More baby critter rescues

Posted on September 2, 2023 by dinajohnston

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 day at the pier

Posted on April 13, 2023 by dinajohnston

It was a perfect morning for spending some time sitting on a bench at the Oldsmar pier. As I walked out on the pier I noticed a small “fever” of stingrays in the shallow water. I took the above with my phone. They were pretty close and it was cool to watch them slowly swim out in the bay.

In late February the wintering ducks were still there. A few came close to the pier. Looks like they were lesser scaup.

I often see dolphins here but they are usually so far out in the bay that they look like little dots. This morning there were two that came swimming close to the pier. They were feeding and herding the fish close to the shallow part to feed easier. They splashed around for a few minutes before heading back out to the bay.

The dolphins headed straight into the floating ducks and off they went.

An osprey and a Forster’s tern flew close to the pier.

Far across the bay I could see an eagle chasing an osprey. The eagle was after his fish which he stole from the osprey but then took off in the opposite direction.

When I first got to the pier it was clear blue skies but later the clouds moved in.

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.

Storms and an eagle

Posted on October 13, 2022 by dinajohnston

I was out for an early morning walk and stopped by RE Olds Park (named after Ransom Olds who invented the Oldsmobile and developed what is Oldsmar now) to see if there were any storm clouds moving in. After walking the pier I looked up in the big tree at the end of the pier and saw an eagle sitting there. I was bummed I didn’t have my camera. I took the above with my phone. I was glad to see it back here. Last fall I saw them here pretty regularly.

The storms were far away this morning but I could see a little bit of lightning so I didn’t stay long on the pier. They were coming off the gulf coast.

A few days later I stopped by the pier again with my camera and of course there was no sign of the eagle. This time there were storms out in the bay and over land. The sun was out over the park but there wasn’t any rainbows.

I caught some great blue herons cruising by.

I was surprised to find black terns here. I’ve only seen them at Gandy beach before. There was a small flock of them flying around trying to get bait fish. They were in all stages of molting with a few still having mostly black feathers. By now they are somewhere in South America for the winter.

A pelican with a pouch full of bait fish.

A creepy mangrove crab was walking along the railing.

Eagles, owls and deer, Oh my.

Posted on September 27, 2022 by dinajohnston

My first eagle sighting of the season. He was hanging out near the restrooms at Chesnut Park. He didn’t stay long, taking off towards the lake. It was mid-August. I didn’t realize they come back that early.

I had heard there was an owl sitting at the end of the boardwalk so I quickly walked down to the end thinking he would probably be gone by then or I wouldn’t be able to find him. There he was, sitting almost eye level. He sat there for a while as I snapped a ton of pictures. He was checking out critters on the ground and I was hoping he would swoop down and catch something but that didn’t happen.

I was walking on the back boardwalk and came across a Mom and her baby. As the Mom was feeding the baby was walking around and walked over to it’s sibling.

I had found the twins. It was interesting to see them both licking each other.

After walking around for a while I came back to the back boardwalk and one of the babies was still sitting there with the sun coming through the swamp. The other twin and Mom were feeding behind some trees.

Things that remind me of July 4th.

Posted on July 4, 2022 by dinajohnston

This is a repost from 2016.

This was way too easy. A permanently injured eagle at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. Whoever added the flag on the back fence was a genius.

Mount Rushmore several years ago with my sister who lives in nearby Sioux Falls.

Bay Pines National Cemetery in St. Petersburg Florida where members of the Armed Forces are buried. My parents are here. My dad was in WW2.

My cousin and his family are all in the Tampa Bay Water Ski show. This is the opening from their free shows every Saturday afternoon.

Practicing fireworks before dark in the neighborhood.

I found this flag hanging on a wall in a tourist shop in Tarpon Springs. It’s made of shells and starfish.

A very young bald eagle learning to fly.

A bald eagle souring across the sky.

I was looking through some older folders of a flag picture to post for today and came across all of the above. I couldn’t decide which one to post so I added all of them. All reminders of the summer season. From Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day.

Cruising by the cows

Posted on June 9, 2022 by dinajohnston

I bought a bike in early April, mostly to cruise around the neighborhood but since I can fold it and put it in the back I decided to take it out on a bike path. There’s a parking area about 15 minutes north of me that picks up the northeastern end of the Pinellas Trail. The path goes through cow pastures and a golf course and I didn’t think I would see too much else so I only had my phone with me the first ride. Above are taken with my phone. I was not surprised to see sandhill cranes along this path since I had heard there were a lot of them up here.

A week later I came back up here with my camera and longer lens in my backpack. Far across the cow pasture I could see a juvenile eagle sitting high up on a utility tower. I saw several eagles when I was riding the week before. Next fall I’ll have to look for a nest although it’s probably in a utility tower like the one by my house.

I love seeing the cattle egret hanging out with the cows. They are hoping the cows churn up some bugs as they chew the grass.

I found several meadowlarks along the fence.

I’m assuming the sandhill crane couple I found was the same one I saw the week before. They were in a cow pasture farther down the trail. This is a fun trail to ride and there’s not much traffic during the week so I’ll be coming here quite a bit.

Largo Nature Preserve in early April

Posted on May 12, 2022 by dinajohnston

It’s always fun to see baby mallards (although with that yellow beak on the Mom, these may be mottled ducks). There were two families at Largo Nature Preserve in early April. One was feeding in the water and the other was walking around on the walking path. They eventually made it down to the water.

The two northern shovelers were still there. They are probably up north for the summer by now.

Looking up in the utility tower I saw a young eagle. I often see adult eagles sitting here but today it was a younger one. Maybe 4 years old? They don’t get a full white head until their 5th year. This one still had a little brown on his. Maybe he was born in the area.

While watching the eagle, a Canadian goose flies by. They hang out on the golf course along the park so it’s not a surprise.

Across the canal a cattle egret had a dragonfly in his beak.

Brown thrashers are common here. This one was singing away.

Night herons can usually be found napping along the boardwalk.

A monk parakeet coming down to the ground to get a snack.

Back out in the wild

Posted on May 3, 2022 by dinajohnston

I headed back over to the Manatee Viewing Center at the electric plant when my sister was visiting in February. We got there right when it opened on a weekday and it was already crowded. Everyone was here to see the hundreds of manatees floating near the dock. I first noticed a girl out there floating with them. She worked with an enviremental agency and was counting the manatees and making notes of each one’s distinct markings. There was also one on the dock counting. Can you imagine floating around with all of those manatees? It seems like a dream job.

Standing on the dock looking down, you could see lots of them floating close together. I took this one with my phone.

It was hard to single them out and get close up shots.

When we first got there we had heard there was going to be a manatee released back into the wild. We got a good spot on the dock railing and I was able to get pictures of them bringing it down to the water.

They carried that heavy manatee down to the water and carefully placed the tarp in the water and the manatee swam away. Everyone cheered as he swam out of the blue tarp. The thing I find interesting is that it was all women who carried that manatee that could have weighed from 1500 to 3000 lbs. Many of them were volunteers.

The manatee had been rehabilitated at Zoo Tampa, probably stranded from cold stun or starving (which many of them have been lately due to changes in grass beds).The zoo has a manatee hospital on site and you can see some of the resident ones there.

A few of the birds cruising by as we were waiting for the manatee release. A bald eagle was flying over by the electric plant and a tricolored heron flew right by the dock.

One of the cute statues at the viewing center.

Dolphins, Osprey and Eagles, Oh My!

Posted on February 22, 2022 by dinajohnston

I found an eagle’s nest in my neighborhood and I’ve been keeping my camera in my car in case I wanted to stop and get some pictures. The nest is high up in a utility tower and it’s a tough shot with the light. The sun is behind it most of the day and I can’t get on the other side.

One recent day I went early in the morning and stood for a while watching the nest. When I first got there I didn’t see any eagles so I though maybe it was a bust but then one flew in and started feeding the baby. You can just make out the baby’s head in between the sticks. I’ve only seen one eagle here so I wonder if the parent is now flying solo with this baby. Both parents usually hang around the nest.

After the eagle’s nest, I headed over to the nearby fishing pier just to see what was going on. It was too nice to head back home. I could see dolphins out in the bay.

There’s usually several osprey diving around for fish but they are far away. This one cruised close to the fishing pier.

At some point I realized there was an eagle chasing the osprey. The osprey had a fish in his talens and the eagle was trying to steal it. Eventually the osprey dropped the fish in the water and the eagle stopped chasing him. They were pretty far out in the bay but it was still pretty cool to see.

The eagle flew by the pier and landed in a tree at the end of the pier. I ran back down the pier towards the parking lot hoping he wouldn’t take off before I got back there. I was able to take a couple of shots before he took off again and flew over the trees towards a neighborhood. Where was he going?

Dina's Wildlife Adventures

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