I’m pretty sure we have a baby

Posted on March 23, 2023 by dinajohnston

It was early February and I was stopping by the eagle’s nest on my way out of the neighborhood almost every day (it’s a slight one street detour). I was hoping for a peek of a baby’s head but nothing so far.

I caught both adults on the nest at one point. This was a good sign.

One day I was at the nest late in the day and saw an adult flying in with a squirrel. He bypassed the nest and went to the nearest pole and started eating.

The moon was just coming up for the night. The eagle took a few bites then flew into the nest.

The eagle landed on the nest with the squirrel and looked like she or he was feeding something but I still couldn’t see anything at this point. It was a good sign that there was a baby in the nest. The nest was sunken in at the middle and was farther back than last year so that may be why I can’t see anything yet. By early February last year I could see a baby being fed but the nest was closer to the edge.

It was time to go home and get dinner ready but not before snapping the almost full moon before dark.

Hoping for babies

Posted on March 6, 2023 by dinajohnston

At the end of January I was still checking on the eagle nest in the neighborhood but still had not seen any sign of a baby with the exception of both adults on the nest most of the time. They are late compared to last year and all of the other nests around the area. I saw one of the parents bringing in food so I’m thinking the baby was still too small to see from here.

I had seen one kestrel a few days earlier but on another visit there were two sitting on the bat box. Looks like a couple. Last winter I only saw one and it was a female.

A few days later I caught him in the middle of eating a bug and then she flew in. He finished his bug and then they both took off.

A dove was watching from the tree behind me.

White ibis flying across the utility field before dark.

The sun was just starting to go down at the eagle’s nest.

Cruising past cow pastures

Posted on February 23, 2023 by dinajohnston

I’ve been out on my bike quite a bit now that the weather is warmer. It’s an easy way to get around with my foot still hurting. There’s not a lot of places to ride with a lot of nature instead of traffic but there’s a bike trail just north of me that goes through cow pastures. As soon as I got on the trail I heard the sandhill cranes. Flying across the pasture. They were pretty far away and I had only brought my shorter lens but it was cool to see them flying by.

A kildeer was far out in the pasture.

And of course lots of cows. And lots of babies! There were a lot of cream colored babies out there and a lot of them were nursing. Next year I need to get out here much sooner when they are tiny.

I saw this sandhill crane by himself standing near the fence.

Another eagle nest up in a utility tower. One of the parents was feeding a little one.

The other parent took off across the trail.

This morning started out sunny but dark clouds started to move in as I got half way down the trail so I didn’t stay too long. Thanks for all of the comments and suggestions on my foot issues. I have seen a podiatrist and gotten a painful shot. Keeping off my feet a few more weeks and hoping for the best (along with the stretches, exercises, icing, etc).

Out and about

Posted on February 16, 2023 by dinajohnston

I found a great blue heron nest in the neighborhood. It sits high up in the pine tree over a small pond. I’ll be keeping an eye for babies but I won’t see them until they are pretty big since the nest sits far back on the branch.

I’ve been stopping by the neighborhood eagle nest almost every day hoping to see a baby head pop up. This was in mid-January and at this point I wasn’t even sure there was a baby although an adult has been sitting here every time I go by. I hadn’t seen anything being fed at this point. It was still early though.

I noticed the kestrel is back. There was one hanging out around the eagle nest all last winter so I wonder if this is the same one.

It’s a few days later and I see an eagle sitting on the nest tower. I couldn’t see another one but the mate might have been laying down on the nest. A turkey vulture flew close by.

I drove by the big open field in front of the utility towers near the back of the neighborhood and I could just barely see movement on a tower far down the clearing. I got my camera out thinking it was probably an osprey on that nest. The top shot was cropped up a little and I can see there’s an eagle on the nest. When I extremely cropped it up I could see a baby big enough to be sitting up on the nest. (There were 2 babies on this nest). I can’t get any closer to this nest since it’s sitting on Duke Energy property.

I could see a red shoulder hawk sitting high up in the tower in front of the eagles.

After seeing the far away nest I turned around and saw white pelicans flying high overhead. I waited a little while hoping they would get closer since they were just circling around. They came a little closer and then took off over the trees.

A few days later I stopped by RE Olds Pier to see if any eagles were fishing along the pier but all I found was a great egret and a spotted sandpiper.

The tide was so low that you could see an old crab trap out in the water. I wonder how long this has been sitting there with all of those barnacles on it.

The vertical oyster garden ropes that are hanging off the pier were exposed and are starting to get covered with barnacles. There may be some small oysters forming on it as well. They placed them here to grow oysters since they help filter and clean the water.

I thought this was a new bird

Posted on April 6, 2021 by dinajohnston

No, none of the above are the new bird. These are old birds I saw before I found the new one. I had heard about a northern harrier being seen pretty consistently at Circle B Bar Reserve for a while but I was trying not to chase new birds since I don’t seem to have much luck finding them after everyone else has seen them. Finally after several weeks of hearing about this bird I headed over for a walk fully expecting not to see it. All of the usual birds could be found as I walked down the trail. A red winged blackbird, a turkey vulture, a red shoulder hawk and even a cooper’s hawk that was trying to hide in the trees.

The usual birds were flying close by. A night heron and a great blue heron.

A common sight in the winter at the reserve, black bellied whistling ducks cruising around.

Across the lake, I could see 2 eagles sitting up to the right of their big nest.

A little blue heron found a worm in the water.

Here he is. My first northern harrier. I wasn’t standing there alone. There were at least 20 other people in the area looking for the bird. He showed up far across the marsh and then slowly started cruising towards the trail.

He flew by several times and then perched on a dead tree right in front of the trail. It’s his face that makes him different. From the side he almost has an owl-like face. Harriers are not extremely rare in central Florida but this is the first one I’ve heard of at any of the main parks so it was easy to find him. He was only here for the winter but maybe he’ll come back next year. After digging around in some older posts, I realized that I had seen a harrier back in 2016 at Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive. The shot was a far away blurry pin dot shot so I’m not really counting that sighting (am I?).

Just catching sunrise.

Posted on January 14, 2021 by dinajohnston

I use to set my alarm to get up early on the weekends but lately my internal alarm has been going off early and I got out of bed one Saturday morning in November and headed to Circle B Bar Reserve. Although, not that early since the sun was just peaking out as I hit the trails. It’s the perfect time to be there, quiet and not many people there yet. You can hear the birds starting to talk and the whistling ducks were starting to fly back and forth.

One of my favorite views in the morning.

There wasn’t a lot of different birds out. The usuals were there (moorhens, whistlers, herons, egrets, cormorants) but I didn’t see many uncommon birds. The above are fairly common in the winter (female common yellowthroat, house wren and the purple gallinules) but sometimes a little bit harder to find.

Some of the smaller critters along the trail.

The eagle’s nest is pretty far away but I could still see both eagles on the nest. Maybe she’s looking at her eggs in the nest? Might have been a little early but soon.

A chance encounter with an eagle.

Posted on January 4, 2020 by dinajohnston

I heard the eagle screaming along the trail and started running, looking up in the trees. I found him sitting there looking around. He stayed there for a few minutes looking all around and including right at me. He was sitting fairly low right along the trail. At one point he hopped down a few branches.

After a few minutes, he took off. Flying across the marsh. He flew by so close that I cut off his wings.

Later, at the other end of the reserve, I saw an eagle flying into the tree that has a nest that sits across the lake.I was wondering if it was my eagle, that I had just seen up close. I wondered if he was heading home.

The eagle has landed

Posted on March 10, 2016 by dinajohnston

Way up high, in the sky…. Circling over my head, this is extremely cropped.

Coming in for a landing.

Checking things out.

At this point, I can’t tell what’s going on at the eagle’s nest near my house. The weekend before this, I didn’t see anyone on the nest, but one of them could have been laying down sleeping and I just couldn’t see them. This morning in early February, I was thinking the same thing. No sign of life, then this guys comes flying in as I was leaving. I’m hoping they are just getting a late start on the family this year. Other eagle nests in the area are already getting little babies. I’ll keep checking. If you haven’t seen the baby eagles yet at the Fort Myers eagle cam, you should check them out. They are growing fast. This is about 2 hours south of Tampa.

The eagles are back on the nest!

Posted on February 4, 2016 by dinajohnston

Just a few pictures of the eagles near my house. I finally saw them both on the nest recently. One was on the nest and the other was sitting on top of the dead tree the nest is in. I’m hoping they are getting ready for eggs or there may already be eggs on the nest. I’ll keep you posted.

The loud peacocks that live on the farm where the eagle’s nest is were looking at me like I was crazy. They were thinking “That crazy lady is back with her black box on her face”.

Dina's Wildlife Adventures

Tag Archives: eagle nest