about an hour away from the Raptor Center. The vet works with wildlife and was going to take the bullets out of the 2 and look at the other one with an injured wing. Since they would stay overnight I just dropped them off and someone nearby was bringing them back later.

The vet was 10 minutes from Nokomis beach so I stopped and got out for a few minutes to stretch my legs before heading home (it would be close to 2 hours to get back to my house). It would have been a perfect morning if it wasn’t so hot. I should have brought my swimsuit and gone for a dip.

Heading over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge to get back home. Not much traffic this morning (which is rare).

This tiny young squirrel was brought into a vet one morning. I picked him up and headed straight to the rehabber Penny in south St. Pete.

In mid-August we had a bad storm move through the area and the next day there were quite a few baby squirrels that were brought in. Nests or babies falling from trees in the storm. I drove out to the Raptor Center in Brandon and picked up a large box of squirrels. All different ages and they were huddled together for warmth. They were all going to Penny in south St. Pete to grow up and eventually get released.

A crow with an injured wing also made the trip. He yelled the entire trip.

I had heard there was a rare Egyptian goose that had showed up in the area near where Penny lives. Since I was going to be down there I threw my camera in the car and after dropping off the squirrels and crow I headed to the nearby lake. He was very easy to find. I pulled over and snapped a couple of shots before heading home. This was the first time I have heard of them being in Pinellas county. They are populated all over south Florida, especially in Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. I couldn’t find any definite information on whether they were released on purpose or escapees from a zoo. They have been sighted in Florida since the 80’s. They are invasive like the muscovy ducks and I’m sure the neighbors hope it doesn’t have a mate.

an image of a red sports car with a lady caricature going at Vroom Vroom high speed, Senior Salon Pit Stop Vroom Vroom Linkup

A hot walk around the lake in August.

Posted on by
2

Critters I saw on my walk around Crescent Lake Park.

This big beautiful old banyan tree is fenced off since it is starting to fall apart. It’s still blooming though.

Across the lake. You can barely make out downtown St. Pete behind the painted water tower.

SkyWatch Friday

Aldridge Gardens

Posted on by
8

Just a few of the beautiful flowers we found at Aldridge Gardens in Birmingham during my visit with my sister. The weather was too beautiful to do anything indoors so we did a quick walk around the gardens before heading to lunch.

They had bee hives with glass sides. It was really cool to see inside the hive, watching the thousands of bees working.

Some of the critters around the lake. More to come on the gardens.

Our World Tuesday Graphicimage-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

Chillin with the farm animals

Posted on by
1

Watching the big horses grazing in the pasture.

This one was taking a dirt bath.

A few of the fowl I snapped while watching the horses.

I spent another morning relaxing at HorsePower for Kids animal sanctuary. There’s something about watching the ducks swim around the pond and the horses grazing that takes the stress away. I guess because I don’t have to feed them or clean up after them. I can just stop by and chill with the farm animals.

Lots of fun things in a small park.

Posted on by
3

DSC_2841

 I can always find green herons at this lake.

DSC_2840

This looks like a young mallard that’s molting and getting his male feathers in.

DSC_2774

DSC_2687

DSC_2688

Lots of young blue jays.

DSC_2747

A grackle with a yummy snack.

DSC_2679

DSC_2668

A leucistic Eurasian collared-dove.  It’s rare to see an all white Eurasian dove.

DSC_2817

DSC_2681

DSC_2671

DSC_2665

DSC_2657

You can always hear the loud screaming of monk parakeets at this park. They nest in the water tower near the park and spend a lot of time on the grass eating. They blend in really well and unless you hear them screaming, you would never know they were in the trees in front of you.

Crescent Lake Park is a small park near downtown St. Petersburg. There’s a small lake with a sidewalk all around. There’s a ball field next door as well as a dog park and houses across the street on 2 sides of the park. On a Saturday morning, the park is full of joggers, walkers, kids playing and me, the crazy lady with the camera.

Our World Tuesday Graphicimage-in-ing

Spring means fuzzballs everywhere.

Posted on by
9

DSC_2859 DSC_2854
DSC_2957

DSC_2862

DSC_2970
DSC_2865

DSC_2974

 

DSC_2947

DSC_2858
DSC_2920

My first fuzzball sighting of the season. Based on the last picture, more to come. I was at Circle B Bar Reserve and decided to stop by Lake Morton on the way home. I had read on Kim’s blog  about the new family there and was hoping I could find them. I found them about half way through my walk around the lake. They were sleeping together on the grass. I sat down on the grass and was watching them sleep for a few minutes when the geese came up on the bank and started to bother the babies. Mom  headed into the water with the babies and they hung out along the side of the lake for a while. I think the geese just wanted their spot. All of the above were taken at 200mm and extremely cropped.

Debby in my backyard

Posted on by
5

A wet green heron was sitting on the dock. It was dark and gloomy all weekend.

Wet blue jay on my feeder.

Wet house sparrow eating.

Looking down the channel, you can’t see our neighbor’s dock. Everything was under water. The water was just starting to creep up into his yard.

Now our dock is under water and water was everywhere.

On Tuesday morning, I looked out the window while I was getting ready for work. This duck family had just climbed on the dock and was taking a nap. They looked tired. The water was just at the top of the dock and by the time I left the water had crept up onto the dock. I don’t know if the family had moved to higher ground yet.

We were all very lucky in our neighborhood. Other than the tide bringing the water levels up, we didn’t really have any damage. A tornado hit in south St. Petersburg and there was significant damage there. It was really just an inconvenience to most people. It rained most of the weekend and on Monday night the tide got so high that several of the bridges were closed. Hubby had to drive the long way around to get home and it took him almost 2 hours since everyone had to go that way. The big Sunshine Skyway Bridge broke a record and was closed for more than 3 days due to high winds. Now it’s August and the summer rains are here so it rains almost every day.

Camera Critters